Why Christians Shouldn’t Celebrate Mark Driscoll’s Demise
The high in Seattle today was 75 degrees and balmy, but you can't help feeling that winter is coming early for Mars Hill Church and its founder, Mark Driscoll. The beleaguered pastor announced to his congregation during their 8:30 am service via video that he would be stepping down for at least six weeks while Mars Hill reviews formal charges against him made by 21 former ministers. A round of applause rose in the main auditorium following the announcement. As I consider this development in light of the shifting tide of public opinion toward Driscoll and the barrage of scandals that he has endured this year alone, I arrive at only one conclusion: The hyper-masculine minister, Mark Driscoll, has been effectively neutered. He will likely never write another book, and if he does, far fewer will read its words. He will likely never again jet set around the country speaking to tens of thousands week after week. And even if he returns to the pastorate--which I imagine is likely--he’ll ascend the stage a shadow of his former self. The glory days of Mars Hill and its celebrity founder are irrevocably behind them both.
In the aftermath of the unraveling, even Driscoll’s most longsuffering friends seem to have deserted him. Several prominent church board members resigned, and the Acts29 church planting network that Driscoll founded kicked out Mars Hill Church and called on him to resign. Even the normally even-tempered Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, spoke harshly of Driscoll in a New York Times cover story this week, chiding him for “the brashness and the arrogance and the rudeness in personal relationships.”
So how should Christians respond to such a spectacle?
Part of me, I admit, wants to pump my fist and dance ‘round the kitchen. For more than a decade, Driscoll has angered the masses by spewing offensive, misogynistic, and homophobic comments. And in the past year, his ministry morphed into an all-out grease fire amid charges of plagiarizing in books, bullying and shunning former staff members, and spending $210,000 in ministry money for personal gain.
So, yes, part of me wants to pop bottles and strike up the band. I want to rejoice like one person in my twitterfeed who responded to the announcement, "Good riddance, Mark Driscoll". But as I've given it more thought, I cannot celebrate the demise of Mark Driscoll, and I don't think Christians should either.