A few years ago Christianity today released a podcast series entitled “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill.” It’s as gripping as it is sobering. In it, Mike Cosper chronicles the history of the formation of Mars Hill Church. The podcast follows Mark Driscoll’s beginnings as a church planter in 1996 when he launched Mars Hill in Seattle to his quick rise to fame to the church’s ultimate collapse. The details are excruciating. It’s heartbreaking that such an influential community could have gone from leading such a huge cultural wave to closing its doors in a matter of years (Mars Hill ceased to exist in 2014).
Driscoll’s consolidation of power and elimination of personal or organizational checks was the reason for Mars Hill’s tragic demise. It’s easy to watch from the sidelines in judgment, but Mars Hill ought to be a warning to every leader. If you set Driscoll’s bombastic style and troublesome theology aside, there is an important lesson here for every leader: we must never cease to submit ourselves to one another.
Driscoll knew how to prevent his demise. Early in his ministry he taught on the importance of the plurality of leadership and practiced it in his ministry. He understood the biblical exhortation that the church ought to be led by a group of godly men who submitted themselves to one another. Driscoll didn’t step into ministry with a theology or strategy of power consolidation.
I understand why Driscoll could have changed his tune so dramatically a handful of years later. Reading between the lines, it seems to me that his pride coupled with the frustration of criticism and perhaps also the irritation of working with leaders where there was a misalignment of vision caused Driscoll’s theology of mutual submission to change. I sympathize. I know the same impulse is in me.
I understand why Driscoll’s practical theology changed. I don’t say that to diminish the serious harm he caused. I say that because I am no better than Driscoll. I can't imagine how inflated my ego would have become if I took the ride from a local church planter to national fame in my late 20s and early 30s like Driscoll did. I deal with a fraction of the criticism Driscoll deals with. And yet even that relatively small amount of criticism can lead me to discouragement and annoyance.
It can be grating when people stand in the way of what a leader longs to accomplish. It can be frustrating when people don’t get the big picture and harp on superfluous details. I think of a recent conversation with someone who brought criticism on a relatively insignificant area and my temptation to be dismissive. Yet another phone call awaits over another complaint. A critical spirit can prevent people from engaging in community and stepping forward in their gifting. As a leader these conversations can be deflating. I thought we were tracking together toward something more significant. I think we were on the same mission. And then you opt out over a matter of preference?
And yet. A pastor is to listen to the people of God filled with the Spirit of God. Critique can be a sign of health, that enough trust exists to offer feedback. Critique can be an indication of someone being bought in—of caring even about the details. A healthy leader doesn’t seek to foster a criticism-free congregation, but rather one in which critique is offered with empathy and alongside encouragement.
In addition, a pastor is to shepherd with other shepherds. A leader is called to shepherd from an along-side position. A minister is never to domineer. An overseer is to shepherd with humility. And an elder is to accept suffering as part of the call.
Here is how Peter exhorts the elders in 1 Peter 5:1-7:
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Does Peter understand the temptations of the leader or what? It’s for these very reasons that the plurality of leadership is so important. When we say plurality, we mean that a church is not operating as God intended until it has more than one elder leading.
Unfortunately, many churches, while on may paper have a plurality of leaders; do not have a functional plurality of leadership. One of the things Greg and I stress to New Life’s elders is the importance of our submission to them. At least twice times a year we pause as elders for the other elders to provide positive and constructive feedback to Greg and myself. Quarterly Greg and I have an external party (a coach or counselor) navigate a review with us that is written for the elders. We actively invite them to speak into our lives and ministry at any time.
In addition, we are somewhat unusual in having a co-leadership model, where Greg and I together share the seat of New Life Lead Pastor. While it’s not a model I recommend for churches to pick up without serious consideration—it requires just the right leaders with a close friendship, just the right theological and ministry alignment, and gift differentiation—it’s been a blessing to myself and Greg for this very reason. We are forced on a daily basis to submit to one another.
I know that one of Greg’s greatest ministry regrets was a season where God convicted him of domineering tendencies in his leadership. I am well acquainted with this temptation. In my worst moments I have had a strong impulse to tell a frustrating congregant exactly where the door is and what it will do to their backside on the way out. I know Driscoll is in me. It is a gift to navigate the responsibility of a lead pastoral role with the built-in check of serving alongside Greg. Greg will, and has, called me out. I have confronted. We have disagreed. And we have submitted to one another in love.
Leadership is a challenge. When I was a kid, I aspired to be a pastor. I had no idea that this underbelly of leadership awaited my heart. The attendant temptations are sobering. But Christ calls us to lead in humility. Christ calls us to be those who submit ourselves to one another for his glory. When we don’t, we are no longer leading Christ’s church, we are leading our own. And woe to the pastor who leads his own church.
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