Dramatic Changes at Mars Hill Church: Multi-Site Model Out; Local Autonomous Churches In

The letter from Mars Hill suggests that after it spins off or shuts down the sattelite churches, that Mars Hill itself will shut down. The letter states, “(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 any funds remain after the winding down and satisfaction of Mars Hill business affairs, they will be gifted as seed money to the newly independent churches, then, (4) the existing Mars Hill Church organization will be dissolved.”

Does this mean that the mother ship is going to go away for good, or close and reemerge as something else? Or does it only mean that the Mars Hill centralization will disband?

Look at the title in the Relevant Magazine article: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/slices/mars-hill-church-will-close-its-…

https://marshill.com/2014/10/31/local-mission-local-churches

This was always the plan. Mark said in multiple sermons that if he left this is what happened. There is no real news here other than that things are going according to the succession plan of him serving out his lifetime in ministry at Mars Hill.

It is an acknowledgement that it takes a celebrity preacher, in some cases, to keep multi-site churches going. When he is gone, the ministry unwinds.

[Shaynus]

This was always the plan. Mark said in multiple sermons that if he left this is what happened. There is no real news here other than that things are going according to the succession plan of him serving out his lifetime in ministry at Mars Hill.

[Chip Van Emmerik]

Shaynus wrote:

This was always the plan. Mark said in multiple sermons that if he left this is what happened. There is no real news here other than that things are going according to the succession plan of him serving out his lifetime in ministry at Mars Hill.

I never saw this before. On what grounds would this be offered as a biblical plan for the future of a local church?

None. It was all practical/pragmatic. Not defending the idea, just saying it’s not surprising.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2014/october/goodbye-mars-hi…

(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 any funds remain after the winding down and satisfaction of Mars Hill business affairs, they will be gifted as seed money to the newly independent churches
(4) the existing Mars Hill Church organization will be dissolved

It strikes me that if Shaynus is correct that this was always the plan for Driscoll, he needs to come to grips with the reality that by usually taking center stage, he was actively preventing other men from exercising their spiritual gift of preaching while he prevented himself from learning how to minister to people on an individual level. Yikes. Double yikes in that it would seem that the reasons for his downfall have a lot to do with his failure to minister to people on an individual level and learn to relate to them.

Nothing pretty about this, but there is at least a tiny silver lining in that Driscoll realized that it wasn’t just anybody that could draw that many people to the pulpit.

Remarkable letter from numerous Mars Hill elders to two of the victims of mistreatment. I appreciate that the acted publicly.

http://joyfulexiles.com/2014/11/03/seven-years-later-18-mars-hill-elders-issue-letter-of-confession-to-bent-meyer-paul-petry-and-the-church/

Anything that makes the local news, both print and TV, in the Seattle area, qualifies as a bang. Wow.

The wonderful one hoss shay ran for about 20 years, not 100.

Anyone else want to tackle if it’s fire or ice?

I hold with those who favor fire, ChristyM. :)

Seriously, though - this is great news. I’m glad to see the MH elder/leadership team address this publicly and admit that they sinned and they were wrong. Those baby steps I mentioned before are beginning to look like a full on trot or run at this rate. Good for them.

For a slightly different take - http://rethinkxian.com/2014/11/11/mars-hill-church-a-cautionary-tale/.