Mars Hill Church

I’ve been here when I was looking for a church home, I felt included in someway shape or form before in other churches even if its in a verry small way, but this was like everyone being on one side of the wall and you are on the other. When I went only 1 time it seems like they were going through some type of transition, I do not know the story but gathering the vauge messages in the sermon (also looking at a screen projector, not sure if it was live or precorded it looked precorded) what I could make out is internal politics taking place and what originally was is now split. Don’t know how it is now, but it seemed like they were going through problems of their own. I feel stuff every now and then rather its in my gut, a feeling of peace and clarity or other things, but what I felt here it felt very shaken and uneasy even if I didn’t know what is going on it felt like a ship that you aren’t sure will sink or not. So perhaps we were in 2 different zones in being a member and not being one in a outsiders perspective.

Mars Hill is an incredible church. It is relevant and authentic. They take God very seriously but don’t take themselves too seriously. It is a great place both to investigate Christianity and grow as a mature believer. It’s the best church I’ve ever attended.

Mars Hill is such a great church to call home. There is so much support, encouragement and community there you can’t help but feel great when you’re there and after you leave. I’ve been attending Mars Hill for a year and I’ve met lots of great people. Mark Driscoll is an impassioned Pastor and tells it like it is.
My fiancé and I attended the Pre-​Marital class which was 8 weeks long, meeting once a week. There were about 8 other couples (some engaged some just dating) who were students and 3 couples teaching who had each been married for 15−20+ years. I learned SO much that I know will be helpful in the future like conflict resolution, patience, budgeting, and much more. I would highly recommend this FREE class.
Being new to the whole attending church regularly thing, I was relieved and happy about the phrase I heard commonly used around the church «It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship.» That it is. If you attend Mars Hill, expect to be surrounded by kind, welcoming people who love Jesus.

if you’re feeling like your life is missing something, and you’re not as fulfilled as you’d like. You might be inclined to explore your spiritual side. Perhaps a little meditation has helped you relax and deal with daily stress, but you’re ready to take it to the next level. It’s time to let the spirituality and input of others enhance your own personal self-​discovery. It’s time to go to church. Don’t go to Mars Hill.
This is not a church for people who are looking merely to be affirmed in their individualism or perpetuate feel-​goodism. This is a church of people who believe with conviction and are not afraid to lovingly tell you so. Because they believe that what they believe is the truth, they want you to believe it too. And good on them! It’s refreshing to see Christians unwaveringly promote their convictions and at the same time do so out of love.
The structure of the service is pretty typical of an evangelical Church. they start out singing some songs together. After this there’s a greeting time that lasts approximately a minute. They greet each other in the only way I’ve ever seen it done in evangelical churches i.e. you awkwardly introduce yourself to the people sitting near you, forget their name before it’s left their lips, and never talk to them again the rest of the service. Thankfully there is a predetermined topic for greeting conversation «Do you go to a community group and if not, why not?» (More on C-​groups in a bit.)
Next there is a 45−60min. lecture by Mark Driscoll (teaching pastor located in Seattle) projected in HD on a massive screen at the front of the church. By the end of the sermon, you will likely have laughed, wanted to cry, and if you’re more or less open to it you will have walked away with a nugget of truth that will actually enhance your knowledge God and make you want to repent of sin.
Then there is another song-​time during which most everybody will participate in their Last-​Supper service. They practice communion by intinction which is a nice change up from other evangelical churches which serve bone-​dry crackers and grape juice blend shots. Mars Hill still uses grape juice blend, but the pita bread is a move towards a more traditional style. After communion you are dismissed. Pastors and lay-​leaders are available to pray with you after the service.
Community groups are Mars Hill’s central focus for the lay people. They’re trying to do away with «Sunday-​Christians» and make Christianity an everyday part of your life. They meet during the week for food, hanging-​out, and something like Bible study. I say «something like» Bible study because each community group leader is given a set of predetermined questions to ask. The leader may or may not abide by the list. The questions can range from testing to see if you actually attended and listened to the previous Sunday’s sermon to hard-​hitting questions about your sins, vulnerabilities and insecurities. C-​groups and their leaders work very hard at providing a safe and loving environment of people onto whom an outside person (or even an inside person for that matter) can bear their spiritual, emotional, and yes even physical burdens (does anyone have a truck I’m moving this weekend). But that’s the point of the questions, to foster some closeness among members and potential members.
The groups are organized generally by a combination of affiliation and geography. You’ll probably be directed to a community group that meets near where you live and after that a group for folks your age. If you’re older, there’s not much for you. There are community groups with senior citizens in them but MH’s senior community is incredibly small. MH is a church founded by young people and ministering mostly to young people. My best advice, find a group with as diverse of an age bracket as possible. They exist.
Mars Hill focuses a lot on men being leaders in the home and in society. Church attendance is mostly men. The emphasis on masculinity makes many women feel left out. I have had multiple female-​members tell me as much. MH is not fond of stay-​at-​homes dads so if you’re one, you can expect to be examined and possibly disciplined.
Expect a LOT of Catholic/​Orthodox bashing stemming from Mr. Driscoll’s own poor experiences as a Roman Catholic. Many sermons have included pictures of Roman or Orthodox hierarchs in their vestments coupled with a congregational laugh. Because of this bias you may leave thinking that there weren’t many good Christians between the Bible and the Reformation, which of course is not true.
Many more good things to say, many more complaints. All in all you’ll probably be encouraged as a Christian and if you’re not one, you might want to become one after a few months.

