Following months of internal controversy, the Seattle-based Mars Hill megachurch is shutting its doors, leaving the ultimate fate of the church’s Sammamish campus uncertain.

Calls to Mars Hill Sammamish went unanswered Friday — the church is normally closed on Friday — in the hours following the announcement made by Pastor Dave Bruskas on the Mars Hill web site Oct. 31.

“Following much prayer and lengthy discussion with Mars Hill’s leadership, the board of Mars Hill has concluded that rather than remaining a centralized multi-site church … the best future for each of our existing local churches is for them to become autonomous self-governed entities,” Bruskas wrote. “This means that each of our locations has an opportunity to become a new church, rooted in the best of what Mars Hill has been in the past, and independently led and run by its own local elder teams.”

Each Mars Hill location can choose to become independent and self-governed, merge with another location, or disband altogether, according to Bruskas. All existing Mars Hill properties will either be sold, or have the loans assumed by the local church entities if approved by lenders. Any remaining funds will be distributed as seed money for the newly independent churches.

“Ultimately, the success of this plan, and the future viability of each of these new local churches rest solely on all of us continuing to be faithful in supporting Jesus’ mission through our attendance and continued giving,” Bruskas wrote.

Bruskas expects the process to complete by Jan. 1, 2015.

For more information, visit marshill.com.