Mark Driscoll on young leaders in the church

Posted on November 02, 2010
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(12) comments

What is encouraging Mark Driscoll about today's young leaders in the church? And what concerns him? Check out this short clip (it's about three minutes long). Take a look, and see if you agree/disagree. And where are you on the spectrum that Mark speaks about?

Comments

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Peter Hamm on Tue, November 02, 2010

Every time I hear him talk lately I like it more.
Shane Parsons on Tue, November 02, 2010

I heard him at New Spring he is awesome
matt on Tue, November 02, 2010

Funny, seems like just yesterday he was a young leader…
Oliver on Tue, November 02, 2010

What concerns me is that people can’t see through this guy, he is a shallow leader who doesn’t get it, but the problem is that most people don’t get it either. Its ‘pop’ christian lite with phrases thrown in like “missional contextualization neo calvinism missionological contextual theological cul-de-sac” punctuated with ‘yeah man thats good stuff!” What concerns me about young leaders and old…their following this guy!
Peter Hamm on Tue, November 02, 2010

Oliver,

He’s talking specifically to a group for whom that language has meaning, not just the appearance of meaning. He’s about as orthodox in his faith as they come, and his church is making a huge difference for the Kingdom in his part of the world…

how is he a shallow leader? I don’t get it?
Q. on Tue, November 02, 2010

You beat me to it Peter, I was wondering the same thing… I didn’t always like how Mark Driscoll spoke but the more I actually listened and investigated the more I understood. We may not agree with all of his personal convictions but that doesn’t inherently mean that he’s shallow…
Gary on Fri, November 05, 2010

I don’t mind Mark…it’s all little Driscollites that annoy me…
Gary on Fri, November 05, 2010

However, it always humors me that he calls everyone else “fundamentalists”. He himself is a neo-fundamentalist.
Casey Sabella on Mon, November 08, 2010

Despite his deep seated desire to jab Pentecostals whenever possible, Mark is great for stretching both your mind and motivations. I laughed myself silly ready Reformission Rev.(title?) As to his being shallow; that seems funny in itself.
Oliver on Tue, November 09, 2010

ok, this is what I mean, can anyone actually explain what he is saying in one or two sentences? First there is what he says is encouraging, a return to Jesus teaching, church planting and good gospel witness. Sorry, but ‘return?’ since the founding of this country those have been in good supply. Second, his concerns, reformed theology, complimentary relationship? Missional and spirit filled? the remnants of fundamentalism? I just don’t understand what he is trying to say, he is convoluted, unclear, and I think he is lost in the one in the theological cul de sac. What is his concern? He is very abstract in the formulation of his thoughts and words and I cannot for the life of me connect that with is happening in the real church.
Oliver on Tue, November 09, 2010

Gary is right on, Mark himself is a neo fundamentalist yet he calls other fundy’s, the problem is that I don’t think Mark has any idea of what is really happening in the church, he can’t even see himself outside of his immediate context. He is really is just a hippster with the novelty of some new methodology and down home approach, to alot of people who just don’t know better. A little calvanism mixed in with being “cool christians” and conservatism.
GS Whyte on Tue, November 09, 2010

I understood what Mark was saying. He didn’t seem convoluted to me. I think part of it may be that we have tended to forget much of Jesus’ teachings and the full-biblical witness… and that in certain circumstances, even stopped preaching from the Bible… or a tendency to take random proof-text verses that don’t really mean what we want them to mean in context, but fit perfectly fine… (I’m in Canada - it seems to be relatively common up here), and for the most part - the Christian church has abandoned the inner-city core for the sake of the suburbs. These younger leaders are taking the gospel and planting the churches back in the cities that have been abandoned by their parents’ generation.

As for his concerns, it wasn’t so much any one of those things mentioned (reformed theology, complementary marriage, missional thinking, and spirit-filled life/ministry) but the focus on one or two AT THE EXCLUSION of the others. The neo-fundamentalism that he was referring to was the tendency to have reformed/calvinist doctrine and complementary marriage, but not engaging the culture around them (missional thinking) or leaving room for the Holy Spirit (which, unfortunately, our thinking has become that Spirit-filled = tongue-speaker… which is not a jab at Pentecostals persay, but one can be filled with the Spirit and NOT speak in tongues… just as one could “speak in tongues” and speak by another spirit which is not so holy…).