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Mars Hill Church

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Coordinates: 47°39′48″N 122°22′26″W / 47.66333°N 122.37389°W / 47.66333; -122.37389
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This article is about the church in Seattle, Washington. For the church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, see Mars Hill Bible Church.
Mars Hill Church
Map
47°39′48″N 122°22′26″W / 47.66333°N 122.37389°W / 47.66333; -122.37389[1]
LocationSeattle, Washington
Country United States
DenominationReformed
TraditionEvangelical
Weekly attendance7,500 (2008)[2]
Websitewww.marshillchurch.org
History
Founded1996
Founder(s)Mark Driscoll, Lief Moi and Mike Gunn
Clergy
Pastor(s)Jamie Munson (Lead Pastor)
Mark Driscoll (Preaching and Theology Pastor)
Tim Beltz (Central Operations Pastor)
Scott Thomas (Pastor of Church Planting)
Rick Melson (Church Network Director)
Laity
Music group(s)Mint
The Brothers Of The Empty Tomb
The Northern Conspiracy
Sons of Thunder
E-Pop
Red Letter
Ex Nihilo
File:Logo mars hill church.jpg

'Mars Hill Church' is a Reformed Christian megachurch located in Seattle, Washington.[3] The church is theologically conservative. Services are offered at multiple locations in the city; the church podcasts content of weekend services, as well as conferences on the Internet[4] with more than 100,000 downloads every week.[5] In 2008 approximately 7,500 people attended services at Mars Hill Church every week (23% more than in 2007).[2]

History

The early years

Mars Hill Church was founded in spring 1996[6] by Mark Driscoll, (at that time he was 25 years old), Lief Moi and Mike Gunn.[7] The church started at the apartment of Driscoll and his wife Grace with the blessing of Antioch Bible Church and the exodus of about 30 of its students[8]. They quickly outgrew the apartment so they started meeting in the youth rooms of another church.[6] The church had its first official service October 1996, with 160 people attending;[9] attendance quickly fell to around 60 because of discussions about the visions and mission of the church.[10]

In the spring of 1997 the church expanded to two evening services. The transition to two different congregations resulted in some anxiety and stir by members who didn't want the church to grow bigger, but it resulted in growing attendance.[11] Later that same year Mark Driscoll was invited to speak at a pastors' conference in California.[12] The speech Driscoll made inspired many and had great influence on the emerging church movement and changed the focus from reaching Generation X with the gospel, to reaching the postmodern world.[13] The speech resulted in overwhelming media coverage of Mars Hill Church and Mark Driscoll,[14] and put Driscoll in connection with Leadership Network.

Structure and organization

The church continued growing and it became obvious that the church needed organization and leadership. Inspired by Alan Roxburgh, Driscoll settled on an emerging and missional ecclesiology,[15] and a complementarian view on women in ministry. The church installed the first team of elders and they took over much of the work teaching classes, counseling and training new leaders.[16] Furthermore the church started a course for new members, called the Gospel Class, to ensure that members were focused on the mission of the church and that they agreed with the central doctrinal statements of the church. The class has been running every quarter since.[17] In the fall of 1999 the church had grown to 350 in attendance every week and was able to pay Driscoll full time.[18]

Multisite church

In 2003 Mars Hill Church moved into a renovated hardware store in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle.[19] In 2006, in an effort to reduce the overcrowding at its services, Mars Hill opened its first satellite campus in Shoreline. This change also marked their transition to a multi-site church, using video sermons as well as other multimedia improvements to the church's web site to connect the campuses[19]. Later in 2006, Mars Hill acquired two new properties, in West Seattle and Wedgwood which later became their West Seattle and Lake City campuses.[19][20]

New locations of Mars Hill have been added using multi-campus "meta-church" structure connecting via high-definition video to the remote campuses during weekly worship services. This format has allowed each location to retain local ministries while benefiting from the programs afforded to them by the larger body - all under the leadership of the main campus. A fourth, and then a fifth, campus opened in 2007 and in 2008, a sixth location was added in downtown Seattle. A seventh campus, in Olympia, Washington, opened in Fall 2008. [21]

In 2008 the church launched an online community-building network, called The City, to improve communication on all levels in the church. It was such a success that The City was purchased by the Christian publishing brand, Zondervan, before Christmas 2008.[22]

Campuses

Mars Hill Church currently meets at seven locations (Ballard, Shoreline, West Seattle, Lake City, Bellevue, Downtown and Olympia) with a total of twenty services each Sunday.[23]

  • Ballard Main Campus is led by pastor Bubba Jennings and is where pastor Mark Driscoll preaches live. The preaching is sent simultaneously to the other six campuses.
  • Bellevue Campus is led by pastor Jessie Winkler.
  • Downtown Seattle Campus is led by pastor Tim Gaydos and is located in what formerly housed the controversial Tabella Nightclub.[24]
  • Lake City Campus (formerly called the "Wedgwood" Campus) is led by pastor James Harleman
  • Shoreline Campus is led by pastor Steve Tompkins
  • West Seattle Campus is led by pastor Adam Sinnett
  • Olympia Campus is led by pastor Steven J Mulkey

