Gospel Prism

You know, I almost don’t know how to respond to Mark Driscoll. There are times I think, “Wow, he is living the life of faith in a culture gone awry.� There are times when I think, “Mark Driscoll is doing right what the emerging church is doing wrong, engaging the culture where it is and yet proclaiming biblical orthodoxy.� But then there are times I think that in walking the line, he trips and falls down sprawled out all over the floor.

If you don’t know who Mark Driscoll is, you can read this article in Salon. Now I must give you a forewarning, this is a secular, mainstream news outlet. There are obvious biases, and they will depict Mark in a way that will express those biases. This is the first few lines of the article, “It’s Father’s Day and Mark Driscoll is blessing babies. A stocky, square-headed figure in a black shirt and jeans, with a leather cord around his thick neck.â€? Most people wouldn’t appreciate being called “square-headedâ€? as an opening description. I don’t think Mark told the writer of the article, “Just call me a square-headed stocky man.â€? That description resembles a cartoon character my kids love watching, a yellow sponge who lives in the sea…but I digress.

Any way, I don’t think Mark would really mind what the writer calls him because he speaks in the same tones and styles. Listen to this story:

After Driscoll prays for the continued fertility of his congregation, and the worship band cranks out a few fierce guitar licks, the sermon begins. Pacing the stage like a stand-up pro, blending observational humor about parenting with ribald biblical storytelling, Driscoll peppers his message with references to his own children as midget demons and recalls his own past in stories about duct-taping and hog-tying his own siblings. He riffs about waiting in a supermarket checkout line behind a woman who said to him, “You sure got a lot of kids! I hope you’ve figured out what causes that.”

“Yeah,” he flipped back. “A blessed wife. I bet you don’t have any kids.” The congregation hoots and hollers. “That shut her up,” he mutters.

On another note…

It’s always interesting how the world depicts salvation, witness, discipleship, and the Gospel in sociological terms. The writer observes:

But for Christians within this generation, behavior and beliefs are unlike those of any archetypal rebellion that has come before. For every member of the Disciple Generation raised secular in a car or a commune, or had a lesbian mom or a pothead dad, plenty more grew up in traditional Christian homes, whether that affiliation took the form of an occasional Sunday service or a father who was an active church elder. There’s a three-piece suit for every freshly shaved mohawk in this subculture.

Yet wherever they began their individual walk with Christ, and however they choose to outwardly identify themselves within the subculture, members of this movement all talk about a meaningless and bankrupt society; a world that offers no anodyne culture outside their faith. Their lives are in fact a criticism of our own. This youth movement isn’t one that merely defines itself against its parents’ generation; it exists in opposition to all culture and history that excludes evangelicalism.

‘Members of this movement,’ sort of sounds like a cult, a group of glassy-eyed anti-intellectuals being connived into drinking some laced Kool-Aid.

Back to Mark…

The writer comments:

The way Driscoll sees it, America has been marketed to so constantly and shamelessly that it has produced a generation of jaded cynics desperate for what feels real. It is his edgy Jesus, he says, who best reaches a searching crowd. Likewise, he points out, this generation has grown up rootless and unparented, yearning for discipline within the very orthodoxy that Driscoll makes relatable and relevant. “They know there’s more to life than waking up, eating what’s in the fridge, watching what’s on TV, and then going back to bed, than the rest of their porn-addicted, video-game-playing, loser friends,” he tells me. “That’s what I give them through the Bible. I say, let me give you some rules, not to be a jerk, but to help you out. And when was the last time that anyone in their busted-up family did that?”

Mark emotes a lot of raw feelings. On the one hand, you want to stand up and applaud and say, “Amen!� On the other hand, you want to raise you eyebrows and say, “Did he say what I think he just said?� Even Brian McLaren doesn’t bring about the same paradoxes, as Brian is a bit more polished and far less theologically orthodox. But Brian does have the tendency to be maddeningly paradoxical at some tension points (N. T. Wright as well, but that’s another story).

