Tensions of Narrative Ownership: Exploring the Rise of (Counter) Narratives during the Fall of Mars Hill Church

When Mars Hill Church came under fire for unethical activities, current and former parishioners began to share their stories of membership in and exit from the infamous mega church. In this study we explored the communicative space between the dominance of an organizational master narrative and the rise of a prevailing counter narrative, that is, the struggle for narrative ownership. Our thematic analysis of blogs featuring members' and leaders' stories and archival church documents revealed two tensions that members experienced in the struggle for narrative ownership: silence-voice and isolation-community. Ultimately, findings from this study extend Fisher's Narrative Paradigm, situating narrative fidelity and probability as most useful not for evaluating the epistemic quality of stories but for explaining their resonance with a particular audience.