Confessions....

This is a small review of Mark Driscoll's Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church.

This is not a book for those uncomfortable with brutal honesty. This is also not for those who are uncomfortable with those who don't mince words when relaying thoughts and concepts.

As others have noted, the book chronicles Mars Hill Church. No easy task starting a church, and the things he discusses shouldn't suprise anyone.

Dealing with radically broken people in a radically broken world 'ain't too pretty' at times. What that means is that Driscoll seems to have been able to get at people 'where they live' and has somehow mangaged to be theologically conservative and obvious at the same time. While assessment of 'success' in church circles tends to be elusive at times, it does seem that Driscoll has found a way in Seattle that acknowledges the 'elephant in the rooom' as well as the 'camel whose nose is already in the tent' and deal with them both accordingly.

'A brush of idealism paints the first-century church.' So begins the sermon series on 1 Corinthians that Mars Hill Seatlle is working through. What Driscoll does is challenge our notions of the church as being a 'morally perfected' group of people on earth. At the end of the day, the church WANTS to look in the mirror and say, 'Oh, all of the problems are OUT THERE SOMEWHERE, and never inside ME.' This is something the Scriptures just won't allow us to do.

Chew it up and spit out the bones...(if there are any).