We've been talking about this for several months now-- and a number of you have committed to be presenters and begun to develop what you'll share with us.
Now I can say a bit more.
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...