I have a couple of relatives in my life right now who need Mark’s approach. They have been babied and unparented (even though they both have parents) who are absolutely reckless and have no sense of purpose in life. They sleep all day, drink, take drugs, and can’t hold down any sort of responsibility. They need to hear what Mark just said because they are EXACTLY what Mark says: “They know there’s more to life than waking up, eating what’s in the fridge, watching what’s on TV, and then going back to bed, than the rest of their porn-addicted, video-game-playing, loser friends.â€? Every single point describes them to a tee, but he left out drugs and alcohol. But who says these words in a church this way, it sounds graceless. But the problem for the church is without ever saying such things and being worried about tactfulness is also a problem because then these things never get said, and people who need to hear the Gospel, find it is only for yuppies and the upper, middle class professionals. Mark’s point is that Jesus was reaching the dregs of society, prostitutes and tax collectors and adulterers and the beggars and homeless. And He visited their homes even when it was considered uncouth to do so. Mark touches people who have these things, maybe because he uses such language. Does the language push him over the edge? Yes, absolutely. Are they sinful? Perhaps…before God, he will stand account for it as we all do. But in Christ, even such sins are borne on the cross. And I know Mark knows that.

Fundies?

Why does the writer describe Mars Hill this way: “Driscoll has built a fundamentalist empire by blending this stern-father sensibility with the savvy of a pop mogul mainstreaming alternative culture while maintaining its underground appeal.� Fundamentalist? I was called a fundamentalist once by a woman pastor who went to Union Theological Seminary, a PCUSA seminary. I was called such simply because I went to Gordon-Conwell. I wanted to defend myself, “Well, no I am not a fundy. Those are the dispensational, Bible-thumping literalists who…� But to a person like her, I was a fundamentalist. And to the world, Mark Driscoll, as “edgy� as he is, is still a fundamentalist. Perhaps, fundamentalist means presuppositionalist. I think in that case, the writer is a fundamentalist, most likely an atheistic or agnostic fundamentalist.

Communal Living…

The writer notes:

In the past couple of weeks, Dietz has sold five houses within the church membership — “making our community more permanent,” he says. The group houses were dismantled four years ago, when the landlord wanted to sell the rentals the community had long outgrown. Realtors like Dietz replaced the group houses with title deeds, garages, and lawns that would quickly expand to form a new and intricate network across the city. Now there are no less than 50 neighborhood hubs that form centers for prayer, Bible study, and dinner parties throughout Seattle — local axes for Mars Hill’s global reach. A megachurch of thousands threatens the deeply personal experience the church relies upon for intensive active membership. These cell groups keep the church intimate even on its mammoth scale.

We might cringe when we hear this because we can only imagine communes. We think of some cult out there where inbreeding and polygamy runs rampant in these communes. But in most parts of the world, the people of the village all know each other. I know. You’re thinking, this is not a village. But if the Bible holds true (Acts 2 and 4), then could there not be community within an urban or suburban context. This is not to create a bubble, but rather, to influence the neighborhoods we live in with the Gospel TOGTEHR. One reason people do not share the Gospel is because of fear, fear of rejection. The Acts church lived together (in the same area), so that they could exhort one another daily (Hebrews 3). Why do Christians today find intentional community living so evil? Are we so afraid of looking like we are not reaching the world, that we run the other way to be completely isolated, so that we not only do not reach the world, but our spiritual lives are devoid of regular daily fellowship? This is not the church of the Bible, but rather the church of our Western, individualistic culture that says, “This is mine,� and is deathly afraid of looking different. I applaud Mark and Mars Hill for this biblical approach to witness.

Married Reaching Unwed

Another note: “Most houses are owned by young married couples who rent their basement apartments to unwed members of the congregation, whom the couples “mentor” until God delivers a spouse.â€? Wow! The intentionality of people’s care for the family is very explicit.

I hope you read this article. Mark Driscoll is not perfect and there are many things he says that does make you scratch your head. Most of the real controversial stuff that Mark says is not listed in the article. But I want to be as gracious and as fair towards him as possible. His language is sometimes vulgar and I think that is wrong. But his desire to bring the Gospel to the world is commendable. Unlike the Emerging Church Movement, Mark and Mars Hill do try to hold onto biblical orthodoxy, though they fail sometimes. My hope is that through it all, the Gospel would not be compromised through Mark, but instead, Christ would be glorified. I believe that’s Mark’s heart.

For More on Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill

Mars Hill Church Website

The Resurgence Website (Mark blogs here along with the Mars Hill pastors)