The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Acts 29 Church network

Does anyone know anything about these churches? They are affiliated with Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill in Seattle. They are supposedly Reformed, at least Calvinistic.

There is a plant in my town which is a bedroom community. They started off with 200 in attendance and everyone talks about the renew energy with their Christian walk.

John,

To be blunt and perhaps not entirely fair: they are emergent churches for 5-pointers.

This is not entirely true.
Mark Driscoll has distanced himself from the Emergent movement.
However, I say that not to endorse the movement, for Mark Driscoll at times will use unbecoming (for lack of a better word) to make a point in his sermons.
If you have ever listened to Mark Driscoll preach you will know that he doesn't hold any punches back, he is not afraid to call sin, sin.
As far as I can tell his Gospel message is sound as well, but I for one can not support him, before he cleans his mouth out.
I can't really speak to the style of his services, because I haven't looked into that aspect.

Tom

ON WHAT DO YOU BASE YOUR ASSESSMENT THAT ACTS NETWORK IS AN EMERGENT CHURCH ?

I thought you might be interested in seeing how the Acts 29 movement answers their critiques.
http://www.acts29network.org/acts-29-blog/seven-misrepresentations-of-acts-29/

I want to make perfectly clear that I don't necessarily agree with all of what they believe. I posted the link because I thought it might be helpful.

Tom

Why I don’t believe that Mark Driscoll is Emergent

The Emergent Church is made up of Churches that gather around unity that is based on the belief that what you do, matters more than what you believe.
While many Emergent Churches will say things like they believe in the inspiration of Scripture, the Trinity, the atonement, etc… Yet standing up for those truths holds no appeal.
Doctrine does not unify the Emergent Church, ecclesiology does.

Contrast that to what Mark Driscoll believes and teaches.
Believes that Scripture doctrine should be the sole cause of unity and is not afraid to confront error when he sees it.
In fact in one blog I read on Mark Driscoll, he was accused of “Pharisaic legalism. Pure basic sexism worse than the Conservatives.” This is just one thing Driscoll was accused of.

I could go a lot further, but he should not be mistaken as an emergent, regardless of his faults.

Tom

I READ THE SAME ARTICLE AS YOU DID TOM AND CAME TO THE SAME CONCLUSION. IT IS NOT PART OF THE EMERGENT CHURCH MOVEMENT.
I WAS WONDERING WHY COVENANTINBLOOD THOUGHT IT WAS

The reason many think it is part of the movement is because Mark Driscoll used to be involved (don't know to what extent) in the Emergent Church movement.

Tom

As I said, it's perhaps not an entirely fair assessment. But the Acts 29 network is committed to contextualization & cultural engagemnt, just as emergent churches are, & this leads to diluted worship & skewed teaching. See the Church of the Outer Banks for an example. Their bright spot is a commitment to biblical soteriology, which is fundamental.

Thanks for the link. I browsed around, although I didn't read everything, and found much to be concerned about. "Relationship" and "Community" seemed to predominate their focus. Here's one quote where one can clearly see that biblical corporate worship is not held in high esteem nor is it obviously a priority with them.

Service is canceled this Sunday, 11/9 so that we can serve our community by helping out with the OBX marathon. If you would like to join our team of volunteers, please contact Sam at 489-9178.

Art Reception Sunday Night @ 6p.m.
Please join us this Sunday night, 6pm at Church of the Outer Banks’ new community art space, The Gallery, for an opening Art Reception. This a free event with live music, finger foods and local art. Invite a friend! This will also be an opportunity for you to learn more about the mission and vision of The Gallery. The location is a few doors down from Papa John’s. Find out more at: www.obgallery.wordpress.com.

Found here: http://www.churchobx.com/blog.php[/b]

This alone smacks of "emergent church" with their own little twist to things.

In His grace,

Kyle,

The reason I asked is that we have already lost two intregal families to the new church plant. My church is in a decline and I'm afraid the demographics are making it unattractive to newbies. People are drawn to the new, exciting and energetic and sadly we are not it. The husband of one of the families that left said he had been praying for years that the PCA would plant a church across the bay in our (my) area. He sees the Acts 29 plant as an answer to prayer in that it is Reformed, conservative, and in the area where he lives.

Here is the Act 29 doctrinal statement I don't see any red flags. Though he did mention that Acts 29 leaves it up to the local elders on whether the local church would be paedo or credo baptists.

John,

I'm sure Kyle will respond to your post as well but I would like to say just a couple of brief things:

1. You should know by now that Satan loves to quote Scripture, albeit twisted to fit his agenda. Thus it come as no surprise that people will claim to be "Reformed" who are totally alien to what it teaches in practice, i.e., they give lip-service to certain doctrine or distinctives. All one has to do is to check out the Church of the Outer Banks and you will clearly see what I'm referring to. NO... I repeat [color:"red"]NO!![/color] truly Reformed church would EVER cancel its corporate worship to a) help at a Marathon and/or b) officiate at some worldly art Gallery gala event. Such a decision is incontrovertibly a violation of the 4^th Commandment. And even if a church was anti-Sabbatarian but held to the sanctity of the "Lord's Day" (Sunday), such behavior would be totally unacceptable. Also notice the type of "worship" they practice with the full electric instrumentation and other things they boast about. These are more than inconsistent with the Reformed doctrine of the Regulative Principle of Worship, even if held loosely. And how about that neon-glowing surfboard pulpit? Doesn't that speak for itself?

Did you also happen to notice that Acts 29 Group distinguishes itself in four areas with "Reformed" being the LAST on the list? One could rightly conclude that being "Reformed" is not a high priority.

2. The Acts 29 Group's "doctrinal statement" allows far more than baptismal issues. It includes charismatic gifts and eschatology. And, since John Piper has his hand in this I can assume that women are allowed to serve as deacons as well.

But again, I'll let Kyle contribute his own insights and concerns which are probably far more in number than the few examples I have provided off hand.

At a recent pastor's conference held at Trinity Baptist Church in Montvale, NJ it was noted that there is a general falling out of church members among many churches; both Credo and Paedo. The #1 reason why so many people have left their respective churches was The Command to Keep the Sabbath. Secondly, there was the issue of people not wanting to submit to the authority of Elders. And I believe, although I could not be remembering this correctly, there was a general desire to see more Programs. Thus, it should not be surprising that when some group like Acts 29 Group comes along there will be those who abandon their church membership and flee to that which will tickle their ears. In most cases, those who do leave their church do so without biblical grounds.

In His grace,

I am in agreement with almost everything you have said here.
But I am wondering if this particular Church (Church of the Outer Banks) is the exception of an Acts 29 network Church, rather than the norm. They don’t appear to be in keeping with the Acts 29 network statement of faith .
I think one of the problems with the word "Reformed" these days, is that it is usually used in the narrow sense.
Many people call themselves "Reformed" when basically they are only Reformed in Soteriology (TULIP).
They do not hold to things like the solas, or the regulative principle of worship.
I would also like to state that by looking at the beliefs that the Acts 29 network claim to believe. I kind of doubt that they hold to either women elders, or women deacons. In fact I have heard liberals accuse Driscoll of being anti-women, because of his stand on women in leadership roles. In fact the exact quote was “he is worse than the Conservatives”.

As I stated earlier, I am not a fan of the Acts 29 network.

Tom

Their doctrinal statement isn't particularly troublesome, although it has its own problems. What concerns me most is their ethic, which again is contextualization & cultural engagement. This has a very strong tendency to overshadow solid doctrine, besides what it does to dilute worship, especially as it concerns God's holiness. I share Pilgrim's concerns.