The stories out of Seattle regarding Mars Hill Church are one of the reasons this past year has been one of my hardest. I hate this news. Many stories are coming forward through many venues.

This co-founder of the church, who left in 2007, says:

It has been written, spoke of and declared, that in order for a church to be “On Mission” that sometimes people need to be “Run over by the bus” and a large pile of bodies is a good thing. I know where this kind of thinking came from because I believed it to be true and was in full agreement. While it is true that those who desire to lead people astray (the bible calls them wolves) need to be dealt with, I believe we went way too far and responded with anger and self-righteousness’ in throwing people under the bus. I ask your forgiveness for my part in promoting and approving this kind of behavior, it was godless!

Run over by the bus? Is that a line from the Inquisition?

A long article with many stories of spiritual abuse appeared this week on Crosscut.com. It describes Driscoll’s inflammatory language, the congregation’s habit of shunning disgraced members, and narcissism from many leaders. Witnesses claim the church encourages misogyny and sermons are “relevant” at all costs.

Stacey Solie writes, “Driscoll also started to preach more about male privilege and sexual entitlement. This had a damaging impact on many marriages, said Rob Thain Smith, who, with Merle, was acting as an informal marriage counselor to many young couples.

‘He created enormous abuse of wives,’ Smith said. ‘He helped young men objectify women, by his over-emphasis of sexualization of women and subservience.'”

Christine Carter confesses she thought she knew how to spot abuse from a distance, but what she endured from Mars Hill was too subtle. “I believed what was preached numerous times over the years about how a woman should look, so much to the extent that I thought I was being a good wife by starving myself so that I’d be pleasing for my husband to look at almost to the point of my death just after the birth of my second child. I believed the elders that told me that I was not trusting my husband enough (I believe it was in the beginning of 2007) when I went to them, scared, and told them how I felt my husband didn’t love me and that I feared and suspected that he was cheating on me for quite some time.” Months later, her husband rejected his family completely and disappeared into his other life of self-indulgence. Since the family had resigned from Mars Hill shortly before the disappearance, church representatives said they couldn’t help her.

And then there are money issues at Mars Hill. Donations given a couple years ago to a global fund for an Ethiopia project went to the church’s general fund and were used for video production instead. One woman describes the story of her being forced from her satellite church after she asked questions about $16M of church debt. And there’s that bit about gaming the bestseller list for Driscoll’s Real Marriage.

In the end, we have a picture that resembles either a very sick church or a fake one.