So What's an unConference?

If you follow along on our Presbytery's Facebook page or Twitter feed you'll have noticed that I spent the first part of last week at what was called UNCO14.  I wrote about that a bit in this space last Monday, but, now that I've experienced it, I'd like to share some more.

Rather than being focused on one particular speaker or one particular theme, an unConference is simply a gathering of folks from across the country who come together with a passion for Christ and for the Church to talk about issues that are of burning importance.  It is a time to share dreams, to express fears, to envision new things, to discover new resources, to draw upon the experiences of folks from around the Church.  And there were not just Presbyterians there!  Folks from the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, the American Baptist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, and the Episcopal Church attended... as well as an independent, charismatic pastor who is leading a new church development with her husband, and a Unitarian Universalist pastor.  It was a rich and diverse mix.

When we gathered together, we worshiped, and then we were invited to go and write on a large piece of paper whatever it was that was most pressing for us that we'd like to explore with others.  The result looked like this...

The group's conveners then suggested how some of those topics might be grouped together for discussion, and we spent most of the next two days in small groups exploring new ways to be, and to do, Church.  It was exciting to be in a place that encouraged the free-flow of dreams and conversations.  Over the five years that UNCO's have been being held, a total of twenty new ministries have been started!

This time got me wondering about our own Presbytery.  What would it look like if we gathered for an unMeeting?  We've decided to limit our formal, stated meetings to two a year, with the hopes that other gatherings would spring up.  That hasn't happened yet, but what about doing something like this?  What would it feel like to gather together with no set docket, no motions to make and second, no business to do?  What might the Holy Spirit birth within us if we simply gathered to dream and envision, to pray with and support one another, to explore new ways in which Christ might be calling us to share the Gospel?  And if we did something like this, what would you write on the paper; what would you most like to explore with others?

Those of us who are ordained to the ministries of the Church have vowed to serve the people with "energy, intelligence, imagination, and love."  All of us have dreams about what we'd like to experience in the Church.  Would you be willing to share your dream with others and explore where God might be leading us all?  It's worth considering, don't you think?