Plenty has been written about The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast from Christianity Today. But there’s one part of the podcast that fascinated me, but not many people noted.
I was struck by the show notes of the first episode of the podcast, which had an addendum reading:
Wonder why Christianity Today features stories like these? Stick around at the end of the episode as Kate Shellnutt and Daniel Silliman discuss why talking about church culture and leadership matters.
It’s a common critique for Christianity Today, apparently. I found articles dating back to 1983 where readers asked a variation of the question, “Why do you want to throw stones at pastors?”
This caught my attention because it’s a question I know I’ve grappled with – not as a media outlet, but as a Christian in the church.
Christians do emphasise loyalty to our leaders. Pastors have a difficult, stressful role (that’s clear both from the Bible and from life observation). Tossing barbs in their direction seems disloyal and cruel, and certainly not “bearing with one another in grace and love” (Ephesians 4:2).
But it’s jarring seeing this question juxtaposed against a larger context, where a seemingly endless parade of pastors are being publicly exposed for abuse.
At best, many of these people lacked accountability. At worst, they rejected critical feedback and demanded absolute loyalty. Yet, even in the face of evident sin, we as Christians can challenge one another to stay loyal and keep mum.
What we have here are two truths that I am struggling to reconcile: First, loyalty to church leaders matters. Second, uncritical loyalty can lead to sin and abuse.
But where is the line?
It is a human impulse to want to criticise, and that impulse can be destructive.
We know that Christians are asked to be “eager to maintain the unity of the spirit” (Ephesians 4:3), loving peace and avoiding dissension. We also show grace to one another, just as God shows unwavering grace to us:
“… the faithful God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations…”
(Deut 7:9)
This unity and grace is just as important for our leaders, not less. Pastors have an immense responsibility to teach and guide a Christian community, and thus we should honour our leaders and seek to obey them (Hebrews 13:17).
Criticism can also come out of less-than-noble motivations.
It could be from schadenfreude – getting out the popcorn to indulge in someone else’s demise. (Hence why “failure porn” has trended online to describe the Mars Hill podcast.)
It could be our own greed. Even the CT staff in the podcast segment admitted that Mars Hill topics tend to get incredible traffic online, boosting their influence.
Or it could be pride. It’s very easy to criticise from the pews when you’re not in the pulpit.
But refraining from speaking out, for the sake of “unity”, isn’t loving or loyal.
Unity and faithfulness are key. It’s not wrong to wish to keep those paramount.
But here’s the crucial bit: That unity and that faithfulness are both to Christ. Not our favourite pastor, not even our local church.
As Michael Jensen writes in his great article, Loyalty is a Dangerous Virtue:
… God’s faithfulness does not mean that he overlooks injustice and corruption in them, does it? … God’s loyalty to his covenant is ultimately his loyalty to himself. Which means he is loyal to his people in the very act of holding them to account where they have broken faith with him.
Loyalty is a Dangerous Virtue, from Eternity News
Letting sin thrive out of “loyalty” is no loyalty at all.
Christian leaders deserve our support. But they are not infallible.
I remember being horrified some years ago when well-known pastor Francis Chan implored Christians not to criticize church leaders – people who are anointed by God:
Are you gonna attack Mark Driscoll? Are you gonna attack John Piper? … I’ve met these people and I see their hearts and I hang out with people from these different denominations and I’m like ‘they love Jesus,’ it looks different to me but I can see the spirit in them, so we better be careful.
My first reaction was, “what?!”
I want to show grace and loyalty to church leaders, and I don’t want to pretend I know better when I don’t. Certainly, members of the congregation may not always be best placed to judge.
But what happened to leaders needing to be “above reproach,” “respectable,” and “able to teach” (1 Tim. 3:2)? What about being held to a higher account (James 3:1)?
Do we forget the legacy of prophets speaking out against kings (even the good ones, like David)?
Do we or do we not believe that every person is fallible?
If it’s one thing I hope Christians can consider from podcasts like Mars Hill, it’s that holding Christian leadership to account shouldn’t be discouraged as a reflex.
And this is worth talking about, because it’s clear that misplaced loyalty has played a huge role in many church scandals – whether at Mars Hill or beyond.
In responding to the many church scandals we’ve seen, Michael Jenson advocates a position of being a “loyal critic”, someone who holds leaders accountable not out of divisiveness, but out of love.
I love that. But how does that play out?
As a Christian who sits in the pews, who isn’t in leadership – what does it look like to be a loyal critic to my leaders, day in, day out? When do I speak up, and when is it right to be silent?
At what stage do we say “They’re not perfect, but they’re bringing people to Jesus”, and at what stage do we say, “Enough”?
I have to admit that, if I went to a Mars Hill-type church and felt concerned, I would discuss it privately with friends but keep quiet. Otherwise, I would just “vote with my feet” and leave.
When abuse has thrived in so many churches in the US, Australia and beyond, is there no way for me to do more?
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This article was originally published in Equip (October 2021), a publication of Ethos Centre for Christianity and Society.
