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Mars Hill Church
Location1401 NW Leary Way, Seattle, WA 98107
CountryUnited States
DenominationEvangelical Christian
Websitewww.marshillchurch.org
History
Founded1996
Founder(s)Mark Driscoll, Lief Moi and Mike Gunn
Clergy
Pastor(s)Mark Driscoll

Mars Hill Church is an Evangelical Christian megachurch located in Seattle, Washington.[1] The church is theologically conservative, and culturally liberal. Services are offered at multiple locations in the city; the church podcasts content of weekend services, as well as conferences and special topical teaching on the Internet with more than 100,000 downloads every week.[2][3] Approximately 5,500 attend services at Mars Hill Church every week.[4]

History

The early years

Mars Hill Church was founded in the spring 1996[5] by Mark Driscoll, (at that time he was 25 years old), Lief Moi and Mike Gunn.[6] The church started at the apartment of Driscoll and his wife Grace, but it was quickly too small, so they met in the youth rooms of another church.[5] The church had its first official service October 1996, with 160 persons attending;[7] attendance quickly fell to around 60 because of discussions about the visions and mission of the church.[8]

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.[9] Later same year Mark Driscoll was invited to speak at a pastors conference in Califonia.[10] 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 reach the postmodern world.[11] The speech resulted in overwhelming media coverage of Mars Hill Church and Mark Driscoll,[12] 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 emergent and missionnal ecclesiology,[13] and a complementarian view on woman in ministry. The church installed the first team of elders and they took over alot of the work teaching classes, counseling and training new leaders.[14] Furtermore 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 in the cenral doctrinal statements of the church. The class has been running every quarter since.[15] In the fall of 1999 the church had grown to 350 in attendance every week and was now able to pay Driscoll full time.[16]

Multisite church

In 2003 Mars Hill Church moved into a renovated hardware store in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle.[17]

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 their multi-church format, using video sermons as well as other multimedia improvements to the church's web site to connect the campuses[17]. Later in 2006, Mars Hill acquired two new properties, in West Seattle and Wedgwood which later became their West Seattle and Lake City campuses[17][18].

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. [19]

Growth and influence

In 2007 Mars Hill Church was rated as the second most church planting church,[20] the 9th most innovative church,[21] and it was the 23rd fastest growing church in in the United States in 2007 with a growth in attendance by 38% in one year.[22]

Recent reports that rate by relevance and influence concluded Mars Hill Church to be the eighth most influential church in the United States.[23][24]

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.[25]

  • Ballard Main Campus & Equipping Center is lead by pastor Bubba Jennings and is where pastor Mark Driscoll is preaching from. The preaching is sent simultaniously to the other campuses.
  • Bellevue Campus is lead by pastor Jessie Winkler.
  • Downtown Seattle Campus is lead by pastor Tim Gaydos and is located in what formerly housed the controversial Tabella Nightclub. The place had a bad reputation and Mayor Greg Nickels attempted to reduce violence at Seattle bars and nightclubs.[26]
  • Lake City Campus (formerly called the "Wedgwood" Campus) is lead by pastor James Harleman
  • Shoreline Campus is lead by pastor Steve Tompkins
  • West Seattle Campus is lead by pastor Adam Sinnett
  • Olympia Campus is lead by pastor Gary Shavey

Style of Sermons

Pastor Mark 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.[27]

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."[1]

Controversy

In an un-churched and liberal community such as Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, Mars Hill was bound to stir controversy. The church and its leadership have encountered criticism on several levels.

Media Image

Pastor Mark Driscoll's communication style has been described as follows:

Driscoll can be blunt and disarmingly honest, which occasionally gets him into trouble. Like the time a couple years ago when Ted Haggard left New Life Church in Colorado under a morals cloud and Driscoll raised a furor with a comment about pastors’ wives letting themselves go in appearance.[28]

Leadership Changes

As a result of the large growth of the church, their bylaws, which outline how the church is organized, have been rewritten once a year. The outcome of this process in November 2007 lead to changes in leadership organization and the firing of two pastors.

Church leaders said the bylaw changes were made because the governing structure of the church had grown so large that it was impractical to have that many people governing its affairs. "Removing any staff member is unfortunate, and we are actively seeking to shepherd our church body through their understanding of this." [29]

Still, members lamented the loss of the two pastors and emotions flared.

Protests

Protest have sparked as a result of comments made by Pastor Driscoll related to the role of women in society. People Against Fundamentalism organized a gathering at the church's Ballard site to call wider public attention to Driscoll.

Protest organizer Paul Chapman, who also founded a group called People Against Fundamentalism, said he and others in his camp considered some of Driscoll's rhetoric "demeaning and pejorative" against women. "I found it degrading and completely against what's taught in the Bible" -- that people should love and respect all others, said Amelia Pitts, one of a group of about 20 who showed up for the scheduled protest Sunday before it was canceled.[30]

Pastor Driscoll did apologize for his remarks stating he was "Driscoll 'sad and sorry' some took issue."[30]

Acts 29 Church Planting Network

Mars Hill Church is home to the Acts 29 ministry headquarters which is a[31] network of pastors from around the nation and 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 five Mars Hill elders.[32]

The Resurgence

TheResurgence.com[33] 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. ^ a b Rose Egge (2008-07-14). "Mars Hill Church one of nation's fastest growing". Ballard News-Tribune. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
  2. ^ Ronald E. Keener. "Seattle is among the least churched cities in America". Church Executive. Retrieved 2008-10-4. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  3. ^ "Mars Hill Church Media Library". Mars Hill Church. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
  4. ^ "Mars Hill Church Annual Report 2007-2008" (PDF). Mars Hill Church. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
  5. ^ a b Driscoll, Confessions, p 38.
  6. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 54.
  7. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 76: "Between 160 and 200 had shown up for our big kick off service."
  8. ^ 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..."
  9. ^ 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."
  10. ^ "Generation X...Three Myths and Realities" (PDF). Leadership Network. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
  11. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 98: "And it shifted the conversation from reaching Generation X to the emerging mission of reaching postmodern culture."
  12. ^ 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..."
  13. ^ 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."
  14. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 110-111.
  15. ^ 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."
  16. ^ Driscoll, Confessions, p 113-116.
  17. ^ a b c "Mars Hill - History". Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  18. ^ "Mars Hill Church". Retrieved 2008-08-08. {{cite web}}: Text "Lake City » Welcome to Mars Hill Lake City" ignored (help)
  19. ^ Parishioners connect at new campus of Mars Hill Church
  20. ^ "2007 America's Top 25 Multiplying Churches" (PDF). Outreach Magazine's. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  21. ^ "The 25 Most Innovative Churches in America" (PDF). Outreach Magazine's. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  22. ^ "101 Fastest-Growing U.S. Churches" (PDF). Outreach Magazine's. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
  23. ^ "50 Most Influential Churches in America of 2007". 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  24. ^ 50 Most Influential Churches
  25. ^ "Mars Hill - Locations and services". Retrieved 2008-10-04.
  26. ^ Bhatt, Sanjay. "Church will replace controversial Belltown nightclub Tabella." The Seattle Times. October 22, 2007.
  27. ^ North American Religious Atlas
  28. ^ Church Executive Interview with Senior Pastor Mark Driscoll
  29. ^ Firing of pastors roils Mars Hill Church
  30. ^ a b Mars Hill pastor responds to uproar over blog posts on women
  31. ^ Acts 29 Network
  32. ^ Lauren Sandler. "Come as you are". Salon.com. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  33. ^ TheResurgence.com

References

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