Hybels Blasts Driscoll

I’m no defender of Mark Driscoll, but his public rebuke by Bill Hybels at last week’s National New Church Conference reveals just how weak and out of focus the modern church is.

According to Driscoll’s comments about this situation, he had been asked to speak at the conference but declined and organizers got him to submit a video instead.

I thought most of the video was pretty lame. It was high on style, short on content with Driscoll’s typical crass way of speaking of holy, eternal realities in the most base and earthly form imaginable…all in the name of ‘communication’ I suppose. The Mars Hill video team is obviously very skilled, but frankly, Driscoll didn’t say many deep or challenging things. But the one thing that did mean something—reaching young men and discipling them—was criticized by Hybels. After the video was over, Bill Hybels (being next on the program) was introduced and made this statement:

"After that video I would like to acknowledge that there are women in this room and they have spiritual gifts.”

Well, who’s gonna argue that? Driscoll wasn’t saying women don’t have gifts. He seemed to be saying that men are staying behind spiritually and that we need to reach them. Hybels seemed to be launching the modern debate of women and their place in ministry. He seemed to defend the egalitarian model (women and men are equal in that they have the same responsibilities and calling) which is very much rooted in worldliness. The complementarian model (women and men are equal in that they have separate and unique but God-given and God-called responsibilities) is a lot closer to Scripture.

Some 20 years ago, evangelical leaders gathered in Danvers, Massachusetts to discuss the Biblical perspective of manhood and womanhood. They drafted but became known as the Danvers Statement. The fourth affirmation they listed was:

The Fall introduced distortions into the relationships between men and women (Gen 3:1-7, 12, 16).

• In the home, the husband's loving, humble headship tends to be replaced by domination or passivity; the wife's intelligent, willing submission tends to be replaced by usurpation or servility.
• In the church, sin inclines men toward a worldly love of power or an abdication of spiritual responsibility, and inclines women to resist limitations on their roles or to neglect the use of their gifts in appropriate ministries.

Bill Hybels ought to read this sermon by Ligon Duncan. Then he’d really have something to criticize.

For further information read the online version of Evangelical Feminism & Biblical Truth by Wayne Gruden.

I won’t even go into the issue of the conference organizers not passing out Driscoll’s video as they had previously planned. I hope they paid Mars Hill for the production time and DVD’s, but based on Driscoll’s blog, it seems they got stiffed.