Originally Posted by UntoHim
Actually what happened at Mars Hill is what should have happened in the Local Church many, many years ago. At Mars Hill, one man, the founder, became much too influential and powerful, then when this one man became out of control and abusive towards his fellow elders...he was warned, he was pleaded with, he was reasoned with, then finally he was officially and biblically rebuked. In the case of Mark Dricoll (the founder and "one apostle" of Mars Hill) he chose to be a coward and abandon his flock. Now that their shepherd has fled, the sheep have been scattered and their multi-location megachurch has disintegrated. The elders of Mars Hill did what was biblical (and thankfully legally written into their bylaws) by offering him a plan for restoration which would have eventually restored him to full ministry.
The same kind of action was taken against another founder/apostle of a megachurch several years ago (Ted Haggard). Thankfully, most evangelical churches/denominations nowadays have clear and written laws for discipline written into their bylaws, and most of the time even the founder/apostle is subject to discipline under the bylaws, including removal from ministry.
Witness Lee became disqualified to remain even as an elder, much, much less as the "apostle" of an entire Christian movement. When he became disqualified would probably depend upon who you talked to. If you talked to certain saints in Taiwan he probably disqualified himself way back in the 50s or 60s (when Lee was committing financial fraud and was ripping the saints off, suing over meeting hall properties, removing and installing elders at his personal whim, etc, etc.) If you talked to Max Rapoport or Saul Benoit they would probably tell you Lee became disqualified in 1978 (when Lee betrayed them both - all the sordid details here on this forum). If you talked to John Ingalls, Al Knoch, Jo So et al they would probably tell you Lee became disqualified back in the late 80s (when Lee betrayed all of them in favor of his mentally ill, crazy and immoral son Phillip)
If at any point the Local Church sect had anything even close to the bylaws that were put into place by Mars Hill or New Life Fellowship (Haggard's church) Witness Lee would have been removed from any kind of official capacity of leadership or ministry. Maybe, just maybe, that would have actually humbled the man and he would have repented, and in the process saved a lot of heartache and grief for thousands and thousands of people over about 50 years.
But our God is sovereign. Our God is wise. Our God is gracious. Our God is merciful. We must believe this if we are going to make any sense of what has taken place over all these years. Also if we are going to help our dear brothers and sisters in the Local Church movement we realize what happened, why it happened and maybe what they could do to avoid repeating history.
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