Finally, an emerging church conference is coming right here to Chicago! This summer our Emergent cohort, up/rooted (with the help of several other Midwestern Emergent cohorts) will be hosting the first-ever Midwest Emergent Gathering. Here's what we said about it on the website:

A church of 10,000 people that meets in a mall...
A small urban community that meets in an art gallery...
An African-American church on the south-side of Chicago...
Web communities that connect tens of thousands of people...

What do all of these have in common? They are all emerging faith communities discovering what it means to be missional in their own unique context. AND they will all be represented at the first annual Midwest Emergent Gathering, July 20-21 in the suburbs of Chicago, IL. Come learn from Tony Jones (Emergent Village), Denise Van Eck (Mars Hill Bible Church), Spencer Burke (theOoze.com), Nanette Sawyer (Wicker Park Grace), Doug Pagitt (Solomon's Porch), and Alise Barrymore & James King (The Emmaus Community) and many other missional practitioners from a wide diversity of backgrounds as we learn together about "Creating Missional Communities".

Contribute to the conversation as we discuss, network, and learn in community together via fast-paced mainstage sessions, interactive workshops, and unstructured times for dialogue with old or new friends. Whether mainline or evangelical, emerging or traditional, high church or de-churched, you will find inspiration and ideas to help you and your faith community become more effective agents for the mission of God in this hurting world.

If you're at all interested in the emerging church conversation, I hope you will consider attending. Cost is only $40 before June 1st and $60 after that. (Oh, and for my atheist readers, we will also be inviting two atheists to speak and lead workshops: Hemant Mehta and Helen Mildenhall - so if you're in the Midwest you should come and cheer them on.)

And please help us spread the word. Email friends and pastors who might be interested, tell people at your church or school, and post an announcement and banner ad at your own blog/website. (You can get the code for our banner ads by clicking here.) We also have a poster/flyer available if you'd like to put it up at your church or school. Just let me know and I'll email you a .pdf to print.

Click Here to Register for the Midwest Emergent Gathering!

Labels: conferences, emerging church