Why the Mars Hill Faithful Have Started to Question Mark

The Stranger ^ | August 1, 2014 | Brendan Kiley

[Cecily]

To understand the current unrest at Mars Hill Church, you have to go back to 2007. In the autumn of that year, Mars Hill was an emerging evangelical powerhouse, attracting national attention for its combination of ultraconservative theology and rock ’n’ roll posturing. It had grown over the previous decade from a Bible group in pastor Mark Driscoll’s living room to a multi-campus institution drawing 4,000 attendees to services every week. Paul Petry, Mars Hill’s pastor of families and member care at the time, says that roughly 1,600 of those 4,000 people had joined the church as full-fledged members—they’d taken the necessary Mars Hill classes, studied Driscoll’s doctrine (which he eventually codified in his 2010 book Doctrine), and signed an agreement to submit to the “authority” of Mars Hill leadership.

[ravenwolf]

Driscoll continued: “Johnny is now so terrified of women and his own penis that he sits in his room alone each night on the internet hoping to get some… because he’s so afraid of women and has no idea how to take one, or love one, or serve one, or take one to bed and make the Song of Songs sing again. One day Johnny finally gives in to the pressure of his pre-humpers singles ministry and gets stuck with some gal left on the shelf long after her expiration date… And so the culture and families and churches sprint to hell because the men aren’t doing the job and the feminists continue their rant that it’s all our fault and we should just let them be pastors and heads of homes and run the show.

---

I don`t know about the rest of it but I agree with the above, kids don`t know if they are supposed to be boys or girls.

[Lee N. Field]

From the article:

After the dustup, Driscoll canceled the entire congregation’s memberships and told them they had to reapply with a special addendum specifically agreeing to the new bylaws he was proposing.

From Justin Taylor's blog:

So, when our attendance was at about six thousand people a few years ago, we did something unprecedented. We canceled out the membership of everyone in our church and I preached the Doctrine series for thirteen weeks. Each sermon was well over an hour and included me answering text-messaged questions from our people.

Those who made it through the entire series were interviewed, and those who evidenced true faith in Christ and signed our membership covenant were installed as new members. We had always had a high bar for membership, but I wanted to raise that bar higher as we pursued our goal of becoming, by God’s grace, a church of fifty thousand. In so doing, we lost about a thousand people, dropped to five thousand total, and missed budget for the first time in our church’s history.

--An Interview with Mark Driscoll on Doctrine

If you go there, you'll note comments are gone. Shock over the mass membership cancellation came to dominate the comment list. I still have most of them in my gmail account, because I'd commented and had responses emailed to me.

I remember thinking at the time, what a strange thing that was to do, as if you get a divorce from your spouse for a week to decide if you want to continue being married.

This is an interview with Driscoll, and puts his spin on it. The Stranger article, if true, puts it into context with some behind the scenes political stuff, at the same time as Dricoll's "pile of dead bodies behind the Mars Hill bus" comment. (The sound clip for that, BTW, is not difficult to find. Here, for one.)

Which is true?

With what kind of ecclesiology can leadership cancel everyone's membership en-masse, and fire elders? Answer, a top down, personality dominated CEO model ecclesiology. Driscoll's not as "Reformed" as people might think he is.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Pastor Spends $200,000 of Church’s Money to Buy His Own Book to Make it a New York Times Best Seller
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb-gZ3bcBZs

[Hebrews 11:6]

We really shouldn’t have time to judge and tear down God’s leaders and His church. That’s God’s job if he sees fit.

Are you sure you haven't erected a straw man here? "We" aren't tearing down God's leaders and church, are we? We're reading about a case where the congregants and some elders are disputing and confronting their own church.

Are you suggesting that this shouldn't even be a subject of discussion amongst we Christians? But church disputes have always been just that--the Bible is full of them, among the apostles no less. They function for God's purpose as cautionary tales.

I identify with them personally, because I've been through this, although on a much smaller scale. As a church elder I was forced to confront our pastor over his imperiousness; eventually the necessary strength of my confrontation mandated my resignation to avoid both the appearance and the temptation of becoming overbearing myself.

While I appreciate your call to personal sanctification (first getting our own log out, etc.), I applaud those congregants, the article's author, and the poster. It appears they are, indeed, humbly doing God's work of ecclesiastical sanctification.

[Abigail Adams]

Well, I think the point of the passage I posted is “false teachers” do not equal “God’s leaders.” They are false, and therefore we should point them out as such and warn people about them.

I think Christians need to do due diligence in researching leaders and authors, because there is so much deception out there these days masquerading as “Christian.”

For example, you might want to do some reading up on Bill Hybels. Some info here (click on “older articles” to read more): http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?s=bill+hybels&search=Search

[Hebrews 11:6]

With what kind of ecclesiology can leadership cancel everyone's membership en-masse, and fire elders? Answer, a top down, personality dominated CEO model ecclesiology.

And therefore certainly not a Biblical ecclesiology. Perhaps Driscoll can cite book, chapter, and verse where the New Testament even mentions "church membership."

Of course, this is always a hazard whenever people are "in charge."

[af_vet_1981]

Now new documents have been unearthed from 2000, when the church opened up a we'll-take-all-questions message board and Driscoll published some vicious rants under the macho pseudonym William Wallace II/>a?

This particular post shows him unfit for any leadership role whatsoever and in need of repentance and reconciliation.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Thanks for contributing this important article!

[Nevadan]

Thanks for the link. I hadn't known about Hybel's wife and her heavy involvement in the pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel movement. It seems like there is an absolute juggernaut occurring right now against Israel and justifying or ignoring terrorism by Muslim groups. It is disgusting that some of it has the support of evangelical churches. There was a comment by someone posting on a Breitbart article I found from the link that I find to be unfortunately true: “As I see it, with a few notable exceptions, Mega-Church pastors veer hard left first chance they get. If you remember, back in 2005 the Mega-Churchers were proclaiming this message to Evangelicals: “Jesus is not happy with how political His Church has become.” in demand that churchgoers back out of involvement in conservative politics. Then the Mega-Church leaders pivoted, and started stumping for left wing causes. This is a classic left wing tactic: co-opt the Church. See “The German Church vs. the Confessing Church” in the Nazi era to observe a clear example of how the left interacts with Christianity. Or you can read the book “Bonhoffer”.,”

[Abigail Adams]

More worrisome is Hybels’/Willow Creek’s promotion of contemplative spirituality, and the emerging church movement, not to mention the whole seeker sensitive thing. You can read more here:

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/willowcreek.htm

If you are in ministry, you will want to read up on the contemplative and emerging church movements, in order to protect your flock from deception. It’s everywhere now! God bless!

[Nevadan]

re: If you are in ministry, you will want to read up on the contemplative and emerging church movements, in order to protect your flock from deception. It’s everywhere now!

I know. It is absolutely amazing to me how many sincere Christians are spending more time listening to the thoughts that run through their minds, attributing to them the “voice of God”, than actually reading and applying the actual Word of God that He gave to us in His Book.

I teach Bible study in a denomination that has had a strong tradition of Bible study. In recent years, however, I have been noticing more and more things in the Sunday School curriculum that smack of contemplative spirituality.