MARK DRISCOLL

'Mark Driscoll' (born October 11, 1970 in Grand Forks, ND) is an American minister and author. The co-founder and teaching pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, he also co-founded the Acts 29 Network, and has contributed to the "Faith and Values" section of the Seattle Times. He also recently helped to start The Resurgence, a repository of missional theology resources. Mars Hill Church is rated as the 8th most influential church in America by The Church Report. Mars Hill is the youngest church in the top ten of the 50 Most Influential Churches.
Driscoll graduated in 1989 from Highline High School, where he served as student body president and editor of the school newspaper. He earned a Bachelor's degree in communications from Washington State University with a minor in philosophy. Currently, he is completing a Master of Arts degree in exegetical theology at Western Seminary, a school affiliated with the Conservative Baptist Association.

Contents

Theology

Complementarianism

Brief association with Emergent Church movement

Quotations

Bibliography

External links

Notes

See also

Theology

Driscoll has not published a comprehensive outline of his theological beliefs (such as a systematic theology), but his sermons, lectures, and books provide a good understanding of what he believes. Furthermore, it can be inferred that the doctrinal statement of the church planting network he co-founded, [1], is a reliable overview of his beliefs. In summary, he has described himself as (in order of importance) "first Christian, second Evangelical, third Missional, and fourth Reformed." ^[1]
In a certain pastor's conference in August, 2005, Driscoll characterized himself as a "charismatic Calvinist" (audio, quote starts at 53 minutes in). This is sometimes described as a reformed charismatic. He believes that all of the spiritual gifts are active today (but only by God's divine intervention; he is not a cessationist) and is a five-point Calvinist (or as he describes a 'four-and-a-half point' Calvinist, see Sermon: Unlimited-Limited Atonement).
According to a July 4, 2006, interview in ''Christianity Today'', Driscoll described the church he leads as "theologically conservative and culturally liberal".^[2] He is best-known for his views on missiology.

Complementarianism

Driscoll is a strong advocate of complementarianism -- a view of gender that says that men and women are equal in value and personhood, and that each gender has unique, complementary roles in the home and in the church, such that the man should practice headship, and the woman submission.^[3]

Brief association with Emergent Church movement

Mark Driscoll describes his association with, and eventual distancing from the Emergent Church movement in his blog
"In the mid-1990s I was part of what is now known as the Emerging Church and spent some time traveling the country to speak on the emerging church in the emerging culture on a team put together by Leadership Network called the Young Leader Network. But, I eventually had to distance myself from the Emergent stream of the network because friends like Brian McLaren and Doug Pagitt began pushing a theological agenda that greatly troubled me. Examples include referring to God as a chick, questioning God's sovereignty over and knowledge of the future, denial of the substitutionary atonement at the cross, a low view of Scripture, and denial of hell which is one hell of a mistake."
There is now a splintering between within the missional theology community that can be defined as emerging and emergent. The emerging church movement, which is theologically orthodox, is best represented by Driscoll and the Acts 29 community. The emergent church, which is theologically liberal, is best represented by Brian McLaren and Emergent Village. While both camps share a philosophy of ministry that agrees with the need for the church to be missional in its communities, the two sharply divide over theological truth.

Quotations

★ It is imperative that Christians be like Jesus, by living freely within the culture as missionaries who are as faithful to the Father and his gospel as Jesus was in his own time and place. ^[4]

★ You have been told that God is loving, gracious, merciful, kind, compassionate, wonderful, and good sky fairy who runs a day care in the sky and has a bucket of suckers for everyone because we're all good people. That is a lie... God looks down and says 'I hate you, you are my enemy, and I will crush you,' and we say that is deserved, right and just, and then God says 'Because of Jesus I will love you and forgive you.' This is a miracle. ^[5]

★ I study the Bible all week, pray to the Lord, and then I speak from my heart. It's all about brutal honesty. ^[6]

★ A pacifist has a lot of difficulty reconciling pacifism with scripture. ^[7]

★ ..the truths of Christianity are constant, unchanging, and meant for all people, times, and places. But the methods by which truth is articulated and practiced must be culturally appropriated, and therefore constantly translated ()...if doctrine is constant and practice is constantly changing, the result is living orthodoxy. ^[8]

★ "After church tonight you will go home and you will eat chicken, not human, because of the spread of Christianity... go to a country where there hasn’t been the spread of Christianity and they’re having human for dinner." ^[9]

Bibliography

★ Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives (Zondervan, 2007)

★ Confessions of a Reformission Rev. : Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church (Zondervan, 2006)

★ The Radical Reformission (Zondervan, 2004)

★ The Relevant Church: A New Vision For Communities Of Faith (Relevant Books, 2004)

External links

★ Mars Hill Church

★ 50 Most Influential Churches for July 2007 (see #8)

★ The Resurgence hosts Mark Driscoll's blog.

★ Pastor Mark packs 'em in An article on Driscoll and Mars Hill Church from the ''Seattle Times: Pacific Northwest Magazine''.

★ Brian McLaren on the Homosexual Question 3: A Prologue and Rant by Mark Driscoll a 'rant' by Driscoll against McLaren. Note that Driscoll later apologized for this 'rant' on his blog.

★ Salon Article Sept 13 2006 A born-again atheist gives her take on Mark Driscoll, to which he responds in his blog.

★ Evangelical Right: Mark Driscoll: "Meek. Mild. As If"

★ Christianity Today: Men Are From Mars Hill

★ Acts 29 Network

★ Blog interview with Mark Driscoll

Notes

1. Acts 29 Network: Doctrine
2. Bailey, Jason: ''Men Are From Mars Hill'', Christianity Today, July 4, 2006.
3. Driscoll, Mark: ''It's Always Something at Mars Hill Church'', Mark Driscoll's blog, September 19, 2006. Retrieved November 15, 2006.
4. Driscoll, Mark: ''The Radical Reformission'' (Zondervan, 2004, p. 40)
5. Driscoll, Mark: ''Jesus Took Our Wrath (Propitiation)'', Sermon preached November 6, 2005 at Mars Hill Church.
6. Tu, Janet I.: ''Pastor Mark Packs 'em In'', Seattle Times, November 30, 2003.
7. Lanham, Robert: ''Mark Driscoll: "Meek. Mild. As If"'', Evangelical Right blog, October 3, 2006.
8. Warnock, Adrian: ''Interview with Mark Driscoll, Adrian's Blog, April 2, 2006.
9. Evangelicalright.com: ''Mark Driscoll: "Meek. Mild. As If"

See also

★ Charismatic

★ Calvinism

★ Emerging Church

★ Missiology

★ Missional

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