Goodbye, Mars Hill: Mark Driscoll’s Multisite Empire Will Sell Properties and Dissolve
Come New Year’s Day, 13 churches will go their separate ways or shut down.
Marking its own Reformation Day of sorts, Mars Hill Church will dissolve Mark Driscoll’s multisite network and let each of its remaining 13 churches go their own way.
Founded in 1996, the Seattle-based megachurch planted 15 satellite sites across five states, its passion for creating new churches further evidenced by Driscoll founding the Acts 29 network. By New Year’s Day, the multisite organization and the Mars Hill name will be no more.
“Rather than remaining a centralized multi-site church with video-led teaching distributed to multiple locations, the best future for each of our existing local churches is for them to become autonomous self-governed entities,” Dave Bruskas, primary teaching pastor, announced today to the Mars Hill family. “This means that each of our locations has an opportunity to become a new church, rooted in the best of what Mars Hill has been in the past, and independently led and run by its own local elder teams.”
In the aftermath of Driscoll’s surprise resignation, the lead pastor of each current site has three options to choose from by January 1:
(1) becoming an independent, self-governed church
(2) merging with an existing church to create one independent, self-governed church
(3) disbanding as a church and shepherding current members to find other local church homes
Meanwhile, Mars Hill as an organization will dissolve in four steps:
(1) All of Mars Hill’s existing church properties will either be sold, or the loans on the individual properties will be assumed by the independent churches, subject to approval by the lender
(2) all central staff will be compensated for their work, and then released from their employment
(3) if …
Goodbye, Mars Hill: Mark Driscoll’s Multisite Empire Will Sell Properties and Dissolve
Come New Year’s Day, 13 churches will go their separate ways or shut down.
Marking its own Reformation Day of sorts, Mars Hill Church will dissolve Mark Driscoll’s multisite network and let each of its remaining 13 churches go their own way.
Founded in 1996, the Seattle-based megachurch planted 15 satellite sites across five states, its passion for creating new churches further evidenced by Driscoll founding the Acts 29 network. By New Year’s Day, the multisite organization and the Mars Hill name will be no more.
“Rather than remaining a centralized multi-site church with video-led teaching distributed to multiple locations, the best future for each of our existing local churches is for them to become autonomous self-governed entities,” Dave Bruskas, primary teaching pastor, announced today to the Mars Hill family. “This means that each of our locations has an opportunity to become a new church, rooted in the best of what Mars Hill has been in the past, and independently led and run by its own local elder teams.”
In the aftermath of Driscoll’s surprise resignation, the lead pastor of each current site has three options to choose from by January 1:
(1) becoming an independent, self-governed church
(2) merging with an existing church to create one independent, self-governed church
(3) disbanding as a church and shepherding current members to find other local church homes
Meanwhile, Mars Hill as an organization will dissolve in four steps:
(1) All of Mars Hill’s existing church properties will either be sold, or the loans on the individual properties will be assumed by the independent churches, subject to approval by the lender
(2) all central staff will be compensated for their work, and then released from their employment
(3) if …
News: Was Driscoll’s Board a Problem?
Outside Insight: Some say it’s the new norm. Others don’t consider it biblical.
As Mark Driscoll leaves Mars Hill Church, one question may continue: Will the Seattle megachurch’s governance help or hurt as it moves forward?
Current and former pastors levied charges against Driscoll this summer, including verbal abuse and lying about manipulating a bestseller list.
Driscoll took an “extended focused break” in August after the Acts 29 church planting network removed him from membership. “We no longer believe [Mars Hill’s board] is able to execute the plan of reconciliation” with critics, wrote president Matt Chandler. Days later, speaker Paul Tripp explained he had resigned from Mars Hill’s Board of Advisors and Accountability (BOAA) because it was an “inadequate replacement for a biblically functioning internal elder board that is the way God designed his church to be led.”
Mars Hill leadership had comprised 24 elders (mostly church staff and members). In 2007, the structure became the seven-member BOAA: Driscoll, two other executive pastors, and four independent members. Mars Hill explained it was seeking greater objectivity in the board. After Tripp and another independent member (Chicago megachurch pastor James MacDonald) resigned this summer, Mars Hill replaced them with two Seattle businessmen who are members, and created an additional elder board involving seven lead pastors.
A deeper question raised by the Mars Hill saga asks if nondenominational churches can better govern their congregation and disciple their pastors with elders drawn from within the church body, or if they should seek outside expertise.
The external accountability board is increasingly prevalent, said Scott Thumma, a megachurch researcher at Hartford Seminary. …
News: Was Driscoll’s Board a Problem?
Outside Insight: Some say it’s the new norm. Others don’t consider it biblical.
As Mark Driscoll leaves Mars Hill Church, one question may continue: Will the Seattle megachurch’s governance help or hurt as it moves forward?
Current and former pastors levied charges against Driscoll this summer, including verbal abuse and lying about manipulating a bestseller list.
Driscoll took an “extended focused break” in August after the Acts 29 church planting network removed him from membership. “We no longer believe [Mars Hill’s board] is able to execute the plan of reconciliation” with critics, wrote president Matt Chandler. Days later, speaker Paul Tripp explained he had resigned from Mars Hill’s Board of Advisors and Accountability (BOAA) because it was an “inadequate replacement for a biblically functioning internal elder board that is the way God designed his church to be led.”
Mars Hill leadership had comprised 24 elders (mostly church staff and members). In 2007, the structure became the seven-member BOAA: Driscoll, two other executive pastors, and four independent members. Mars Hill explained it was seeking greater objectivity in the board. After Tripp and another independent member (Chicago megachurch pastor James MacDonald) resigned this summer, Mars Hill replaced them with two Seattle businessmen who are members, and created an additional elder board involving seven lead pastors.
A deeper question raised by the Mars Hill saga asks if nondenominational churches can better govern their congregation and disciple their pastors with elders drawn from within the church body, or if they should seek outside expertise.
The external accountability board is increasingly prevalent, said Scott Thumma, a megachurch researcher at Hartford Seminary. …
What Evangelicals Think About Scotland’s Independence Vote
(UPDATED) After narrow “No” vote, Scottish evangelicals say churches will take lead in building the ‘new Scotland.’
Update (Sept 19): A narrow majority of Scottish voters (55%) voted no Thursday on independence from the United Kingdom. In the wake of the contentious referendum—which saw more than 80 percent of voters participate—the Evangelical Alliance Scotland called for Scots to “unite and build a new Scotland with Christian values at the heart.”
“The Christian gospel provides the catalyst for reconciliation, and as Christians we recognise our responsibility to model grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation to our fellow citizens,” said national director Fred Drummond in a statement. “During this campaign all Scots have rallied around a flag. But as Christians our identity is not based on a flag or a national boundary but on the radical grace of being adopted into God’s family.”
Drummond also exhorted the referendum’s victors to graciously embrace Scottish nationalists and challenge themselves to “love our neighbour.”
“As Scots now consider what kind of nation will now emerge from this campaign, the church must lead—and be allowed to lead—the way to ensure the new Scotland is one that reflects God’s values in the economy, the family, our communities and our environment,” he stated. “As Christians we passionately believe that these values will shape our nation for good.”
The Evangelical Alliance Scotland’s full reaction statement is at bottom.
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As Scotland votes today on independence from the United Kingdom, Christians lack consensus on whether Yes or No is the way to go.
A survey released last month by the UK’s Evangelical Alliance suggested that British evangelicals at large would disapprove of Scotland’s …
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