I put my fingers to keyboard nervously. If you follow certain things on Twitter you could not fail to notice that the twitter sphere has been exploding with blogs and news articles following the most recent exposure of Mark Driscoll who is now accused not only of plagiarism but of paying a huge amount to a company for his place on the New York Times bestsellers list. Along with these exposures are numerous blogs that suggest Christians should remain silent, avoid making judgements and above all stop communicating about the whole thing on the Internet. Yet silence is one of the problems that has been exposed in this whole scandal; one thing that has emerged from all of this is that many people have had serious concerns about Mark Driscoll’s ministry at Mars Hill since at least 2007 [1] but did not address them publicly [2] . He came as a speaker to the London Men’s Convention in 2011. Knowing when to speak out and when be to be silent is a very hard judgement call; sadly it is often those that speak out that are accused of causing dissention whilst those accused hide, as Carl R. Trueman commented: ‘the critics were to be treated as the problem, but the band was to play on.’
I have had some awareness of the Driscoll plagiarism issue but knew nothing of the concerns about discipline in his church and the sacking of elders until this latest media storm. Plagiarism is serious; if the students I work with did it they would be thrown off their courses and academics would likely lose their jobs. But the voices that seem to have received little support are the Mars Hills members who have left. It is very lonely to speak out against concerns of unloving authoritarianism in a pastor. I know because we have been there. As a family we received private support from brothers and sisters from other churches which was a lifeline. The Lord taught us so much through it all that I thank Him for lovingly teaching us in this way but when I read the story of the treatment of some of the Elders at Mars Hill my heart ached because we too knew that pain. A minister that teaches the truth but bullies his congregation is very dangerous and precious children of God get hurt. We watched a succession of hurt people leave the place we were once part of and wished that we could issue a health warning. We were given two conflicting pieces of advice that sums up the dilemma very well. The first was that we should say nothing, we should not seek vindication and instead trust that God would vindicate us so leave it all to him. The second was to address the issue because we should confront ungodliness for the sake of others. At the time we addressed it the best we could and raised it with those we thought should know. Leaders we trusted from outside the Church have tried to deal with the difficulties but as the pastor was not accountable to anyone this proved unsuccessful. We pray that God will soften this pastor’s heart and he may learn gentleness. We fear that this has not happened but are now too distant from the situation to really know.
In America it has been primarily the concerns over Mark Driscoll’s publishing deals that led to this latest public exposure of his ministry. The issues that do not seem to be being addressed are the hurts described by the group called Mars Hill survivors yet these are surely the ones we need to be concerned for. Maybe at last they can experience some vindication, be pointed to the grace of Jesus and possibly in the future experience some reconciliation [4]. I know people who have been so hurt through an authoritarian ministry that they have given up on Jesus. I know others who have rejected conservative evangelicalism and become more and more liberal because of the unloving application of doctrine. People can carry this damage for years and it passes on to the next generation. Those outside of the Church look on and condemn not only the Church but also Christ himself. We must take these problems seriously. Our ministers need to be accountable and at times we will need to speak up.
Should people speak up on the Internet? Not always, but Mark Driscoll's ministry has and will continue to be conducted online – it is a public ministry. My daughter has read his books, his ministry has an impact even in England therefore we have a responsibility to express our concerns. We need to speak with care and with love but we need to protect the sheep. The best protection we can give is to equip our congregations to be discerning about what they hear or read – so they can be like the Bereans who examined the scriptures to see if what Paul said was true. But we need to speak out for the sake of the gospel and admit the wrongs that occur in our churches. If we don’t Christ’s name is brought in disrepute. Our leaders must be above reproach it matters so much!
These are some of dangers signs we must be aware of:
• A lack of gentleness (1 Timothy 2:2-3, 2 Timothy 2:24-25).
• A church leader that is not accountable to anyone.
• A personality led ministry.
• A succession of hurt Christians leaving the church.
Our Gospel Partnerships may find themselves needing to address things that they would rather not. We have many new young leaders, and increasing numbers of church plants – these ministries are vulnerable, especially those built with an eye to the Driscoll model. We must support them. It is easy to take swipes at those with whom we obviously disagree but very hard to deal with these issues when they are close to home. The reformed evangelical movement in the States is taking a battering at the moment but I’m aware we may have a plank in our own eye. We must learn when to speak up ourselves.
Finally what this whole sad story teaches us is that being a pastor is difficult, we must pray for our leaders – it is tough to live lives that are above reproach but essential for the sake of the church and the world we want to reach.
[2] http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/03/mark-driscolls-problems-and-ours
[3] http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2014/03/celebrity-pastors-a-retrospect.php