The following questions and answers address some of the most common disinformation that people have spread about our church family and leaders. We have communicated everything below to our church family in the past, but we have compiled these questions and answers here for those who have not seen these updates. Please feel free to go here for more information.
No. In 2016, former Pastor Lon Solomon led our church family to partner with the SBC to plant churches in metro Washington, D.C., and to support missions around the world. We maintained our independent, nondenominational structure throughout the duration of this partnership, and current church leaders ended this partnership in 2021. You can learn more details here.
No. We highly value church membership and our members, and throughout the last four years we have invited anyone who has any questions about their membership status to meet with any one of our pastors. For more information, see here.
No. According to our previous constitution, an elder election required 75% affirmation from members voting in that election. During elder elections beginning in July 2021, provisional ballots were available for anyone who claimed he or she was a member but was not on the membership roll. Though relatively few provisional ballots were cast, they were all officially counted during elections, and even if only the provisional ballots that voted “no” were included in the official count, the results would still have been well above 75% for each elder in these elections. For more information, see the following elder update.
As we previously shared with our church family, MBC leaders sent a public letter to Tysons parents in 2017 making them aware of inappropriate communication and conduct by a volunteer in our student ministry. Church leaders reported that conduct to law enforcement, banned the volunteer from church property, and removed him from church membership. Though the conduct and initial response happened before David Platt became a pastor at MBC, upon coming to MBC Pastor David commissioned an outside group with expertise in helping churches and other organizations like churches protect children to evaluate the policies, procedures, and practices at MBC in the past (including the above situation) and the present to make sure that we are doing everything we possibly can to protect children. During this process, we received invaluable feedback from the families who were directly involved in the situation from 2017 regarding how they could have been cared for better, feedback that was hard for them to share and hard for church leaders to hear. This was addressed publicly during our Sunday morning gatherings in the Fall of 2019 and through private meetings with the families involved, and this entire process led to extensive changes that are now in place for child protection.
Yes. We continually evaluate all of our ministries to make sure we are stewarding our resources in the most biblically faithful, practically effective ways. Sometimes this evaluation process leads to making changes to or eliminating even good ministries in favor of what we believe might be a wiser stewardship of our church family’s resources. At any point we consider making a change in any ministry of the church, we carry out that decision-making and implementation process prayerfully and carefully with the input of many people, even as we realize not everyone will always agree on those decisions. We are committed to continually working together across our church family in a multitude of wonderful ministries aimed at building up the church and spreading the gospel in our city and around the world.
Yes. Each year, church leaders publicize a proposed church budget for any members to see and evaluate at least two weeks prior to a Church Family Meeting. The publicity of the budget includes printed versions of the budget available at every location. During that time period, members have the opportunity to ask any questions or express any concerns to church leaders about the budget. The budget must then be approved by affirmative vote of church members. Elders then oversee the distribution of funds in accord with that budget under the oversight of our accounting team. Every year, the church then undergoes an external audit to validate our financial reporting.
No. Every year, church members vote to approve a church budget and elders oversee distribution of funds in accord with that budget. These funds are distributed under the oversight of our accounting team composed of leaders with multiple accounting certifications, collective decades of accounting experience, and high personal integrity. Every year, our church undergoes an external audit to validate our financial reporting. When we were partnering together with the Southern Baptist Convention and New City Network to plant churches across metro Washington, D.C., from 2016-2021, we publicly commissioned, celebrated, and supported these church plants with funds distributed through the process outlined above. You can find more information about our partnership with the Southern Baptist Convention and New City Network for church planting here.
No. Using our annual process that involves church approval of a budget and elder oversight of that budget in coordination with our accounting team, we support the spread of the gospel around the world through a multitude of ministry partners. Radical has been one of those ministry partners since 2016, and other similar partners include the Seed Company (Bible translation), the Mustard Seed Foundation, Access Partners, Ekklesia Afrika, Reaching and Teaching International Ministries, and SIM International. Specifically in support of ministry projects among unreached people groups, efforts to mobilize other churches to reach unreached people, and a training program hosted at MBC to equip the next generation for mission, we have given to Radical an average of approximately $58,000 per year over the last 9 years. This amount on average equals less than 0.3% of MBC’s current annual budget and less than 0.5% of Radical’s current annual budget. We are incredibly excited about the work that God is doing through Radical and we look forward to collaborating with Radical more in the future as we join with hundreds of other churches and thousands of other Christians around the world who are partnering with Radical to make Jesus known among the unreached. You can find more information about MBC’s gospel partnership with Radical here.
No. MBC pastors and leaders have taught and written at length about biblical justice and the truths that all people are created in the image of God and that all expressions of racism are sinful. For more information, see here.