Driscoll saga too public
Seattle pastor resigns due to mounting accusations against his character
Less than two months ago, former Seattle mega-church pastor Mark Driscoll stepped down from his position as lead pastor of Seattle’s Mars Hill Church. Two weeks ago, Driscoll officially announced his resignation from the church he helped to found 18 years ago.
Tough — Former lead Pastor Mark Driscoll resigned from the church he founded. Google Images
Well known for his brash, firebrand preaching style, Driscoll has been at the center of several controversies throughout his pastorate. Allegations of pride, sexism, misogyny, bullying, mishandling of money and plagiarism were leveled against Driscoll. While he repented of every legitimate accusation, a recently surfaced explicit crude forum penned by Driscoll 14 years ago served as a breaking point, leading to his removal from authority by the elders of the church and his subsequent resignation.
The accusations surrounding Driscoll, no matter how true or accurate, and his involvement in the controversies at Mars Hill have clearly had a negative effect on not only American Christian culture, but on the church as a whole.
The first and most harmful aspect of the Driscoll controversies is that they were made public on a nationwide scale. Whether in blogs written by other pastors or letters from elders asking Driscoll to step down, the Driscoll saga has reached an unhealthy level of national scrutiny.
I am not going to lie — I mail my articles published in this paper to my grandmother. She likes getting them, and I like knowing that at least one person reads them. I distinctly remember her texting me after receiving my first article on Driscoll for the Liberty Champion.
She told me she liked the article and agreed with the position I took on extending favor toward Driscoll, but reminded me of a verse in Hebrews 12:6 about how important discipline is in the Christian life and how it comes from God. However, the verse is preceded by a condition in Matthew 18 saying discipline and resolve for interpersonal conflict within the Church must be carried out at a personal and local level.
Many Christians have found themselves split, taking opinions on an issue that should never have left the walls of the Seattle church.
Former Mars Hill worship pastor Dustin Kensrue, who resigned in the aftermath of Driscoll’s removal from authority, reaffirmed the large role that the outside influence has played.
“I would encourage you to not muddy the issues by engaging in personal attacks and becoming bitter,” Kensrue said in an open letter to the Mars Hill congregation announcing his resignation. “I honestly believe that (the Board of Advisors and Accountability and Executive Elders) love you and that they love Jesus. But I also believe that they are blind to what is really going on and blind to what the roots of the problems are. I believe that they are treating the media as their conscience, rather than heeding the voice of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the elders.”
Believers throughout the country have taken sides and fought over the actions of Driscoll. His behavior and subsequent resignation have been popular subjects of conversation and casual judgment throughout Christian culture, and the effect has only resulted in negativity for Driscoll, his local church and, on a much smaller but more important scale, his family.
While addressing a conference of pastors last week at the Gateway Conference in Fort Worth, Texas, Driscoll, a clearly broken man, told the audience of hostility toward his family.
“We’ve moved three times now for safety issues,” Driscoll said. “People arrested at our home, death threats, address posted online, all kinds of things and, more recently, it’s gotten very severe.”
Speaking of a family camping trip, Driscoll said he “woke up in the morning, about 6:30 or so, and huge rocks about the size of baseballs come flying at my kids, 8, 10, 12 years of age.”
While much of Driscoll’s punishment has been self-inflicted, nothing saddens me more than hearing terrible stories like these. The fact that we, as Christians, are so ready to turn and react in harmful ways to members of our body of believers is extremely discouraging.
Gateway Church Pastor Robert Morris introduced the church’s conference, saying, “It is very sad that in the Church, we are the only army that shoots at our wounded.”
While there is no question that what Driscoll did was wrong, the public scale to which his actions and resignation have been elevated has not prompted a spirit of love, forgiveness and restoration, but one of judgment and hurt. The publicity of Driscoll’s actions cannot be reversed, but Christians need to be sure that they are treating him and his discipline in a way that is in accord with Galatians 6:1-2 (ESV).
“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
SMITH is an opinion writer.
I respectfully disagree.
I have heard it said many times that “The circle of forgiveness need only be as big as the circle of offense”
In this case, Mark Driscoll offended on a national, and through the reach of the internet, worldwide level.
Driscoll has always…ALWAYS longed for a bigger venue than his local pulpit. He did anything he could think of, Christlike or not, to gain that venue. His behavior was terrible, and it was terrible in plain view of the entire world. His rebuke came through the same media he used to gain fame. To say that this should have been handled privately for the good of the Greater Church is a mistake. Rallying around Driscoll and silencing those who rebuke him does not help the church’s stance in the eyes of the world…it damages it even further. We rail against the catholic Church for it’s handling of pedophile priests but we want to quickly sweep “one of ours” under the rug so we don’t look bad. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Driscoll needs to remain in the sunlight. It’s troubling to me that he is already speaking at pastors conferences. These accusations were very serious and I don;t know that he represents the type of man I’d want to serve under in a local church. in fact I’m certain of that. I found him immensely offensive. But that aside, from a strict biblical viewpoint, he needs a LOT longer than a few weeks away from the pulpit before he begins to “minister” again. Those were very serious character issues he was guilty of and they don’t just go away after a few days of prayer.