Mars Hill Church Pastor Grapples with Being Removed from Acts 29 Network Membership

Since the Acts 29 Network removed Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church as members, Mars Hill members have had questions about the reasons for the action. It may be that the campus pastors have as many questions as the congregants have. Ryan Kearns is the Director of Community Groups at Mars Hill and is a pastor at the Bellevue campus. In this posting to the Community Group leaders, Kearns attempts to explain the Acts 29 action to questioners. In the image, two questioners are redacted but I can tell you that they asked about the reasons for the Acts 29 action: Kearns replied:

My apologies for leaving that part of what I shared with Bellevue leaders last week. Here it is below: Because we did not know this was coming we did not have a chance to prepare answers to many of the questions you likely have yourselves and might come up in your group this week. Our Chairman of the BoAA has released a statement that we shared with all our members on Friday. Please encourage people to read that first if they have not. We have asked Pastor Matt Chandler for clarification on his letter and rather than speculate on what he meant we would like to wait for him to respond. In the meantime your Bellevue elder team is in communication with all parties to further understand the situation and hear all the facts. I will come back to you later when I have more information. Again I know it is frustrating to have to wait for clarification and I appreciate your patience and understanding. It is vital for you to know that your Elders love you and Jesus. We take our roles seriously and aim to serve you all. We will continue to do that and be worthy of your trust.

The BOAA response is posted here and took a defensive tone. I hope Matt Chandler replies and outlines the reasons for their action; the executive elders knows what they are and could share that with the rest of the elders. Perhaps they will do that at the full council of elders’ retreat which got underway on Monday evening.