Jim Belcher has an impressive network. As I read his book “Deep Church, A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional” it read as a who’s-who of emerging church leaders. At the core Belcher is attempting the awkward endeavor of gently critiquing his friends, and provide an alternative third way between the two extremes. Belcher is on to something here. Books, articles and other published works concerning the emerging church have seemingly always fallen into either wholehearted apology or scathing denouncement. To quote Belcher’s mentor, Tim Keller, “this is an important book”.
His understanding of the emerging church is very comprehensive and his descriptions are even handed and appropriate. Belcher knows the people involved on either side and has made it a point to build meaningful relationships with those he agrees with and disagrees with. The proposed third way at the most basic level is asking for a synthesis of the positive aspects of the emerging and traditional churches.
Now a few bullet thoughts from the book, as they came up:
- The late Robert Webber may be the most crucial thinker in the emerging church movement that no one talks about.
- Proposes that churches that find themselves outside of a denomination are destined for an eventual church split. While I can see the importance of a group to oversee the purity of the teaching, healthy conflict resolution, and leadership development; the denominational structure may not be the only way of association. There are many independent churches that have established healthy networks centered around universities or partner churches that have found ways to operate in a healthy way. In interest of full disclosure I have never been an active participant of a denominational church, so my bias may be showing.
- He echoes what D.A. Carson has proposed, but in a more positive way. Belcher characterizes the emerging church as one of protest. It is not in these protests or critiques that pose a problem, but the some of the subsequent solutions.
- In terms of the emerging church’s shaky alliance with postmodernism, Belcher advocates that postmodernism should be used for the deconstruction of ideas, concepts, and values; but should not be used for the subsequent reconstruction.
- A common theme that Belcher refers to that is proving to be helpful in my thinking is one of a “2-tiered system”. This delineation applies to the “belong before belief” conversation common in the emerging church. Essentially he proposes that there is a place for both. Looking at the ministry of Jesus commonly the people who are following him are broken into two groups, the crowd and the core. The crowd may be present out of curiosity or a searching spirit, but from this group Jesus is always inviting them to become a part of the core; to a deeper more meaningful experience. The emerging church should not place undue barriers but always work from a “centered set” methodology that is always calling people closer to the center instead of the alternatives of staying within a boundary or living in a nebulous relational set that is constantly changing.
Very helpful book for those in ministry. Those that get the most publicity (McLaren, Jones, Pagit) for their challenging words serve a great purpose to keep us all on our toes and always asking important questions, but those like Jim Belcher who refuse to take a polemic stance help us all understand how to lead and minister.
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