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Feel caught between the traditional church and the emerging church? Discover a third way: deep church.

C. S. Lewis used the phrase "deep church" to describe the body of believers committed to mere Christianity. Unfortunately church in our postmodern era has been marked by a certain shallowness. Emerging authors, fed up with contemporary pragmatism, have offered alternative visions for twenty-first-century Christianity. Traditionalist churches have reacted negatively, at times defensively.

Jim Belcher knows what it's like to be part of both of these worlds. In the 1990s he was among the pioneers of what was then called Gen X ministry, hanging out with creative innovators like Rob Bell, Mark Oestreicher and Mark Driscoll. But he also has maintained ties to traditionalist circles, planting a church in the Presbyterian Church of America.

In Deep Church, Belcher brings the best insights of all sides to forge a third way between emerging and traditional. In a fair and evenhanded way, Belcher explores the proposals of such emerging church leaders as Tony Jones, Brian McLaren and Doug Pagitt. He offers measured appreciation and affirmation as well as balanced critique. Moving beyond reaction, Belcher provides constructive models from his own church planting experience and paints a picture of what this alternate, deep church looks like… a missional church committed to both tradition and culture, valuing innovation in worship, arts and community but also creeds and confessions.

If you've felt stuck between two extremes, you can find a home here. Plumb the depths of Christianity in a way that neither rejects our postmodern context nor capitulates to it. Instead of veering to the left or the right, go between the extremes--and go deep.

Reviews & Endorsements:

• "Deep Church is a narrative of one man's journey of spiritual discovery involving at core a search for a place to stand. Whether you can fully agree with Jim's findings or not, you will find this book to be an accessible, well-articulated, deeply personal and (thankfully) theologically irenic apologetic for the emerging church." - Alan Hirsch, author of The Forgotten Ways, and founder of Forge Mission Training Network and Shapevine.com
• "Deep Church is a carefully balanced and helpfully critical analysis of the emerging church and the numerous negative reactions against it. It is a fair-minded, truly gracious undertaking that speaks the truth in love and charts a clear third way that I sincerely hope will be embraced by a multitude of younger Christian leaders. Only a thoughtful pastor who knows Scripture, the Christian tradition and the modern challenges to mission in our present context could write such an excellent book." - Dr. John H. Armstrong, president, ACT 3, and author of Your Church Is Too Small: Why Unity in Christ's Mission Is Vital to the Future of the Church
• "A marvelously reliable guide… indeed I know of none better… for our much-needed efforts to go deeper as churches by mining the depths of the gospel for creative and faithful ministry in the strange and exciting new world of the twenty-first century." - from the foreword by Richard J. Mouw, president, Fuller Theological Seminary
• "Deep Church is the book we need--it's a genuine third way. Jim Belcher is poised like no other to evaluate the emerging movement: he knows theology, he loves the church, he cares about twenty-somethings, he knows the entire emerging movement, and he remains faithful to theological orthodoxy. Most of all, Deep Church avoids the clamor for extremes. There are only two or three really good books about the emerging movement, and this is the best analysis I've seen." - Scot McKnight, Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies, North Park University
• "Deep Church is a thoughtful, helpful and practical addition to the growing field of missional church thinking." - Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church, Seattle, president, Acts 29 Church Planting Network, president, Resurgence

"Easily One of the Best Books I Have Read on the Church! Within 48 hours of receiving it, I finished it and filled it full of asterisks and underlinings and exclamation points. A breath of fresh air, it was easily the best book on the debates that are raging in the church today. So, what sets Deep Church apart from all others?"
(M. R. - TN)

"A Timely and Important Book. Belcher writes clearly and with objectivity. He represents both sides with fairness acknowledging both the good and the bad. He also writes as someone who has traveled this journey and personally wrestled with the issues on both an intellectual and practical level. Neither is he writing from a position of here-say or assumption. Belcher has visited the churches, spoken with and has even becomes friends of many of the leading emergent figures. Deep Church thoroughly resonated with me and it is a book I would highly recommend and encourage people to read."
(A. M. - SC)

"Deep Church: Constructive and Needed. In full disclosure, this book was authored by a dear friend of mine, and the man who served as my Pastor for nearly seven years, Jim Belcher. I am very glad that Jim wrote this book, because it needed to be written, and there are not a lot of people out there who I believe could do what Jim has done. Let me scratch a bit deeper."
(R. O. - Seattle, WA)

"The Book on the Church I've Been Looking For & We've Been Needing! Six and a half years ago I had finished my education at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY and was living in Lexington, KY, working as missionary to international students. I started to hear about something I know now as the "emerging church" (EC in this review). At the time I was already concerned about how "locked in" traditional churches were to a programmatic mindset, a cold orthodoxy, professional pastoring. I was reading my Bible and seeing something different. I started reading books by people in or around the "emerging church conversation" and found the same hunger for community, authenticity, and church vitality. I started blogging on emerging issues and found a whole community of young SBC'rs who were trying to recover a healthy tradition as well as forge a way forward by healthy questioning of traditionalism. Over the past 5 years I've been pastoring a traditional church in Northern IL with the intention of bringing the church to something different, and now that's best defined by Belcher's Deep Church."
(S. M. - IL)

"If you have a heart for the global church, and are interested in what is going on in today's Christian culture, then you will love this work. Jim Belcher has literally traveled the world, seeking for this third way of "doing church." From beginning to end, the reader will travel alongside the author in this journey, this determination to find Christ and His people in unity, worshipping in one heart, one spirit, as Christians have been called to do. You will not put this book down before learning the important aspects of what these two paths, the emerging and traditional church, are leading to. Is there a balance? Is there a third way?"
(J. B. - CA)