Growth and influence

In 2007 Mars Hill Church was rated as the second most church planting church,[25] the 9th most innovative church,[26] and it was the 23rd fastest growing church in in the United States in 2007 with a growth in attendance of 38% in one year.[27] Recent reports that rate by relevance and influence concluded that Mars Hill Church is the eighth most influential church in the United States.[28][29]

Mars Hill Global

Mars Hill launched a new Web site that discusses their mission for the next ten years including future expansion plans of church.[30][31][32]

Style of sermons

Driscoll's casual, but direct approach style of sermons has resonated in the Pacific Northwest, a region considered the least churched in the nation, according to the North American Religion Atlas.[33] Driscoll's style, he tells, is influenced by stand-up comedians like Chris Rock.[34] Driscoll preaches series like Vintage Jesus, Religion Saves and Nine Other Misconceptions, The Peasant Princess, and Trial, focusing on a book of the Bible or topical sermons. The sermons are often delivered with a Systematic Theology approach.

Rob Wall, a professor at Seattle Pacific University, explains the success for the church in Mark Driscoll's direct answers to complicated spiritual questions:

"His style of public rhetoric is very authoritative. Whether it's about the Bible, or about culture, he is very clear and definitive."[3]

In October 2008, Driscoll's sermon style and delivery was described as:

The 38-year-old Driscoll has acquired the nickname "The Cussing Pastor", as if mere foul language were enough to build a following. (If it were that easy, the pastors of Seattle's struggling mainline churches would gladly salt-up their language.) But Driscoll's a tremendously skilled communicator. Pacing the stage at the main Ballard campus, he delivered a sermon on marriage roles as he saw them set forth in the Song of Solomon. He told stories from his own marriage, offered statistics, and dropped jokes without their feeling forced. Every few minutes he would sniff in a thoughtful, practiced sort of way. This untucked, down-to-earth demeanor was the opposite of a huckster televangelist, but polished in its own way. It makes the guy easy to listen to.[35]

Driscoll has been widely inspired by other theologians including Augustine (especially on predestination), John Calvin (especially on city transformation), Martin Luther (especially on the gospel), along with the Puritans, Jonathan Edwards and, Charles Spurgeon. And he finds himself in connection with contemporary theologians including Lesslie Newbigin, Tim Keller, Ed Stetzer, J. I. Packer, Francis Schaeffer, John Stott, Wayne Grudem, Bruce Ware, Don Carson, John Piper, John MacArthur, David Wells and Driscoll's co-writer Gerry Breshears.[36]

Controversy

Mars Hill Church and its leadership have encountered criticism, and has given cause to controversies about the church, in a number of occasions.[35] The church has occasionally experienced violent reactions; a man attending an evening service, October 8 2006, attacked Driscoll on stage with a machete.[37] This, and other similar events, resulted in the church hiring volunteer security.[citation needed]

Protest have sparked as a result of comments made by Pastor Driscoll relating to the role of women in society, saying that they considered some of Driscoll's rhetoric demeaning and pejorative against women[38]. When the Evangelical leader Ted Haggard left New Life Church in Colorado Driscoll raised an uproar with the comment on his blog: "A wife who lets herself go and is not sexually available to her husband in the ways that the Song of Songs is so frank about is not responsible for her husband's sin, but she may not be helping him either."[35] Driscoll later apologized for his statement.[38] When the Episcopal Church elected a woman as its bishop, Driscoll wrote on his blog, "If Christian males do not man up soon, the Episcopalians may vote a fluffy bunny rabbit as their next bishop to lead God's men."[38]

As a result of the large growth of the church, their bylaws, which outline how the church is organised, have been rewritten on a few occasions. The outcome of this process in November 2007 led to changes in leadership organization. The new bylaws installed Lead pastor Jamie Munson and preaching pastor Mark Driscoll and pastors Scott Thomas and Tim Beltz as "executive pastors" who lead the objectives of the church under the authority of the Board of Directors. The change precipitated the firing of two pastors.

"Mars Hill leaders said in forum postings that one fired pastor was removed, in part, for "displaying an unhealthy distrust in the senior leadership." They said the other was removed for "disregarding the accepted elder protocol for the bylaw deliberation period" and "verbally attacking the lead pastor" — charges the fired pastor denied, the leaders added." [39]

Some have criticized the church for its harshness in dealing with dissent within its leadership. Citing as an example an incident in 2007 during the church reorganization in 2007 where two elders criticized the plan as consolidating power in the hands of Driscoll and his closest aides. When one of the elders refused to repent he was shunned, and reportedly a member who complained on an online message board had his membership suspended[40].

