I recently finished two interesting books each on opposing sides of the “Emergent Movement”. I approached the Emergent church in Divergently Emergent Church earlier this summer. I can’t say what prompted my curiosity, because I already had a pile of books on my “to read” list but I was browsing away and with almost impulse buying speed I purchased Mark Driscoll’s Confessions of a Reformissional Rev. and Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. The package arrived rather swiftly, much sooner than I expected, and unlike my usual pattern of adding the new stock to the bottom of the “to read” pile o’ books I read them both within the week.
When I pondered the effects of the Emergent Movement I must say with complete honesty, I had little more experience than “I read an article about it here” or “I read this on wikipedia”. I was not as informed as I should have been. I suppose it was coming clean with myself that I was not as informed as I attempted to be which prompted my impulse buying and swift reading. I knew of Mark Driscoll only from a few references in sermons and I think one clip I saw with him doing a Q&A session several years ago. I was familiar with Rob Bell’s books and have seen several of his Nooma. I knew they were both in the Emergent category, but beyond that was nothing but speculation. As you might have noticed I did not offer kind words towards the Emergent Movement in my previous blog.
I don’t think I could’ve read two other books which offered a more polar opposite sides of the Emergent movement. Mark Driscoll was quick to differentiate himself from Emergent, instead adheres to Missional or Emerging. I am not a fan of titles or terms, especially when dealing with Christ’s Bride. Rob on the other hand never mentioned Emergent/emerging or really any term to identify his set of beliefs. As I continued through his book it was extremely clear Velvet Elvis was not written in a systematic style, to say the least. This blog is the first which I will stop apologizing for encouraging whoever reads my blogs to read the latest and greatest book. Mark Driscoll’s was perhaps the best book I have read concerning church, goals, ministry, and establishing a church according to scripture. His vision of church was the embodiment of what I vision church to be. A church whose primary goal was to effect the surrounding area, it would send people throughout the local community and expect its members to invest into the Kingdom. To call Mark’s style unorthodox would be an understatement, what came across to me as un-compassionate, non-loving, and crude ministry in his earlier years were instead tough love on level I have never experienced. He was not eloquent in his speech or methods, but he had the vision, goals, and heart to accomplish them and has made a radical impact on Seattle.
It was not just the success of a man who founded a church which grew to over 4000+ members in 8 years. Throughout his book it was clear the majority of that time was survival and less than 500 members. I was most compelled by the vision to actively seek the punk rock, smoking, un-churched people, growing a church from a group which did not grow up in church. Mark’s commitment to reach such a socially liberal minded crowd, yet be unflinching in his commitment to orthodox Christian doctrine, captivated me. I was inspired by the audacious idea of encouraging people not committed to the mission to leave. A church which constantly kept the big picture in sight, not to bow down to attendees seeking to use resources not in line with broadening the Kingdom. I have often heard the body of Christ analogy, but never was I reminded of the colon’s importance or its role within the church as well.
On the flip side, Rob explicitly encourages us to change Christian doctrine and theology, and implicitly denies scripture as the God’s Word. I have never outright experienced liberal theology like Rob’s. I thought such people only existed on ABC documentaries or classrooms of colleges. I was in awe that as a leader of a church, Rob would openly say “I didn’t even know if I wanted to be a Christian anymore”, as a result of massive attendance, growth, and normalization of his church. He didn’t refer to Christ’s strength to get him through his stress; in fact he described his faith with a “flavor of the week” type of attitude. Anyone who claims to be a Christian leader and would unapologetically have an “I don’t feel like it anymore” attitude brings serious questions to my mind. What kind of Christian Truth is evident with such a statement?
When I considered his implications and the possibilities he suggested I am terrified. First, I think thousands of people are being mislead into a pseudo Christian faith which I describe to be more like a New Age existentialism with a touch of Jesus in the middle. Second, within the first two weeks of starting his church he had more than 2,000 in attendance, at the time of print his church claimed more than 10,000 members. Unlike a misguided, hateful preacher who seeks to proclaim a God of hate with protests at soldiers’ funerals; Rob has a charismatic, appealing type of faith which is claiming a large population. As I went through his book I found 40 claims which I believed to be either questionable or clear denial of Christian doctrine and authority established through Scripture. I know I don’t know everything, but following my recent studies on theology, I am aware of the bigger picture in which certain claims can lead people to a Jesus who never lived. There is a huge part of me that wished I just read everything wrong instead of actually recognizing the theology and approach to scripture Bell advocated and adhered to.
As the months have been passing and my eagerness to rejoin the civilian world grows, I have been pondering much upon my return. A new chapter of my life is on the horizon, my church is in a state of change, and I look forward to accomplishing my long list of goals which have been set aside for the last several years. I wonder, could such an impact be made to better model our church after the scriptural example of Mark Driscoll’s? I have so many hopes and ideas, yet I fear falling into the trap life tends to ensnare people into a pattern of life as normal.
Epilogue: It has been over a year since Mark Driscoll resigned from Mars Hill Church and subsequently, Mars Hill Church divided into independent churches or closed. It was a sharp reminder that however passionate and truthful a church leader might be, they are not perfect. Given the long history of challenging aspects of Driscoll's style and ministry, I found it profoundly sad that the issue which brought the end of Mars Hill was what I viewed as a misunderstanding compounded by his overbearing leadership style. Rob Bell similarly left his church, I believe it was to go on a speaking tour for a time and he continues to write, he had a number of TV projects. Love Wins essentially served as his theological treatise to depart from orthodox Christian doctrine. Conservative Christian scholars, authors, and leaders examined that writing as Bell's endorsement or adherence to Christian Universalism. A label in my estimation that Bell objects to, not becuase it mischaracterized his position but because it was a label.
