Mark Driscoll

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For the screenwriter of the TV show Ellen, see Mark Driscoll (screenwriter).

Mark A. Driscoll (born October 11, 1970) is an American minister and author. The co-founder and preaching pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, he co-founded the Acts 29 Network, and has contributed to the "Faith and Values" section of the Seattle Times. He helped start The Resurgence, a repository of missional theology resources.[1]

Driscoll was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota[citation needed] and is a 1989 graduate of Highline High School in Burien, Washington,[citation needed] where he served as student body president and editor of the school newspaper.[citation needed] He earned a Bachelor's degree in communications from Washington State University with a minor in philosophy[citation needed] and holds a Master of Arts degree in exegetical theology at Western Seminary, a school affiliated with the Conservative Baptist Association.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] 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. He has described himself as "first Christian, second Evangelical, third Missional, and fourth Reformed."[2]

In a certain pastor's conference in August, 2005, Driscoll characterized himself as a "charismatic Calvinist".[3] This is sometimes described as a reformed charismatic. He believes that all of the apostolic gifts (not to be confused with spiritual gifts) are active today (but only by God's divine intervention; he is not a cessationist) and calls himself a 4½-point Calvinist.[4]

According to a July 4, 2006, interview in Christianity Today, Driscoll described the church he leads as "theologically conservative and culturally liberal".[5] He is best-known for his views on missiology and on gender issues.

[edit] 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.[6]

[edit] Controversial remarks

Driscoll caused controversy following revelations that mega-church pastor Ted Haggard used the services of a gay prostitute by remarking on his blog that many pastors fall into sexual sin because their wives let themselves go.[7] In his post, Driscoll wrote, "Most pastors I know do not have satisfying, free, sexual conversations and liberties with their wives. At the risk of being even more widely despised than I currently am, I will lean over the plate and take one for the team on this. It is not uncommon to meet pastors' wives who really let themselves go; they sometimes feel that because their husband is a pastor, he is therefore trapped into fidelity, which gives them cause for laziness. A wife who lets herself go and is not sexually available to her husband in the ways that the Song of Songs is so frank about is not responsible for her husband's sin, but she may not be helping him either." He later posted an apology and explanation after widespread protests. [8]

There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity.

—Mark Driscoll, Relevant Magazine[9]

[edit] Emergent Church movement

Mark Driscoll describes his association with, and eventual distancing from the Emergent Church movement:[10]

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.

Driscoll, along with Leif Moi, Mike Gunn, and the Acts 29 community, is part of the missional theology community that adheres closely to classical Calvinist, or Reformed, theology and views their mission as communicating this school of theology to modern people. This contrasts with the Emergent Church movement, influenced by individuals like Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, and Rob Bell, which is more willing to re-examine and re-interpret traditional beliefs. [11]

[edit] 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.[12]
  • You have been told that God is a 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. [13]
  • I study the Bible all week, pray to the Lord, and then I speak from my heart. It's all about brutal honesty.[14]
  • A pacifist has a lot of difficulty reconciling pacifism with scripture.[15]
  • …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.[16]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ About the Resurgence. Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
  2. ^ Acts 29 Network: Doctrine
  3. ^ audio, quote starts at 53 minutes in.
  4. ^ Unlimited-Limited Atonement (audio)
  5. ^ Bailey, Jason: Men Are From Mars Hill, Christianity Today, July 4, 2006.
  6. ^ Driscoll, Mark: It's Always Something at Mars Hill Church, Mark Driscoll's blog, September 19, 2006. Retrieved November 15, 2006.
  7. ^ Evangelical Leader Quits Amid Allegations of Gay Sex and Drug Use | TheResurgence
  8. ^ Count It All Joy | TheResurgence
  9. ^ The Panel. "7 Big Questions", Relevant Magazine issue 24, Relevant Media Group. Retrieved on 2008-05-06. 
  10. ^ Driscoll, Mark (2006). TheResurgence. Retrieved on 2008-01-06.
  11. ^ Convergent Conference of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary audio
  12. ^ Driscoll, Mark: The Radical Reformission (Zondervan, 2004, p. 40)
  13. ^ Driscoll, Mark: Jesus Took Our Wrath (Propitiation), Sermon preached November 6, 2005 at Mars Hill Church.
  14. ^ Tu, Janet I.: Pastor Mark Packs 'em In, Seattle Times, November 30, 2003.
  15. ^ Lanham, Robert: Mark Driscoll: "Meek. Mild. As If", Evangelical Right blog, October 3, 2006.
  16. ^ Warnock, Adrian: Interview with Mark Driscoll, Adrian's Blog, April 2, 2006.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links