Acts 29 Church Planting Network

Mars Hill Church is hosting the Acts 29 Church Planting Network[41] It is an interdenominational network of pastors and churches from around the world whose focus is to help qualified leaders plant new churches and rejuvenate declining churches. Acts 29 is currently led by Scott Thomas, one of the four Mars Hill executive pastors.[42] In 2008 the network helped plant 43 churches[43] with a total of more than 200 churchplants through the history of the church.[25]

The Resurgence

TheResurgence.com[44] is an outgrowth of the teaching ministry at Mars Hill Church. The intent of the ministry is to provide a large repository of free missional theology resources in hopes of serving the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ in culture. Additionally, Resurgence announced that starting in 2008 they will begin publishing a line of books called Re:Lit (Resurgence Literature) in partnership with Crossway.

Notes

  1. ^ Only coordinates for Ballard Main Campus.
  2. ^ a b "Mars Hill Church Stewardship Update" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-12-13.
  3. ^ a b Rose Egge (2008-07-14). "Mars Hill Church one of nation's fastest growing". Ballard News-Tribune. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
  4. ^ "Mars Hill Church Media Library". Mars Hill Church. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
  5. ^ Ronald E. Keener. "Seattle is among the least churched cities in America". Church Executive. Retrieved October 4, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  6. ^ a b Driscoll, Confessions, p 38.
  7. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 54.
  8. ^ From the section Story of http://www.harambeechurch2.org/aboutHarambee.php
  9. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 76: "Between 160 and 200 had shown up for our big kick off service."
  10. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 82-83: "Though our church was brand-new, we had already lost focus of our mission [...] Our attendance had declined to about sixty or seventy people..."
  11. ^ Dricoll, Confessions, p 93: "Since we still could not find a Sunday morning location, we decided to split our 6:00 p.m. service into two sevices [...] When I told our people that we were going to grow beyond 150 people and expand to two services, some of them freaked out."
  12. ^ "Generation X...Three Myths and Realities" (PDF). Leadership Network. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
  13. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 98: "And it shifted the conversation from reaching Generation X to the emerging mission of reaching postmodern culture."
  14. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 98: "I was not prepared for the media onslaught that came shortly thereafter. Before I knew it, National Public Radio was interviewing me, Mother Jones magazine did a feature on our church, Pat Robertson's 700 Club gave me a plaque for being America's "Church of the Week" and did a television story on us, other media outlets started asking for interviews, large denominations were asking me to be a consultant..."
  15. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 108: "I began wrestling with his basic concept and came up with the following emerging and missional ecclesiology, which has governed our church ever since."
  16. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 110-111.
  17. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 112: "The Gospel Class is a series of Bible studies that I taught to ground our people in our essential doctrines and missiology... The class has run every quarter since it began."
  18. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 113-116.
  19. ^ a b c "Mars Hill - History". Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  20. ^ "Mars Hill Church". Retrieved 2008-08-08. {{cite web}}: Text "Lake City » Welcome to Mars Hill Lake City" ignored (help)
  21. ^ Parishioners connect at new campus of Mars Hill Church
  22. ^ "Zondervan Acquires Online Community-Building Resource for Churches - The City". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
  23. ^ "Mars Hill - Locations and services". Retrieved 2008-10-04.
  24. ^ Bhatt, Sanjay. "Church will replace controversial Belltown nightclub Tabella." The Seattle Times. October 22, 2007.
  25. ^ a b "2007 America's Top 25 Multiplying Churches" (PDF). Outreach Magazine's. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  26. ^ "The 25 Most Innovative Churches in America" (PDF). Outreach Magazine's. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  27. ^ "101 Fastest-Growing U.S. Churches" (PDF). Outreach Magazine's. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
  28. ^ "50 Most Influential Churches in America of 2007". 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  29. ^ 50 Most Influential Churches
  30. ^ http://marshillglobal.com/ Mars Hill Global
  31. ^ Mars Hill Global on Twitter
  32. ^ Coram Deo
  33. ^ "North American Religious Atlas". The Polis Center. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
  34. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 70.
  35. ^ a b c "Evangelism meets Seattle: the view from Mars Hill". Crosscut.com. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
  36. ^ "One to One with Mark Driscoll". New Frontiers Magazine. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
  37. ^ Driscoll, Mark (January 31, 2009). Vintage Jesus. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books. pp. 22–23. ISBN 1433501309. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  38. ^ a b c "Mars Hill pastor responds to uproar over blog posts on women". Seattlepi.com. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
  39. ^ "Firing of pastors roils Mars Hill Church". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  40. ^ "Who Would Jesus Smackdown?". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
  41. ^ Acts 29 Network
  42. ^ "Mars Hill Church Pastors" (PDF). Mars Hill Church. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
  43. ^ "Mars Hill Church Annual Report 2007-2008" (PDF). Mars Hill Church. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
  44. ^ TheResurgence.com

References

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