My family and I have experienced the impact of having been shunned by our church family. This blog is intended to be a forum for processing, healing, and calling for Christians to understand the harm done to people through the harsh practice of shunning. It is also a forum to understand how to pursue justice and mercy in dealing with those who are victims of shunning, or those who have been the perpetrators of shunning.
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Musings from under the bus. 
Pingback: Another Former Mars Hill Member Starts a Post-Mars Hill Blog
Bro,
Do not be afraid of anybody (Mark Driscoll, BOAA, attorney) because 1) Christ is with you and 2) If MHC, BOAA or Mark Driscoll want to bring a legal case against you they are the ones that will pay the most in the media so they may barf but most likely they do not have the courage to do what they threatened you with. Just write down your concerns because like the Romans said “verba volant scripta manent” and this will help to bring clarity.
A former MH Member and A29 Candidate 😉
How many more people need to cry out in pain before ‘the church’ will listen!?
they were looking
for
a
family
for sisters and brothers
friends
neighbors
fathers and mothers
they carried their
sorrows and joys
their
strengths
and their shame
in search of someone
who could
set
everything
straight
so they climbed the hill
and there they found
a great machine
a tower of Babel
rising
into
the
sky
a pyramid scheme
“give me your time
your
talents
your
treasures!
give sacrificially!”
the machine said
“as long as you give
and serve
and you
don’t
ask
too
many
questions
I’ll be a father to you
a big brother
it’ll be great
we’ll
all
be
so
cool
the most influential
church in the world!”
but what kind of brother
fires someone
for
doing
their job?
what kind of father
buys
himself
luxuries
with the money
his
children
give sacrificially?
what kind of family
disowns
you
for standing up
for what’s right?
and where is the man
with
the
healing
hands
who makes blind men see
and lame men walk?
surely he cannot be
running the machine
that
tries
to
make
everyone
blind
too crippled to walk
too scared to talk
This is amazing.
Has anyone heard that the White Horse Inn and Modern Reformation magazine desire to interview those from the megachurch movement who have had a “problems” interacting with its leadership?
Michael Horton hosts a radio podcast at http://www.whitehorseinn.org. Get in contact with Shane Rosenthall, the producer.
It appears like the broader, church proper wants to understand what’s going on and desires to open a conversation on this important topic.
Be heard. Check it out!
Alice 🙂
As a minister in a mainline, theologically liberal denomination it is often too easy to classify Christian churches that appear to be theologically conservative as “the other”. Yet, the moment I hear my heart classify people as “the other” is the moment I hear Christ asking me again, “Sooo…who is your neighbor?” It turned out, one of my neighbors was the downtown Mars Hill location that opened just blocks from my church.
A little over a year ago I had a brief, but pleasant, meeting with the campus pastor at the downtown church. We talked about the work of the church, what possibilities might exist for collaboration, and we ended with a prayer for one another. Unfortunately, none of those possibilities came to fruition. The pastor I met with left Mars Hill not long after our meeting and I have learned that the downtown location is closing its doors as one more step in this ongoing, public saga.
I am sure some have watched the implosion of Mars Hill with a grin, seeing in it a comeuppance long coming. Others see another chapter in the narrative of Christian hypocrisy. Personally, while the books I have read and the sermons I have heard from Mark Driscoll have troubled me deeply, I have watched the church’s trauma with sadness. Will the wounds from this ordeal keep some from Christian community altogether? Will this situation become just another reason to distrust Christian pastors and leaders? Will those who have left and those who remain be able to hear the call of Christ amidst the din of the frustration and the static of the media hype?
The universal Christian church is, and has always been, a place of refuge, a place of healing, forgiveness and resurrection. I am not sure what new life will look like for those who remain or for those who are no longer part of Mars Hill. Yet I am convinced that the Holy One is continually creating, persistently inviting us to join in the ministry of reconciliation and is ever fashioning beauty from ashes.
If there is a way that I or my church can be of service to those of you who are sorting through the next step in your journey of faith please let me know. If you are in need of a transitional house of worship then we invite you to join us on Sunday. We will not look or sound like Mars Hill but we can offer an extravagant welcome, a space for healing, and a word of hope.
In Christ,
Rev. Brandon Duran
Rob Smith – please stay away from Mars Hill Church. You’ve done enough harm already. Get over it.
I have no idea who you are. I guess if I count the members that have left the church, the 60 plus elders who have charged Mark with disqualifying sins, Paul Tripp, ACts 29… it seems that you are a little of out touch. The harm done to the church has come at the hands of none other than Pastor Mark Driscoll himself.
Mark and his accomplices…
@William,
I have never been to Mars Hill and I appreciate Rob’s comments about the troubled, authoritarian, abusive MH church. My much smaller church was the same way and also shunned people where I am located, California. I have found a great deal of help on this website.
Thanks for blogging about Mark Driscoll. His empire has collapsed. He is trying to get back what he himself destroyed. This will not happen because he has made himself a famous object of scorn. But there is someone bigger on the horizon. His name is KP Yohannan. Last year he raised over 100 million in the west to fuel his ego and fame over in India. KP Believers Church makes Mars Hill look like Mole Hill. Please read Hope’s story about her interaction with KP on this page: http://www.gfadiaspora.com/testimonies-2 , it will sound very familiar for the same demon that is behind MD is also working through KP. Learn more about Gospel for Asia and blog on it. Watch Warren Throckmorton’s page about them. Have compassion for multitudes of Indian believers getting the same treatment you did through this other organization. Find a KP primer right here: http://www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=/2004/02/12/protestant-church-dismisses-two-bishops-after-evangelists-ordination&post_id=23764 The Christian mainstream press is behind KP. We could really use your help, and I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks.