The last ordinary episode of Mike Cosper’s The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast dropped at the end of 2021, though I must confess that I have only just got around to listening to it. And as I look around at the church in 2023, I think it is important to recognise that just because most of us have moved on from talking about the podcast is no guarantee that we have learned anything much or made any needed changes. We are still more than capable of committing Australian versions of the same catastrophic errors. Most of our churches are much less well known, but the hurt to God’s people would be no less serious.
Here are some thoughts on some enduring lessons we should learn from those dramatic events in Seattle a decade ago.
Be Careful When Focussing on Numbers
Talking about numbers is important, but risky. One of the recurring notes all through the podcast’s narrative is the growing preoccupation with the numbers of conversions, membership, multi-site campuses, sermon downloads and book sales. It seems difficult to focus on numbers and people at the same time. Mars Hill lead pastor Mark Driscoll is reported to have insisted: “I can’t learn from or submit to John Piper because my church is bigger than his.” This is one of the most bewildering moments in the story to me. And yet still today, even here in Australia, we persist in evaluating ministries and leaders on the basis of the size of their church. That is a very dangerous thing, because principled pragmatism can so very easily give way to brute pragmatism. People can become a means to an end. And we can can be incentivised to excuse the flaws of those who seem to be producing church growth.
Do Not Excuse the Gifted
Giftedness is no excuse for a lack of godliness. I’m not really sure we have grasped this yet. The situation at Mars Hill took so long to come to a head because of the remarkable giftedness of Mark Driscoll (and others) in so many areas. His ‘eccentricities’ were excused not just because his church grew, but because he himself did so many things in ways which were refreshing. The trouble was that he was also acting in ways which damaged many others. We must be bold and principled and not give in to the temptation to excuse the moral flaws of exceptionally capable ministry leaders.
Do Not Assume All Young Leaders Are Teachable
I was personally struck by a comment that Colin Hansen made about Mark Driscoll’s involvement with The Gospel Coalition in its early days in the United States. Hansen pointed out that it never occurred to anyone that Driscoll didn’t realise he had so much to learn from Keller, Carson, Piper and the rest. It seems that everyone just assumed that as a younger leader he would want to learn from those who were ahead of him. Driscoll himself managed to sound just ‘humble’ enough to get in the room with those with significant influence. It also helped that most of those leaders never really saw him in action in his own natural habitat. But what should we do with all this? Teachability should be a key criterion for anyone entering ministry or leadership in the church. We should look for it, screen for it, not just assume it.
Beware of Manipulation
As the story goes on, the podcast mounts more and more evidence that Driscoll was a master of manipulation. In particular, he was not slow to say that God had told him to do x, y or z. I was reminded forcefully of the damage this kind of behaviour can cause, and it did make me stop and think. We may not use the same kind of language as Driscoll, but it is all too easy to push younger brothers and sisters in the directions we want them to go by appeals to ‘spiritual wisdom’ (almost always ours!), or by telling them they are ‘blokes worth watching’ or women who are clearly ‘gifted for gospel ministry’. We should take care.
Uphold Formal Accountability
The apparent refusal of Mark Driscoll to submit to anyone during his years at Mars Hill is staggering. From the persistent moves to centralise power, to the brutal treatment of anyone whose loyalty could be questioned, to the celebration of the number of people who have been thrown off (or run over by!) the bus, this is a story of an independent spirit gone feral. Whatever our polity, we need to do our best to make sure that this cannot happen. For those of us in connectional denominations, we need to make sure we really are being Presbyterian or Anglican. For those who are independents, we need to make sure that our constitutions are fit for purpose, and do not allow individuals to grab power and abuse it. It’s vital to have the ability to deal with conflict and the misuse of power (especially by the senior leader) built into our systems and policies well ahead of time.
Remember that Toxic Masculinity Is a Thing—and Kill It Off!
Sometimes I think we forget that there is often a good reason for egalitarians pillorying complementarians, and equating their view of the roles of men and women as abusive. It’s because Reformed evangelicals don’t have a great record in this area. Listening to the podcast reminded me of that over and over again. Some of the ways in which Driscoll spoke about men and women, sex and marriage have not aged well. At the time, it may have sounded like straight-talking, fresh, edgy and courageous—today it sounds awful. Inexcusable. Abusive. But the thing we need to remember is that Driscoll was speaking to (and as part of) our ‘tribe’. We listened to him, giving him a platform. We need to own this, repent where needed, and set ourselves to make sure that we never repeat his horrible errors, but live out a generous, positive, loving and respectful complementarianism which has been purged of every iota of chauvinism.
Pursue Humility Above All Else
The enduring lesson for me, however, is a simple one. We need to guard against pride and pursue humility above all else. The story of Mars Hill, it seems to me, is a story of systemic pride. The problem is that we can all create an ecosystem where boasting sounds reasonable; where hubris seems like visionary leadership; where ruthlessness is demanded by gospel priorities. We must not take that road. Someone told me this week of another failed leader who was well known for never saying sorry to anyone for anything. This too should not be.
As I finished the podcast, I was strongly reminded of the words of James, which captures beautifully the heart of what surely we need to learn from the sad events which came to a head in 2014 at Mars Hill Church:
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says,
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:4–10)
