Pastor Mark Driscoll Sparks Backlash over Comment on Stay-at-Home Dads
Pastor Mark Driscoll of Trinity Church in Arizona was recently met with outrage from pro-life leader Kristan Hawkins after calling Christian stay-at-home dads "worse than a non-Christian." The controversy began when Driscoll made a post on X on May 25, stating, "A Christian man who doesn't work is worse than a non-Christian. This includes you, stay-at-home dads."
His post alluded to 1 Timothy 5:8, where the apostle Paul writes, "Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." (NIV)
A Christian man who doesn't work is worse than a non-Christian. This includes you, stay-at-home dads.
— Pastor Mark Driscoll (@PastorMark) May 25, 2025
Driscoll also echoed his sentiments on Mother's Day last month, writing, "If you're a voluntary stay-at-home dad forcing mom to leave the kids to make the income, God thinks you're worse than an unbeliever (and he's sending them to hell, so)."
A Mothers Day reminder that if you’re a voluntary stay at home dad forcing mom to leave the kids to make the income, God thinks you’re worse than an unbeliever (and he’s sending them to hell, so).
— Pastor Mark Driscoll (@PastorMark) May 11, 2025
Days after Driscoll's May 25th post, Hawkins rebuked Driscoll and refuted his remarks by referring to her husband, who is both a stay-at-home dad and a Christian.
"@PastorMark owes my husband an apology for this post. My husband was a schoolteacher for 10 years, and we decided that, with two of our children having cystic fibrosis, he would stay at home to care for & teach our children while I continue to lead Students for Life to fight to end Planned Parenthood & the violence of abortion. He is 100% a Christian and the best example of a male role model I know," she wrote on X.
.@PastorMark owes my husband an apology for this post. My husband was a school teacher for 10 yrs, and we decided that, with two of our children having cystic fibrosis, he would stay at home to care for & teach our children while I continue to lead Students for Life to fight to… https://t.co/R4b3MK1ShQ
— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) May 27, 2025
In a follow-up post, Hawkins rebuked pastors and conservative commentators for their "manly advice."
"I'm 100% done with the 'manly' advice some pastors and other conservative commentators want to give men and women about what the role of men 'really should be.' Most of these men have cheated on their wives or have found to be in some other public sin. It's sickening," she contended while calling Driscoll's comment a "cheap shot" and asking whether taking care of his children is considered "work."
I'm 100% done with the "manly" advice some pastors and other conservative commentators want to give men and women about what the role of men "really should be."
— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) May 27, 2025
Most of these men have cheated on their wives or have found to be in some other public sin. It's sickening.
Driscoll, who led the now-defunct Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, which he co-founded, previously explained back in 2008 how 1 Timothy 5:8 should be applied in families.
"We're built as women to be home with our kids, and the Titus 2 women, we're supposed to be loving our husband and children, busy at home, homeward focused, pure, kind, self-controlled so that we don't malign the Word of God," Grace Driscoll said.
Meanwhile, Driscoll contended that the role of men in the home has been distorted by secular culture.
"You live in an absolutely perverted, corrupted, stupid culture. It's a culture of hook-up, shack-up, break-up. It's a culture in which men act like Peter Pan, and they're boys way too long," he said.
"If you cannot provide for your family, you are not a man," he continued before noting some circumstances in which men might not be able to honor the Bible.
"Maybe you get injured, you get sick, you get cancer, totally understood we're not legalists. But if you're an able-bodied man, your job is to provide for the needs of your family," he said.
Driscoll maintained that a man supporting his family may have to live a simpler life in order to honor God, but that it was preferable to caving in to the values of the world.
Photo Credit: ©Mark Driscoll Strong Men Conference Event Photo from YouTube
Originally published June 02, 2025.
