Platt also accused the dissident group of being racist. Ministry partnerships: If you represent an organization which would like to partner with MBC, please fill out the International Partnerships Form or the Local Partnerships Form. Platt, the senior pastor of McLean Bible Church in Northern Virginia, is now caught in the middle of a scandal that is reminiscent of events that took place in 2019 at a large Southern Baptist Church in Naples, FL. So those are some of the manifestations that show this is a larger discussion among evangelicals. A small group of people, inside and outside this church, coordinated a divisive effort to use disinformation in order to persuade others to vote these men down as part of a broader effort to take control of this church., Pastor David Platt preaches at McLean Bible Church, July 18, 2021, in Vienna, Virginia. According to the church constitution, elders must be approved by a three-quarters majority, but that day the vote failed, a first in McLean history, according to a church email. Every time this lawsuit has been filed or amended or refiled, it has resulted in a dismissal, he said. Platt taught the course to about 1,000 church members. McLean Bible Church refuses to conduct meeting according to any established rules of order. (He recently preached one funeral in the building.) McLean Bible which is seen as a conservative evangelical congregation and once had more than 16,000 attendees has long been an important church in Washington with four locations near the city. He - I've heard him preach on abortion and religious liberty and traditional marriage. Which enabled a small group, just to put it in perspective, less than seven percent of our current membership on Wednesday night, including some people who we know are not actually members, less than seven percent kept elders from being overwhelmingly affirmed by our church family for the first time in our history.. Bob Smietana. The dispute at McLean centered around a failed June 30, 2021, election. Less than 25 percent of members were part of the vote Wednesday night, Platt said. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. In that election, the elders were approved, which led dissident members to file a suit. (UPDATED) Unusual decision draws scrutiny at one of largest Southern Baptist schools. Read More FILE - Stacie Wood and her husband, Andy Wood, stand for a portrait on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. Stacie Wood, the woman pastor at the center of . However, the church continues to promote and use secular sociology books that promote CRT. Early life. ROACH: It was a tumultuous time. (RNS) David Platt had a dream for the future of McLean Bible Church. David Roach is a reporter and pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Saraland, Alabama. A password reset link will be e-mailed to you. Many of its members come from the top ranks of government, media, and business. We're teaching everything that the Bible teaches. It sits in what can only be described as one of Americas Elite areas. However, that is not the only vote of no confidence in David Platts Social Justice Gospel. Frazer also believes church leaders disqualified people who they thought would vote the wrong way. Since the ballots included church member names, he said, leaders would know how church staff and other members voted, opening them up to retaliation. The church approved a 2021 budget slashing $2.5 million from what it budgeted in 2020. The church was rocked by controversy in 2019 when President Donald Trump stopped by the service for prayer. The suit is pending despite the announced vote outcome. Until a chance encounter with my moms old Bible opened my eyes. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Some reports indicate it is, while others indicate it isn't. . Chuck Hannaford, a Memphis clinical psychologist who has helped churches mediate conflicts for 30 years, said McLeans troubles are the latest iteration of a broader conflict between younger Reformed Christians and older generations of white evangelicals. The July 18 vote has been surrounded by controversy, with some decrying what they saw as creeping liberalism within the church's leadership. I hesitated to share it because I know it is so ugly and painful to hear but I want to point out the approach being used by people giving leadership to this group in these meetings.. According to sources close to McLean Bible Church, Platt was told about this many times and seemed unconcerned about it, but finally complied with the demand to remove the divisive political photograph. Longtime member Bill Frazer, 69, believes Sundays election violated the churchs constitution, which states that any member who misses services eight weeks in a row can be designated as inactive. Some of you may remember him as the guy Jerry Falwell Jr. told to "grow a pair." Platt is now in the middle of a controversy over "wokeness" at the church. Just like the Democrats blame racists, so too David Platt. James MacDonald founded Harvest Bible Chapel in 1988. INSKEEP: I was astonished by some of the conspiracy theories that you described that surfaced during that election campaign. We're glad you're here! David Platt, who has been aligning himself and his church closer and closer to the Revoice "gay Christianity" movement over the last year or so, has been making headlines as he continues to partner . According to Dr. Baucham in his book Fault Lines, David Platt, then head of the Southern Baptist Conventions International Mission Board, delivered a message from Amos 5, then repented in tears for his white privilege, silence, and inaction. with Max McLean: C.S. It's great to be with you. Things began to change. And as we walk faithfully with God during these days, keeping our eyes fixed on him, I trust that he will work all these things together for our good and ultimately his glory.. INSKEEP: Is that part of what seemed to get him in trouble with at least a portion of the congregation? Critics say the churchs leadership has become woke and has substituted critical race theory and social justice for biblical teaching. After my seminary and doctoral work, I fully . Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. The key problem here is a lack of transparency. Platts teaching explains that some people (no doubt an oppressed racial group) can better see sin than those people part of a larger group of people guilty of racism.. David Platt, pastor of McLean Bible Church near Washington, D.C., and founder of Radical, a resource ministry that serves churches, preaches during the second session of the two-day 2019 Pastors' Conference held June 9-10 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. The group has also reportedly filed other complaints . By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Once the first vote for the elders failed, Frazer believes that Platt and leaders should have stopped and listened to the congregations concerns. Platt asserts in the course that the Bible teaches both individual and corporate responsibility and that present systems are discriminatory. Further he made the absolute statement that nobody on MBC staff supports Black Lives Matter. It was an exercise in eisegesis (p. 121). McClean Bible Church is or . Frazer, who is not a plaintiff, said the lawsuit and controversy at the church were unfortunate and that he hated to see the churchs dirty laundry aired in public. This fact was pointed out to the current McLean Elders in a document that warned against the syncretism currently shaping Platts approach to social justice. The Local Church Wins Out in David Platt's Decision. At Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis, the successor to influential pastor John Piper resigned over the summer after ongoing internal conflicts in the church and a school Piper founded. The church in question is a prominent one, McLean Bible Church, where many Washington Republicans worship. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Some may wonder what Lon Solomon thinks about the heretical social justice teachings. That comes with attendance issues and budget cuts. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Wade Burnett, a pastor on McLeans leadership team, said the congregation decided to move forward together in a difficult time. We're glad to hear from you. If people were motivated to drive from Maine and Florida to McLean Bible Church in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., to vote against David Platts Woke agenda, maybe the problem is not with the dissidents but with David Platt? In a rant against causing division in the church, David Plattthe man responsible for dividing McLean Bible Church by teaching Critical Race Theoryclaimed a group of dissident conservatives were using disinformation to divide McLean Bible Church. It never goes away on its own.. Many of its members come from the top ranks of government, media, and business. Nope. CBN-backed candidate Mike Stone received 48 percent of the vote in last months SBC presidential election, finishing second to Alabama pastor Ed Litton. T he election of the elders of an evangelical church is usually an uncontroversial, even unifying event . But David Platt has emphasized that everybody, regardless of their political views or their ethnicity or anything else, should be welcome to hear the gospel and be a part of the church. He became a teaching pastor in 2017 and left the presidency of the SBCs International Mission Board to dedicate his ministry to McLean the following year. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. So wherever possible, we want to work together to move forward together on mission even with our different perspectives.. Those dissident members argued that church leaders, including senior pastor David Platt, a best-selling author, had violated the churchs constitution. Some say it is now a running joke that McLean refugees are showing up in other area churches looking for the truth and the Gospel instead of racial identity politics. In a complaint filed Thursday (July 15), five McLean members allege that Platt and other leaders illegally barred them from voting at a recent congregational meeting to approve new church leaders. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.