Hurst disagrees with the method of raising charges used by the nine elders who wrote their letter quoting Paul Tripp. However, Hurst assures the congregation that he will speak up if he comes to believe the elders charged with examining the charges are not doing so fairly. I suspect he would get some debate on that last point from some of the ex-Mars Hill pastors and perhaps some of the current ones. I believe the men we have today are the best men right now. We must do both at the same time, with the leaders we have today and of whom are best suited to help us walk through this healing process in an honest, faithful, detailed way. We cannot rush through this process by assuming all the accusations are insignificant or label them as criticism, nor can we shutdown the church to only focus on accusations. Do not get me wrong – this process has to be our highest priority, but we must also keep the preaching of the gospel, reaching people, and loving them well as a high priority also. Hurst asserts:Īt the same time we are still called as a church to preach and teach the word and manage the day-to-day needs of 15 churches that exist in five states. In addition, he does not believe the church should curtail evangelism activities. Hurst rightly says the process of dealing with the many allegations will not be a “quick fix.” This is because there are many allegations, and the people called to examine them are busy, some with full-time jobs. We must do this not so it will allow us to leave the storm, but because the storm will not leave us until we repent and change. We must own our sin, seek repentance and reconciliation. While we must always keep a long view of God’s story, we absolutely cannot in any way overlook, dismiss, ignore, or pretend that we are not where we are and that we, the leaders of this church, past and present, from top to bottom have to take individual and collective responsibility for where we are today as a church without excuse. The note is striking in that Hurst does not criticize much. I will pull out a few points of interest to me but with little commentary. To read the entire note, see the Reddit posting. The note is reflective and interesting for those who are trying to make sense of the many recent moves at Mars Hill. Mars Hill Bellevue’s pastor Thomas Hurst posted a message to his Bellevue congregation which has appeared this morning on various Facebook pages and Reddit.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |