Tag: acts 29

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Major Acts 29 Church Resigns from Network, Citing ‘Poor Decision-Making,’ Leftward, Theological Drift’

A significant player in the Acts 29 Church network has announced they are leaving the network after 18 years of membership, citing a flawed and susceptible to corruption organizational structure, poor decision-making and leftward theological drift, and a loss of ability to help multiply churches.

We’ve written about Acts 29 network a few times, in our posts:

Acts 29 Network Talking Heads Pummeled For Squishy LGBTQ Response
“This is Wrong, Unfounded, and Mean” Church Releases Audio Of Acts 29 Network Kicking Them Out for Unspecified ‘Public Critique’
Church Leaves Acts 29 Network Over Complaints of Theological Wishy-Washy-isms+ Financial Secrecy
Question: Is this the Wokest Acts 29 Church Around? Answer: Probably
Matt Chandler and Mark Driscoll Back Together for Christian Conference

Pastor Rick White of CityView Church in Fort Worth/Keller, TX, shared the news of their departure on X, saying that he owes an explanation to “those I have recruited into Acts 29, those I have encouraged to stay in Acts 29 and those-to whom-I have personally defended Acts 29.”

White served in various leadership roles for the network, assessed 40+ church planters, hosted multiple Acts 29 conferences, and his church generously supported the network financially. Lamenting that the network “no longer deserves our continued loyalty or trust,” he writes:

  1. First and foremost, it is our conviction that the current Acts 29 organizational structure is flawed and susceptible to corruption and compromise. Per the current by-laws, Acts 29’s board is a self-perpetuating entity with the current Acts 29 President (who is also the lead employee) serving as a member of the five-person board to which he reports. Curiously, Acts 29’s president also has two family members that work for the Network (one as Director of Human Resources) – all three at a substantial combined financial cost to the network.

    Finally, and frustratingly, despite the mandate for member churches to fund the network’s budget, it has been our experience that there is no meaningful mechanism for Acts 29 to be responsive to the concerns of member churches.
  2. Second, Acts 29’s poor decision-making and leftward, theological drift makes member churches increasingly vulnerable by association. During 2020, Acts 29 and several Acts 29 leaders signaled leftward positions on multiple social matters. These leftward positions became flash points which served to agitate relational rifts in many churches (including ours). At present, Acts 29 has failed to acknowledge or apologize for any part played in stirring divisions in member churches during 2020.

    Another example: In September of this year, Acts 29 posted a poorly conceived video titled Walking with Jesus Among our LGBTQIA+ Friends. While I am grateful the video has since been taken down, the video was an embarrassing distraction for several days to anyone associated with Acts 29.

    Finally, Acts 29 has failed to speak plainly and decisively on the matter of women preaching in Acts 29 churches. Instead of making a decisive stand based on our historical position, Acts 29 chose to create a task force and survey member churches prior to writing a “letter on Complementarianism”. While the letter was ultimately unnecessary, it contains much that is commendable, yet lacked decisive clarity, signaling Acts 29’s intent to continue equivocating on this matter while disregarding and disrespecting its firmly conservative members.

White also concludes that “Acts 29 tends to lead by pragmatism and is often captured by the whims of the moment.” and that their focus is on replanting and revitalizing churches, as opposed to the planting of Acts 29, which they believe is “myopic and will produce diminishing returns as planting churches becomes increasingly difficult in our western culture.”

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Acts 29 Network Talking Heads Pummeled For Squishy LGBTQ Response

Pastor Nate Schlomann took a two-by-four to the talking heads at the Acts 29 Network commenting on a video  between Justin Anderson, the Director of Church Planting for Acts 29, and Mike Sullivan, lead pastor of Emmaus Church in Worcester, MS sharing strategies for churches to show ‘gospel hospitality’ to our LGBTQIA+ friends and family with conviction and love. 

Acts 29 was founded as an evangelistic church planting network designed to exemplify a deep biblicism, mainly on the back of its Calvinistic soteriology. However, downgrade has crept in over the years, facilitated by a leadership that refuses to diligently and relentlessly cull cultural decay and ungodly influence within their midst, exemplified best after they cowardly kicked out two pastors from their network for an unspecified public critique.

Schlomann explains their recent snafu:

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“This is Wrong, Unfounded, and Mean” Church Releases Audio Of Acts 29 Network Kicking Them Out for Unspecified ‘Public Critique’

Three months ago, Pastors Chase Davis and Matt Patrick of The Well Church in Boulder, Colorado, posted a letter online announcing their disaffiliation from the Acts 29 Network due to theological concerns. Founded by Mark Driscoll and then taken over by Matt Chandler in 2012, Acts 29’s evangelistic church planting network was designed to exemplify a deep biblicism, mostly on the back of its Calvinistic soteriology, but in the years since downgrade has crept in. At the time the pastors explained some of the issues they’d been having.:

“We have also become alarmed by systems within Acts 29 that have led to things like women preaching and the promotion of transgenderism within Acts 29 churches, which go against both Acts 29’s distinctives and biblical truth…

We have brought our concerns to the attention of leaders in Acts 29 over the past two years through many phone calls and town halls. We have also questioned, sincerely, how our required 2% annual giving to the network is being used and have found no more clarity over the matter than when we first inquired. We had also requested to see Acts 29’s bylaws, but we were told that they are “in-house documents…”

We are not alone in our concerns around these theological issues. Other churches have recently left the network because its leadership has not provided clarity on such matters. For example, you can read Coram Deo’s recent letters to the board, which went unanswered. You can also read Garden City Church’s letter highlighting concerns regarding a lack of financial transparency and not being an example that we wish to follow.“

Chase and Patrick are not wrong to be concerned over the direction some Acts 29 churches are headed. One example that we can think of would be Park Church in Denver, Colorado, which is absolutely drenched with wokeness and streaks of compromise. 

