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As a theological and cultural trend (in a fairly small circle, anyway), emerging church peaked a couple years ago. At least it did for me. I attended a conference on emerging church. I took a class on emerging church. I wrote papers and articles on emerging church. I read books on emerging church. Lots of them. I consider myself part of a particular stream of emerging church. And then I got thoroughly tired of emerging church.

All that to say, when I noticed Jim Belcher’s Deep Church, in 2009 I dismissed it offhand as yet another tome sifting the relative merits of different authors and theologies, and decided in three seconds that No, I didn’t need a review copy.

Some time went by.

Then last month I picked up a copy of the book and noticed Tim Keller’s blurb on the cover: “Very important.” I flipped it over and read endorsements by Mark Driscoll and Rob Bell. And I decided I needed a review copy after all (Thank you, IVP).

Deep Church may be the most helpful ec-related book written to date. At the very least, it’s up there with Alan Hirsch’s masterful The Forgotten Ways.

Jim Belcher is a clear thinker and able writer who, like many twenty and thirty-something Christ-followers, deeply feels the “protest” elements that drive much of the emerging conversation. He acknowledges the various ways that the evangelical church in America has veered into institutionalism and stale understandings of gospel and mission.

However, not content to merely react, Belcher is committed to finding a way forward that corrects the imbalances and arrogance of traditional Protestant religion while avoiding the pitfalls of some emerging theology. He aims for a “third way” or “deep church” (C.S. Lewis’ phrase) that is informed by historical church tradition and sensitive to our cultural climate.

Belcher is also a church planter and pastor, and therefore has that rare quality of “welding theology to practice with a blow torch”–an achievement this blog always rushes to admire.

Deep Church is a gift to those looking to be the biblical church in emerging culture while continuing to learn from the past. Grab this book. It should be on the shelf with volumes like Total Church and The Forgotten Ways.

Highly recommended.

Will you forgive the faux pas of writing consecutive book posts? Thanks, I appreciate it.

In the past I’ve written a lot of book reviews. Lots and lots. This went on long enough that I developed an ingenious grading system and had a fun time arguing about it with my readers. The upshot is that I still get access to some excellent books, books that deserve to be reviewed, books that I intend to review…except that I’m the married father of three energetic boys under three years old, in the middle of remodeling our house and planting a church.

No big deal, you know. But it has cut down on my lazy afternoons.

So, to make sure that props-worthy books get at least a little credit on my blog, I’m going to preemptively let you know when I pick up a really promising volume. This will be my way of saying, “Hey, this book will undoubtedly be great, because I already know the author, and all he throws are strikes; in a perfect world I would write a lengthy review with footnotes, but in the meantime, consider this a heads-up.”

Sound good?

Let’s make this practical. Mark Driscoll’s new book, Religion Saves (And Nine Other Misconceptions) is balanced precariously on my book stack right now. When I open the cover, read the smart-ass intro, and start turning pages, Religion Saves will undoubtedly be worth my time. I’ve reviewed Driscoll’s books before and been influenced by them. Driscoll has a knack for welding theology to practice with a blow torch, and besides that, he’s funny.

This makes Religion Saves a perfect candidate for a This Just In book post. Consider yourself updated. And expect more of these in the future. I’ll still try and write reviews, but these stop-gap measures will help me feel less guilty in the meantime.

The full title of Eugene Peterson’s classic on spiritual formation is a small book review in itself, and sheds some light on his thesis—namely that to doggedly follow Jesus is to defy the conventions of our society. Check out the complete tagline:

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society

You just scan the book’s spine, and Peterson is already up in your face, softly but sternly suggesting, You’re probably going about this “spirituality” thing in the wrong way. You smile pleasantly and nod. Then you get past the introduction, and feel his fingers on your jugular. If you’re serious about this, some things will need to change; otherwise, just shut the book, ok?

Admittedly, I’m overstating the polemical tone of Peterson’s writing, but I’m doing so to mirror the book’s fundamental message: Slow down, forget religion-in-a-box (1.5 hours, once a week), and start plodding. Excellence is never quick and dirty.

Sometimes you read a book so needed, so deliciously counter-cultural, it makes you want to jettison everything else on the topic in your library—is there really anything left to say? For anyone consumed by doing everything yesterday—including learning how to act like Jesus, which I should have mastered last year—this may well be one of those books.

Peterson paints a picture of what Jesus-discipleship could really look like, and the travelogue is enough to make an explorer out of you. He fleshes out the panorama with contemplative writings on the “Songs of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134 in the Bible), which form a handbook for life on the road, the road toward Jesus.

The spirituality Peterson espouses is dynamic, straightforward and refreshingly “un-produced.” Combine this direct approach with a highly perceptive mind and you have a classic. Initially rejected by 17 publishers, this was Peterson’s first published work: a bracing discipleship text I would recommend to anyone.

