Acts 29 Network

Acts 29 was co-founded in 1998 by David Nicholas and Mark Driscoll. Driscoll became its president around 2001, and the network became effectively identified with him and Mars Hill's theological culture. By the time of Driscoll's removal in 2014, Acts 29 had approximately 500 affiliated churches in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Acts 29 was the franchise mechanism for Mars Hill's masculine theology. While individual Acts 29 churches had their own governance and pastors, they shared a common church-planting culture that privileged: - Hard complementarianism: male-only elder and senior pastor roles, no women in senior leadership, doctrinal position papers requiring agreement with Grudem/Piper-style complementarianism - Reformed soteriology: Calvinist theology emphasizing divine sovereignty and human depravity — the theological framework associated with Piper's 'Young, Restless, Reformed' movement - 'Missional' church culture explicitly coded as masculine — 'church for guys,' minimizing feminine aesthetic elements - Driscoll's books and preaching as recommended resources The network model demonstrated how a single person's theological framework could be multiplied across hundreds of congregations without formal denominational hierarchy. This ideological propagation through voluntary affiliation — rather than denominational control — is a distinctive feature of the 2000s evangelical landscape. Acts 29 removed Driscoll and Mars Hill from the network on August 8, 2014, citing 'ungodly and disqualifying behavior.' Matt Chandler (Village Church, Dallas/Fort Worth area) assumed the presidency. The network survived Driscoll's departure and remains active, maintaining complementarianism while modulating the more extreme masculine rhetoric. In 2022, Chandler himself took a personal leave after a church investigation into inappropriate online communications with a woman — suggesting the accountability problems were not limited to Driscoll personally.

Documented themes

• Patriarchy
• Gender & Patriarchy

Connections from Acts 29 Network

• influenced → The Gospel Coalition (TGC) (2005) — Acts 29 and The Gospel Coalition represented overlapping circles of the Young, Restless, and Reformed movement of the mid-2000s. Many Acts 29 church planters were also Gospel Coalition-affiliated pastors; Mark Driscoll was a founding TGC council member (until his removal in 2014). Both networks shared Reformed soteriology, complementarian gender theology, and a missional church-planting culture explicitly coded as masculine. Acts 29 supplied the church-planting infrastructure; TGC supplied the theological content production and the intellectual credibility. Their overlap meant that complementarian gender theology spread simultaneously through two mutually reinforcing networks.

Connections to Acts 29 Network

• Mark Driscoll founded (1998) — Driscoll co-founded Acts 29 in 1998 and served as its president, making it the franchise mechanism for Mars Hill's masculine theology. By 2014, Acts 29 had approximately 500 affiliated churches. Acts 29 allowed Driscoll's theological culture — hard complementarianism, masculine aesthetic, Reformed soteriology — to propagate through voluntary church affiliation across the country without formal denominational control.
• Mars Hill Church founded (1998) — Acts 29 was co-founded in 1998 by Mark Driscoll, who was simultaneously building Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Mars Hill was the originating laboratory for the masculine church-planting theology that Acts 29 then franchised nationally and internationally. Acts 29 churches were modeled explicitly on Mars Hill's culture: hard complementarianism, Reformed theology, missional aesthetics coded as masculine. Driscoll served as Acts 29's president and was the network's defining figure until his removal in August 2014, the same month he resigned from Mars Hill. The two institutions were effectively a single theological project operating at two scales — the flagship church and its replication network.

Sources

• Jesus and John Wayne — Kristin Kobes Du Mez (2020), pp. 223–249
• Reformed Resurgence: The New Calvinist Movement and the Battle over American Evangelicalism — Brad Vermurlen (2020), pp. 88–140