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TechnoratiJim Belcher has written a book breaking down the debate between the traditional and the emerging churches.
To some, it’s an answer to their prayers as the book represents arguments on both sides fairly from the perspective of someone caught in between. To others, like Dan Kimball of Vintage Faith Church, Deep Church is hopefully the last in the large stack of books on the emerging church debate – some of which have been insightful and some of which have been “totally crazy.”
“To me it feels like a closing chapter and a new hopeful one moving ahead and now beginning,” Kimball wrote on his blog.
Belcher may be a rare find, as someone who is an insider and a friend to both traditional and emerging circles. He uses that to his advantage to try to move both camps beyond the divisions toward unity.
CP: You seemed to have an advantage many others don’t in writing a book like this because you were a friend to church leaders on both sides (emerging and traditional) and able to draw perspectives/opinions from both. Did you have any trouble listening to both sides without any bias?
Belcher: No. I think you’re absolutely right. One of the reasons I decided to write the book is because I knew and have worked with men and women on both sides and have deep respect and love for them. And so I felt like I was really unique in that sense that I could speak to both sides and I had experience with both sides, and I had the credentials both academic and in ministry where I thought both sides would listen as I stood in between the two groups. I read one review I think it was in Christianity Today, it was a very short blurb, they said there’s only one of me in the whole world. I think it’s just being funny.
What so often happens is that if you’re squarely in the traditional camp and you try even to give a sympathetic critique, it’s really hard for the emerging side to listen. And I think the other way too. If you’re in the emerging camp and you come across as angry towards the traditional … and I just felt like nobody was listening. So I felt like if I stood there in the middle as an insider to both that I could, I would have a chance to have both sides actually listen. And that’s what’s bearing out. What I’ve been absolutely amazed is that people on both sides, even if they disagree with my third way, really are not disagreeing with how I represent them and they actually are loving the book and telling people about the book even if they have differences with what I propose.
CP: You seem to be an avid reader. You took the time to read not just a few books but as many books as you could lay hands on to really understand the two sides plus you visited with many of the key leaders. And I think a lot of Christian leaders on both sides appreciate that.
Belcher: Particularly because I’m in a denomination that’s on the traditional I didn’t feel I needed to prove myself to them. But I felt like even though I had a foot in the emerging camp that I really had to demonstrate that I was going to listen to them and that I was going to really capture well what they were saying, not just cherry pick things that I didn’t like that is so often done, but actually hear their full arguments, their full positions. So between reading their books, reading as many blogs on the emerging conversation, the history of the emerging conversation, and then getting on airplanes and going to visit and spending time with them I thought was really important so they felt like they were heard. That’s what they’re saying. They may disagree with my conclusion but they’re all feeling like they were heard and they were represented well. That’s what I think all of us were called to do. It’s not just me. Anytime if we’re going to persuade someone we have to listen well and we have to represent them in a way that they would recognize, not the way the critics would recognize. Continue »
