The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Rob Bell leaving Mars Hill

Evangelical Universalism
#1

"]To our community of attendees, listeners, and supporters:

The infamous quote “change is the only constant” certainly holds true at Mars Hill. We have experienced ongoing changes that have improved and transformed—as well as at times unintentionally created tension or heartache within our community. And now, we have another significant change to hold together.

Feeling the call from God to pursue a growing number of strategic opportunities, our founding pastor Rob Bell, has decided to leave Mars Hill in order to devote his full energy to sharing the message of God’s love with a broader audience.

It is with deeply mixed emotions that we announce this transition to you. We have always understood, encouraged, and appreciated the variety of avenues in which Rob’s voice and the message of God’s tremendous love has traveled over the past 12 years. And we are happy and hopeful that as Rob and Kristen venture ahead, they will find increasing opportunity to extend the heartbeat of that message to our world in new and creative ways.

… :astonished: I hope this is a good thing… he will go into the details this Sunday.

#2

This has me so curious too.

#3

Here is the recording of Rob explaining the situation:
marshill.org/teaching/2011/09/25 … w-calling/

#4

After listening to that I’m even more curious about what exciting stuff he’s got planned. And he’s coming to LA! I didn’t see any stops in LA for his tour. I sure hope he doesn’t burn himself out. I saw he’s booked himself four nights in a row a lot. I suppose that’s better than preaching 3xs a day.

#5

"]On his Twitter account, Piper wrote Thursday: "Seriously, as before, may you fare well, Rob Bell."More tactful, although I’m not entirely convinced that’s what he was thinking the first time.

"]In addition to Piper, Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren appeared to offer his own comment regarding Bell on his Twitter account.

First posting “Bell resigns” with a link to a report on Bell’s resignation, Warren then went on to respond to a follower’s question on whether “well-known pastors who leave their churches have more or less impact.”

In a series of other posts apparently inspired by Bell’s resignation from Mars Hill Bible Church:

…

They’re fairly strong words to come from another “Christian Superstar”… :neutral_face: Whilst it’s true Bell is treading a difficult path, I still believe, & continue to pray, that his motives are for God’s glory.

#6

one does wonder. i’ve been blessed by Rob’s videos but not read any of his books yet. i’m told they’re good by some and less good by others. for example i was steered away from Love Wins and to TEU by a semi-non-Universalist friend i have who at least gives EU the dignity of being a valid viewpoint. his reason for advising me to skip Love Wins is that it was short on theology compared to TEU, which is probably true.

anyway i’ve had a sneaking suspicion that Rob might like the sound of his own voice a bit…not consciously, i hope, but a bit…there’s so much affirmation from leading a mega-church that it’d be far too easy to fall into that trap.
and with everyone saying how “cool” he is…and he isn’t! he’s a geek through and through!
as a bona fide geek myself i feel qualified saying that, and also one that talks too much and is often a little too sure of being right, i can sort of spot the signs…this whole trendifying of Christianity that Francis Chan also does is worrying to me.

i’m not trying to be horrible, i’m just a bit worried that this could be a bad thing and that Warren makes some sense there…

#7

I don’t think we should condemn or criticize anyone on the basis of whether they look cool or geekish in the eyes of the world. Neither should we assume poor motives as only God sees the heart.
I have absolutely no doubt that an intelligent man such as Rob Bell knew there would be a heavy price to pay for speaking out in favour of God’s universal love. He was clearly willing to make this sacrifice and incur the wrath of many influential ECTers.
There is an addictive quality to many callings/professions and we must all be on guard but I pray that Rob’s future ministry will bring thousands to know the total victory of our Saviour.

#8

apparently i wasn’t clear enough. calling someone a geek is not criticism. can you please refrain from misreading my posts, please. i also was not criticisng anyone that is “cool”.

#9

Thank goodness for that. I was afraid I might have to close down my fanclub site - revdrewissocool.com :laughing:

Seriously, good point pilgrim. We need to pray for all Christian leaders, especially those with a high profile.

#10

He might be a geek on the inside, but he comes across as a smoothy. I have no ilk with Bell myself, but I’m strongly avoiding his material. I want to say that I honestly have no knowledge of his thoughts, because I don’t want people thinking I’ve converted to a doctrine because of a slick and popular vanguard. He might be helpful to some people, but I think he would be the death of UR to some of my old friends. According to Boyd (is he cooler? :laughing: ) he doesn’t make a case for anything anyway; he’s a poet asking questions, not a theologian answering them.

#11

I didn’t say it was, and I didn’t say you had. I said that we ought not to criticize someone on that basis. Whether you actually did or not is for anyone else to judge.
What I WILL say now that you seem determined to push forward with your criticisms is that you DID criticize him based on a “sneaking suspicion” !
God help us all!

I didn’t - but now you come to mention it…couldn’t have put it better myself!
Rob Bell has shown considerable courage in doing what he has done. I am very interested in listening to criticism of his doctrine or conduct - what he says and does - but how he looks, how he speaks, speculations on his motives, …??
WAAB:

Now that, I understand. Our friends are naturally attracted to one style or another and God uses the whole variety that ALL might be saved. Horses for courses.
We are all works in progress.

#12

Meh, I pretty much take anything Rick Warren says with a sack of salt. If God’s behind it (and I imagine He is), Rob will have far more impact, not being tied down to a local church body. I mean, look at the Apostle Paul!

Ok, I’ll come out and say it; Rick Warren is largely full of…poo… :mrgreen: and about more than just this.