No doubt timing had something to do with it, but Mark Driscoll’s latest book, Vintage Church, is my favorite in his Re:Lit series to date. (If you’re looking at the total Driscoll canon, Confessions of a Reformission Rev is still at the top of my list.) Having written on topics like Jesus, the Atonement, church leadership, and the Bible, the biblical foundations for church was a logical next topic for Driscoll to tackle. And tackle it he does.

In Vintage Church, Driscoll’s propensity for landing verbal punches is displayed to good effect. Why? Because the Bible delivers all kinds of body blows to our pride and preferences, and this is never more true than when God speaks about his community, the church. So when we talk about the topic of church, teachers need to let God’s dictates fall. Driscoll does:

The Bible is clear that every Christian is a part of the larger church body and is expected to participate in the life of a local church with the gift(s) God has given him or her. This is so God may be glorified and so his people may be built up through their service to one another. It is therefore a sin for someone who claims to be a Christian not to be actively loving his or her Christian brothers and sisters and seeking to build up the church as fathful members of a church. – Vintage Church, 51

Tough ecclesiology like this leads to a robust explanation of what God’s people are to be and do. Driscoll hits on obvious questions like Who Is Supposed to Lead a Church? Why is Preaching Important? What Are Baptism and Communion? He fleshes his positions out with scriptural care, but also with a practitioner’s eye:

Preaching is like driving a stick: you only get better the more you practice, and the hope is not to kill anyone as you learn, while accepting that a few dents are inevitable. -  Vintage Church, 92

Driscoll also discusses topics less-frequently discussed, like church discipline, technology use, and the active role of members. And while I’ve developed a gag reflex for blog posts and titles featuring the word “missional,” “What is a Missional Church?” is one of the best chapters in the book. A few lines…

A missional church goes to great lengths to understand the people God has sent them to. It seeks to know the culture and people better than any other organization, even businesses…(224) Such labor is “for the sake of the gospel,” which means that any church that only does evangelism without first studying the culture in an effort to contextualize does not truly care about the gospel (228).

[Many people] still live under the myth that missions is something that happens across the world rather than across the street, and that missionaries are special people and not normal Christians. This is a sin to be repented of (230).

Too often, what is called a missional church is nothing more than a hip, trendy gathering of the disgruntled children of other churches, where few if any true conversions are experienced (232).

Countercultural living requires becoming a stakeholder in the culture (235).

Gerry Breshears, Driscoll’s co-author, does a very solid job fielding common questions after each chapter, a feature that adds to the book’s blue collar tone. Vintage Church is highly recommended.

A couple days ago I finished up The Multiplying Church, the latest book from Bob Roberts. I’m trying to get back into the book reviewing loop, and this is a good volume to get me started, because I found a lot to like. As of this moment, I’m conferring a prestigious award on The Multiplying Church. It earns this blog’s highly sought-after Best Church Planting Book award, 2008 edition. (Can’t tell you how many PR reps from Leadership Network, Crossway, Baker Books, etc., come knocking on our door, begging me to consider their authors for this award…OK, I kid.)

But I am serious about the excellence of Roberts’ contribution.

As someone who reads a lot of church planting literature, I’ve grown accustomed to hearing a lot of the same things in the vein of “missional” thinking, leadership development, and what it takes to succeed as a church planter. Roberts has clearly grown accustomed to hearing a lot of the same things as well—and he thinks some of it is hokey. I’m with him.

Critique is not the main thrust of this book, but as Roberts explains what he believes it will take for a genuine “church planting movement” to emerge, he knocks down some of the prevailing thought on church planting from the Western perspective. One great distinction he makes is that the primary need today isn’t for more entreprenurial, tough, visionary dudes who will go beat the odds and plant a new church. (Crazy, eh.) Rather, communities and nations will be saturated with the gospel as we see the re-emergence of sacrificial, gospel-loving churches that are constantly sending people out to plant churches.

In brief, we don’t need one more risk-loving, culturally-engaged dude who gravitates to church planting because it is the extreme sport of church (I am one of those guys). We need thousands of churches who will act as incubators and senders of church planting teams. Ultimately, church planting and the gospel has faltered because the vast majority of churches fail to mobilize people and send them out to plant the gospel.

Got carried away there—but all that to say, I deeply appreciate Roberts’ love for both the young, penniless, driven church planter (again, that’s me) AND the usually-dysfunctional, nevertheless beautiful churches who should be working in tandem with them. This is one of a number of great insights that Roberts offers, and I came away feeling that I was hearing from a guy who has achieved a remarkably holistic perspective in the wild, cluttered, and currently sexy world of church planting.

Roberts describes himself as a visionary, high-energy dude, and that is expressed in the shotgun approach he takes to his subject matter. Don’t expect careful, sequential discussion. But look for refreshing perspectives from a guy who sees the world with a wide-angle lens and passionately wants to see the gospel grow through every avenue available.

The Multiplying Church is highly recommended.