Seattle’s Mars Hill Church announced Friday that it will disband its network of churches. According to its website, each location will now become independent or close all together.

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The dissolution of Mars Hill followed the resignation of its charismatic founding pastor Mark Driscoll in October. He had been accused of plagiarism, spiritual bullying and misuse of church funds. James Wellman chairs the Comparative Religion Program at the University of Washington. He says Mars Hill Church failed because it was always about Mark Driscoll.

Wellman: “It goes to the whole idea of these charismatic pastors. Despite what they say, the loyalty is to this person. And people kind of underestimate the talent of him as a speaker, as a charismatic figure.”

Wellman says people will take many paths now that the church’s magnetic leader is out of the picture. A visit to the Mars Hill Ballard location Friday night showed a building in neglect and disarray. Outdated posters and banners from back in August advertise a “new” sermon by Driscoll.