When I hear of a hostile takeover in a church, I think back to around 2006 when conservative Episcopalians were breaking free of their denomination, reclaiming the name “Anglican” and trying to take their church properties with them.
Usually they failed with conservative and liberal sides accusing each other of malfeasance. The lawyers got paid, of course.
This time around, the headlines are about conflict inside the largest evangelical church in the Washington, D.C., area and because it’s in northern Virginia, where so many inside-the-Beltway workers live, its problems have gotten a lot of press interest. It didn’t hurt that then-President Donald Trump visited the place on June 2, 2019, which stirred up lots of people.
Here’s a Washington Post piece that tries to explain what’s going on:
The leaders of McLean Bible, one of the D.C. region’s largest and most high-profile evangelical churches, are facing attempts from its own members to spread disinformation to take control of the church, Pastor David Platt warned the congregation in a sermon earlier this month.
Last month, the church was supposed to vote in new elders who oversee the church, and a group tried to shore up enough votes to block the appointed leaders. In a sermon on July 4, Platt said the group told other church members as they were walking into the meeting that the new elders would try to persuade church leadership to sell the church’s building in Vienna, Va. to local Muslims who would build a mosque.
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. But threatening McLean now is a group that has spread all kinds of rumors, Platt said.
OK, so a local megachurch is having a catfight. How does one make such a story interesting to the rest of the world?
Simple: Make it about a greater issue, such as the generational conflict or politics, which is what NPR did in calling the place “a hub for Republican senators and Bush aides.” It’s that old saying here at GetReligion: Politics is real. Religion? Not so much.
Further into the piece, it explained the struggle as young vs old.
You can pick out churches across the country where there has been this conflict between people that are sort of an old guard type of evangelical and then a younger type of evangelical that wants to reach a broader, more diverse audience with the Gospel. Some of the older guard think that that's soft-pedaling some biblical truth. But then you have some of the younger evangelicals who say, look. We're teaching everything that the Bible teaches. We just want to give believers freedom to disagree on things that aren't essentials.
It’s tough to write about complex and personal church fights. Back in the day, I had an unwritten rule that unless the argument got to lawsuit level or someone famous was involved, I didn’t touch it. It was way too much inside baseball.
When I lived in northern Virginia from 1995-2008, McLean was pastored by the legendary Lon Solomon. It was not seen as cutting edge, but more establishment evangelical. It was one of the few large churches in the area that had a singles ministry; in fact a lot of local churches refused outreach to singles, telling them to head for McLean.
It was also known for Jill’s House, a creative respite program for exhausted parents of mentally disabled kids. It was birthed out of the experiences of Solomon and his wife, Brenda, and their needs in parenting daughter Jill, 29, who suffers from a seizure disorder known as Dravet Syndrome.
Solomon retired and Platt, who was already an evangelical celebrity himself, took over in 2017. He is known as the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board and author of a popular books with titles such as “Radical,” “Radical Together,” “Follow Me, “ “Counter Culture,” “Something Needs to Change” and “Before You Vote.”
Religion News Service describes what happened after he arrived at McLean:
But a series of controversies and the country’s growing political polarization have turned Platt’s dream into a nightmare.
Critics say the church’s leadership has become “woke” and has substituted critical race theory and social justice for biblical teaching. Platt and other leaders, they say, have abused their power by violating the church’s constitution.
In response, Platt has claimed that the church is trying to fight off a hostile takeover and that Satan is trying to divide the church. The dispute at McLean may now end up in court.
So yes, the fight is inching toward legal action, which makes the story more compelling (and easier to sell to editors
What’s interesting is the major issue the church is splitting over is Critical Race Theory, which some see as an insidious anti-Christian concept. This is a hill the older members are willing to die on. The younger ones: Not so much.
Christianity Today sees the issues as something all churches will eventually grapple with, if they have not already.
Chuck Hannaford, a Memphis clinical psychologist who has helped churches mediate conflicts for 30 years, said McLean’s troubles are the latest iteration of a broader conflict between younger Reformed Christians and older generations of white evangelicals.
“There is some resistance from what some would consider the old guard in evangelical circles to younger guys” accused of being soft on doctrine in an effort to reach a more diverse audience, Hannaford said. Some older evangelicals “see it as sort of a coup.”
Meanwhile, leaders like Platt seWe the pushback as its own sort of coup and remain concerned about the influence of opposition fueled on social media and watchdog blogs.
One thing I’m curious about is the church’s worship, which is a subject that lurks in the background during many church disputes.
Who rules over that roost? Is the music modern or edgy or are they singalongs from previous movements? When Platt came, did he revamp the architecture, i.e. putting in the huge screen, smoke machines and film crews that so many churches use to establish their brand?
I’m not sure the battle is — as suggested in some media reports — between the Reformed theology folks and the oldsters. The Calvinist trend was huge in Southern Baptist and evangelical circles 20 years ago, but I think there are other, stronger movements involving young people now.
Frankly, it’s kind of odd to hear of the older guys being involved in church. So many of the over-60 crowd that I know don’t attend church anymore because the music is too loud or they feel unwanted, they have been pushed out of leadership positions or they feel that church is essentially repeating itself. It’s an immense brain drain I’ve watched for years. Once again, it helps for reporters to ask questions about worship issues — not just politics.
I’ve been listening to Platt’s speech (above) and he referred to the church becoming more diverse. What is he talking about? Racial diversity? Gender diversity? Just curious.
As Relevant magazine explains, the dissidents are a small group of people who won’t win out. Is the issue a younger generation that insists on dealing with race issues that Baby Boomers don’t want to hear about? Are there core doctrines under real threat? Are these dissidents mainly men or a combo of men and women? It’s fascinating to watch all this go down.
If you want to see the other side of this coin, here’s the Facebook account of Platt’s detractors.
Intra-church fights are just agony to cover. It sometimes involves sneaking into members-only meetings or getting a friend to take record them. A lot of folks don’t want to go on the record. So — a thanks to the reporters who are trying to cover this mess. One always gets this sneaking feeling that you don’t have the whole story. And in conflicts like this, chances are that you don’t.
FIRST IMAGE: From the official website of McLean Bible Church.