Chase and Patrick explain what happened in light of their requests for clarity: “In early 2023, Acts 29 removed our church from the network without warning. We had been members in good standing in Acts 29 for 12 years. There was no indication that this action would be taken against our church. It was a unilateral decision made by the board of the network. There is no process of appeal.”

Since being kicked out of the network, which they’ve given hundreds of thousands of dollars to, they’ve been hearing that Acts 29 representatives have been misrepresenting them and the reasons they were forced out; bad-mouthing them and describing them as “unhinged” while claiming they had many warnings before being removed from the network. The pastors have released the January 2023 phone call to combat these lies and because “we feel it is our responsibility to provide transparency to our brothers currently pastoring Acts 29 affiliated churches about the precarious position in which their fellowship rests.

You can see a snippet here or watch the full video here. Notably, Acts 29’s reasons for giving them the boot are vague and unspecified, and they seem terminally unable to give clear, concise, and transparent examples of precepts they have violated that would warrant them being removed.

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Church Leaves Acts 29 Network Over Complaints of Theological Wishy-Washy-isms+ Financial Secrecy

In a recent letter published online, Pastors Chase Davis and Matt Patrick of The Well Church in Boulder, Colorado, have announced their disaffiliation from the Acts 29 Network due to theological concerns. Founded by Mark Driscoll and then taken over by Matt Chandler in 2012, the evangelistic church planting network was designed to exemplify a deep, deep biblicism, mostly on the back of its Calvinistic soteriology, but in the years since downgrade has crept in.

One example would be Park Church in Denver, Colorado, which is a church body that is part of the Acts 29 Network and is absolutely drenched with wokeness and streaks of compromise. With this lack of trust degraded, being an Acts 29 church no longer has the pedigree it once had, which the Well Church has realized with stunning clarity. According to the Dissenter:

The pastors stated that the direction and leadership of the network, including the promotion of women preaching and transgenderism, went against biblical truth and the network’s distinctives. They also expressed concerns about the sudden firing of the Director of Global Partnerships and a lack of clarity on how their required annual giving was being used. Despite repeated efforts to raise their concerns with the network’s leadership, including vice presidents and regional leads, the pastors were suddenly removed from the network without warning or explanation.

“We have been glad to partner with like-minded churches and have experienced great joy from the friendships and brotherhood in the network,” the two wrote. “However, due to various concerns with the direction and leadership of the network itself and its effect on our church-planting efforts in Colorado, our elder team has been praying and reevaluating our relationship with Acts 29.”

“We have also become alarmed by systems within Acts 29 that have led to things like women preaching and the promotion of transgenderism within Acts 29 churches,” they continued, “which go against both Acts 29’s distinctives and biblical truth.”

Davis and Patrick note that they’re not the only ones talking about this:

We are not alone in our concerns around these theological issues. Other churches have recently left the network because its leadership has not provided clarity on such matters. For example, you can read Coram Deo’s recent letters to the board, which went unanswered. You can also read Garden City Church’s letter highlighting concerns regarding a lack of financial transparency and not being an example that we wish to follow. Another red-flag concern we had was with the sudden firing of the Director of Global Partnerships, Shaun Garmen, from Acts 29. For churches in Acts 29 West, Shaun had been a stabilizing presence and his abrupt firing seemed odd and eroded trust with many churches.

We have brought our concerns to the attention of leaders in Acts 29 over the past two years through many phone calls and town halls. We have also questioned, sincerely, how our required 2% annual giving to the network is being used and have found no more clarity over the matter than when we first inquired. We had also requested to see Acts 29’s bylaws, but we were told that they are “in-house documents.” In our conversations with network leaders, including vice presidents and regional leads, we made concerted efforts to communicate clearly and honestly and with charitable hearts.

On January 17th, 2023, and without warning, our lead pastors Matt Patrick and Chase Davis were summoned into an unplanned Zoom call with two Acts 29 Network vice presidents. They informed us that they were removing us from membership in Acts 29, effectively immediately. They claimed the board of Acts 29 unilaterally determined we are no longer a good fit for the network. We were not given any specific examples of what that means, and there were not any prior conversations about us not being a good fit prior to this meeting. 

Unless the ship is righted, many more will follow.

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Acts 29 Network Suspends President and Chairman of the Board, Matt Chandler, Following Revelations

Following the revelation that the elder board of The Village Church has temporarily suspended lead pastor Matt Chandler over engaging in an inappropriate, overly familiar conversation with a woman, Global church planting network Acts 29, of which Chandler is the President and Chairman of the Board, has likewise announced that they have placed him on leave.

In a message posted to their website, the Acts 29 network, which has around 800 congregations under its wings, wrote:

Acts 29 prioritizes personal integrity and holds our leaders to a high standard of conduct. Considering the findings of the TVC investigation and consistent with the leave of absence from preaching and teaching that the Village Church has placed Matt on, the Acts 29 Board has asked Matt to step aside from Acts 29 speaking engagements during this time. 

We hope that Matt can use this time away from speaking to focus on the process that TVC elders have laid out for him.

Chandler isn’t the first high-profile leader suspended or asked to step down from the network. Mark Driscoll, who founded Acts 29 in 1998, handed over the presidency to Chandler in 2012 after being involved in several controversies and was removed from the network in 2014. In 2016, Vice President Darrin Patrick was terminated after being disqualified by his church for ‘historical patterns of sin.’ Two years ago, Acts 29 CEO Steve Timmis was also removed after being accused of being a bully and having an abusive leadership style.