David Platt’s Church Faces New Lawsuit Over Alleged SBC Affiliations

Six members of David Platt’s megachurch, McLean Bible Church (MBC) outside Washington, D.C., recently filed a new lawsuit over what they say are the church’s improper ties to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

It’s the second lawsuit MBC has faced over allegations the church violated its own constitution. The first lawsuit sought to overturn MBC’s 2021 elder elections and came amid unrest at the church. Dissenting members claimed MBC leaders had embraced critical race theory and social justice instead of the Bible. Church leadership denied teaching anything besides what the Bible does.

That first suit was dismissed in June after the church agreed to a redo of its election of elders. But its plaintiffs have since appealed. Now, a different set of plaintiffs allege the church has affiliated with the SBC and the Southern Baptist Churches of Virginia (SBCV), and has funded both, in violation of MBC’s constitutional ban on affiliating with any denomination.

Neither the SBC nor SBCV lists MBC in their church directories. MBC did not immediately respond when TRR sought comment, but it previously denied ever being part of the SBC. Yet the plaintiffs state in the lawsuit that the church gave at least $375,000 to SBCV from 2017-2020 without congregational approval. They also state the church gave millions of dollars to subsidize New City Network, an SBC church-planting effort. The church also donated additional, unknown sums to other SBC entities, the plaintiffs allege.

MBC elders agreed to a partnership with SBC ministries in 2016 before longtime pastor Lon Solomon became pastor emeritus. The agreement stipulated that MBC would remain a nondenominational church, an elder update on MBC’s website indicates.

Platt, a bestselling author and former head of the SBC’s International Mission Board (IMB), became MBC’s lead pastor in 2017, while he was IMB president. He left his IMB role in 2018. Platt now chairs Radical, a discipleship and missions organization he founded, in addition to leading the church.

MBC’s elders voted to end the church’s partnership with SBC entities in 2021 over growing “confusion and concern” about MBC’s relationship with the SBC, the elder chairman wrote in a letter to the SBC. The plaintiffs claim in the lawsuit that Southern Baptist representatives told them MBC was part of the SBC at the national, state, and local levels—contrary to the church’s stated position.

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