Emerging UMC: A Gathering.....

So, a while back I was told by a friend (love you Betsey) that works in the national headquarters of the United Methodist Church to join a blog called emergingumc. So, I got on, joined up, and started a discussion that grew into great relationships. And now, they have asked me to be a speaker at a new event coming up in October '07 to speak about Organic Gatherings and how we are living into a "missional/emerging" way of being Christian. (yeah I know they have not met me so they might not ask me to do it once they do...but hey for now, as far as I know, we are still on, ha ha ha ha) So, here is the information so far and as more comes in I will post it here on the blog... please keep this event in your prayers....Oh and Merry Christmas!
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The dates for emergingumc: a gathering are set: October 4-6, 2007 (Thursday evening to Saturday noon). The location will be Nashville, Tennessee. Registration will be limited. We're still working on finalizing all sorts of other details, including price. We'll have more news about that by mid-January.

emergingumc: a gathering will be:

• eminently practical-- you will share and learn what's happening where you are and identify and celebrate many ways forward-- or downward, or backward, or sideways
  
• deeply spiritual-- in worship, spiritual practices, and the disciplines of Christian conferencing lived from our postmodern context
• institutionally challenging-- the "subtheme" of this gathering is "What we want the mainline church to know about the emerging missional church," and we're looking to publish the presentations you and others bring to make your voices heard
• authentically missional-- not "here's ten ways to fix your church and get lots of people to come," but "here's how we're discovering and learning to respond to God's mission in the midst of the people and institutions where we are, and here are some questions we still have"
  

But above all, emergingumc: a gathering is your event-- an opportunity for you as United Methodists who are exploring and birthing the emerging missional church among us to

• share what you're doing and learning,
  
• build stronger networks across the connection, and
  
• amplify your voices to strengthen and deepen the practices of the emerging missional church among United Methodists in particular and mainline denominations in the US in general

So, mark you calendars now!

And keep watching for more specifics in the weeks ahead...