INTRODUCING WEIRD CHURCH CAMP

The book Weird Church: Welcome to the Twenty-First Century came out one year ago this month.  Beth Estock and I (co-authors) have traveled across many time zones from Germany to Hawaii, talking about the promise of rising forms of church that will bless millions of people in this new century. Some of them, such as the Cathedral and the Tabernacle have been around throughout American history.  Others, such as Dinner Church, go all the way back to the first century.  Weird does not mean uniquely modern - it just means different than the franchise-institutional model of denominational Christianity that most of us grew up in.  

Thousands of books have sold.  Hundreds of amazing conversations have occurred!   I lost count how many times I heard something to this effect: "This book is putting words on things I have been sensing for some time."  So now, we are announcing the first-ever national gathering sponsored by the Epicenter Group - and co-sponsored by Illiff Seminary, Rocky Mountain Conference, Path 1 (UM Discipleship Ministries) and others!   Introducing WEIRD CHURCH CAMP!  This will be a place to take the conversation forward about emerging ways of doing church.

Weird Church Camp will be held in Estes Park, Colorado late next summer: August 29 - 31 to be exact.  It will be a gathering of persons who long for the new church that God is calling to life in our time... in all its many iterations!  We are looking for pastors, dreamers, church planters, students, ministry innovators, spiritual entrepreneurs and folks who like to hang out with such people.  The gathering will be ideal for clergy continuing education, and (because it is being held at the lovely YMCA of the Rockies), also ideal for bringing multi-generational teams and even bringing our spouses and kids. Weird Church Camp will be highly interactive, peer-driven, with a minimal amount of time given to plenaries and expert talking heads. 

Beth Estock has described Weird Church Camp as "a place where our souls can come out and play."  YMCA of the Rockies offers first class accommodations and recreational venues surrounded by some the most inspiring land in North America.  The land itself is a sanctuary that will become holy ground and thin space: ideal for worship, for learning (and unlearning) and for holy imagination.

There are too few gatherings where the mid-wives of God's new things can think out loud and find encouragement and collaboration.  This is designed to be that kind of place with that kind of crowd! 

Here is a link to the Facebook Page for Weird Church Camp, where you can indicate you interest.  ( https://www.facebook.com/events/1818025981800126/ )  Within just a few weeks the registration page will be up.  Pricing and specific details will be announced.

Please feel free to share this link with friends and with pastors and leaders whom you shepherd.

(And, we will offer 2.0 CEUs for the event to those who collect such things.)

Blessings to you in your collaboration with the Spirit in 2017!  We would love to see you in Estes Park, or somewhere along the journey this year!