Without interjecting too much of my personal opinion, here is what to expect from the 7:00 PM Sunday service (never been to the morning ones, so I’ve no idea what the more family side of the church is like).
— ‘Praise and Worship’ led by a rock band (15min)
— Announcements, as well as a brief meet and greet (5min)
— A video sermon on the projector by Mark Driscoll (occasionally someone else, or sometimes someone local) (~1hr to ~1.5h)
— A communion service with more praise and worship (~15min)
— Dismissal
Expect to be there about two hours.
The church orients itself around meeting once a week on Sundays for corporate worship, and primarily to listen to a message from its pastors, as well as meeting throughout the week in small groups called «community groups». You will almost certainly be asked if you are in a community group when you go.
The music tends to be most of the popular modern Christian music played by a live band, as well of some older English hymns with modern settings and occasionally new songs written by the band’s leader, which are pretty good. However, the music on Sunday evenings is ALWAYS too loud. I am not particularly sensitive, but it causes me pain and headaches. If you are sensitive to sound, you must not go to this service.
The sermons are very long. Mark Driscoll is an entertaining preacher, but he has a tendency to be very emotional, to yell, and to be very blunt about his beliefs. Sometimes this can come across as rude or insensitive.
The church is a part of the Acts 29 network, which is a network of what amount to modern American Evangelical Protestant Christian churches. The church espouses to hold to reformed theology (Calvinism pre-​destination, sola fide), with the exception of their beliefs against infant baptism and the fact that they frequently rebaptise of new members from other Christian ecclesial communities.
Being a typical American evangelical church in many ways, they espouse a mostly traditional Christian sexuality, teaching that sexual intercourse outside of traditional marriage is morally illicit. One exception to their traditional morality is that they believe that the use of contraception within marriage to space children is morally justified. They support the stereotypical American model of the wife as homemaker and the husband as breadwinner. Prolific dating and marriage between members of this church is encouraged.
The 7:00 PM meeting is definitely a hipster gathering. Describing this community as a «hipster church» would be pretty accurate. Lots of the attendees appear to be scene kids or hipsters. Plenty of trendy jeans and trendy glasses to go around.
As for the interpersonal interaction, every I’ve met there has seemed to me to be pleasant and sincere. The leadership seems to be genuine, and they do a good job of publishing their finances and trying to be accountable.
As a Catholic, I have obvious disagreements with the whole Protestant worldview, but I cannot speak terribly poorly of Mars Hill Church.
If you come from a more traditional church background (Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Methodist), it will be a bit of a shock to you, the video screen, the odd building and odd decorations. If you go to a non-​denominational church like Calvary or a Baptist church, it will probably feel like more of the same but on a projector screen.
The most important things to glean from this review:
Totally a hipster church.
It’s named after the Roman god of violent warfare.

Stright-​forward Bible centered teachings that do not stray away from the truth. Worship is always amazing and leaders are there if you need and type of pray or counseling.

Amazing church centered on the Gospel.