Today we would like to share her words with you.

UNCO as Amazing Church

http://www.beckydurham.net/church/

Go read the whole post, but here is a paragraph to get you excited and click the link above:

Honesty comes naturally. Pretending is not necessary. Everyone’s welcoming and engaging. Each person has a story and there’s lots of time to tell yours and hear theirs. Worship is full of spontaneous moments and rich liturgy. It’s okay to go at your own pace and find God wherever that’s most meant to happen. Prayer happens at a table full of pipe cleaners, in a room where children are sitting under a table telling the story of Jonah, at a Friends’ Communion Service in the meditation space and outside in the rain. There is lots of noise. There is much silence.

UNCO and Kids

http://www.beckydurham.net/unconference-unco-kids-and-kids-in-church/

UNCO is a multi-generational experience. All are welcome at the table and through Kid UNCO an experience is available to the youngest among us. In this post Becky shares her experience volunteering with Kid UNCO. Here is a great quote from the post:

As the elements were served, I stepped forward to receive the bread. Five year-old Ben was standing in front of his father, who was breaking the bread. He reached up and took a piece of bread from his dad and handed it to me. I loved that. I loved that these children felt so welcome and free, even during what is often a solemn occasion.

Go… read the post!

How to get ready for UNCO

It is hard to tell someone what to expect when attending UNCO. The experience is very dependent on the gifts of the individuals who participate. So much so that the experience really does not begin to take shape until we all gather together for the first time on Monday night.

In this post, http://www.beckydurham.net/unconference-the-process/, Becky talks about the process of UNCO.

Through the recounting of her experience you can learn how to prepare to attent UNCO. Go read it now!

UNCO13 won’t be the same with out YOU!

The hosts are excited for UNCO13. Registration is now open for both East and West. Consider attending this year – UNCO will not be the same with out you. It is the spirit infused gathering of individuals sharing their gifts and perspectives with the community that creates the UNCO experience. So I am serious, when I say, “it will not be the same with out you.” We want and need your voice at UNCO!

More info about UNCO13 and registration can be found here.

Photo by Shannon Meecham.

A:  Christie Hale responds:   We went in 2011 with 3 kids ages 1, 4 & 6.

The 4 & 6 year olds went to Kid UNCO will we were in sessions and loved it. They’re designed for potty trained kids & above.

Our 1 year old came with us to our sessions, though my husband and I took turns. Never once did I feel like I was missing out because everyone in the room was helpful & kind even in the sessions.

We had LOTS of help when it came to meal times. Margaret Aymer Oget in particular stands out as an example of someone who was always went out of her way to talk to my kids and help out.

When it was bedtime my husband and I wanted to do some gaming. The group was happy to meet in the common area of our rooms so we could put the kids to bed and be close should they need us. We’d do it again in a heartbeat.

We take or kids with us to other conferences but its not the same and in fact harder.

UNCO10 Camp Fire. Photo by Christy Ramsey.

by Christy Ramsey

The first Unconference in 2010 was a spiritual life preserver thrown to me on a sea of tweets. I grabbed it and haven’t let go.

I struggle with the challenges of the institutional church, moving through church pastorates and decades of decline always 30 years younger than the congregation as we grow old together.

In UNCO a found a church built of people seeking to find how God is reflected in others, not in budgets to raise and buildings to preserve. Folks gathered their spirits and strengths and gently held together each other at the broken parts.

There was no agenda to accomplish, no product to produce, no contact hours to complete. Just folks walking together for awhile exploring paths both already travelled and ready to be dreamt with God.

Every since 2010, I’ve had a window open on my computer labelled “UNCOAlum” where I gather the messages from those who made the Unconference a community of faith. There I am refreshed by the energy, intelligence, imagination and love promised in our ordination. UNCO has been a spirutal lifeboat where my heart is safe and my spirit is protected from the storms of life and ministry.

Unconference resists description, for it is made to be unique and different than a topical lecture series or a training workshop. It is church, it is the people of God building the kingdom of God with and for each other. I hope you grab it and hold on.

Christy Ramsey is a Presbyterian pastor in Akron, Ohio where he lives with his wife, @twitwidow. Christy serves on the leadership team of Presbyterian Media Mission and helps the church bring the good news of Jesus Christ to others through media. Christy follows his wife to Carson City, Nevada this spring. You can follow Christy on twitter, @christyramsey, and check out his website here.

You can find driving directions here.

Flying

SFTS is about an hour away from both San Francisco International and Oakland Airports. There are many shuttles that offer transportation from each. From SFO, we recommend taking either the Marin Airporter to the Central San Rafael Transit Center and from there you can take a 10 minute cab-ride to SFTS. Another option is the Marin Door-to-Door Shuttle. Marin Door-to-Door also goes to/from OAK for your convenience.

MARIN AIRPORTER

These large luxury-style coaches pick up passengers at SFO every 30 minutes, on the hour and half-hour, beginning at 5:00 AM. The last bus of the night departs from SFO at midnight. The drop off point for SFTS is the Central San Rafael Transit Center. No reservations are required.

Fares: Adults $20.00; Children 12 and under travel for free with a full fare adult (limit 2 children per adult).
Travel Time: To Central San Rafael Transit Center: 1 hour 15 minutes depending on traffic

For all domestic flights, the pick-up point is outside of baggage claim (located on the lower level), on the center courtesy island. Look for the sign that says “Airporters”, next to the green and white curb.

From the International Terminal, the new pick-up point is on the arrivals (baggage claim) level. To find the bus, cross to the center island, and wait at the green and white striped curb. Look for the sign saying “Airporter”.

Please Note: Airport regulations require that buses pick up passengers ONLY at our designated pickup points. Our drivers are not allowed to stop for passengers flagging them down from any other zone.

Cab Connection from Central San Rafael Transit Center – During your trip from SFO to Marin, the driver will ask if anyone would like a taxi for Spencer Ave., Manzanita, Seminary Drive, or Larkspur. Taxi requests for stops north of Larkspur will be taken before leaving the Larkspur Terminal.

MARIN DOOR TO DOOR

These 9-13 passenger vans are a very convenient way to go to/from the San Francisco or Oakland airports, Amtrak Emeryville train station, or the Port of San Francisco cruise ships.

Avoid the hassle of transferring to a cab by taking this shuttle ‘Door to Door’. The vans will pick you up at any of these major transportation centers and drop you off at SFTS.

They can also take you back to your port of exit upon your return. These vans will have other passengers on board who may have stops before yours (up to 3). Because of this, one can never be sure how long it will take them to get to their final destination.

When I started grad school in Communications and Digital Media in 2009, I attended my first unconference. It was a fascinating concept: open source ideas, conversations led by those with a combination of passion and experience, and the general buzz in the room that comes with a bunch of geeks getting together to talk and learn more about what they love. So when I heard about #UNCO12 from @revrevwine and @CarolHoward, I had to give in to the inner church/worship geek in me.

As a mainline denomination member-spiritual seeker-not yet jaded-30something-Filipina, I  sometimes ask myself why I still go to church. I muse about why people leave their faith communities; wonder what more our local churches can do to make meaning in worship through community, art and music; how the church can learn from orgs outside the church and how we might live lives that are truly undivided.

But I haven’t left because of people like those who I’ve found in the UNCO12 community–only a few who I’ve actually met in real life. People who allow and challenge the Holy Spirit to lead, who are not ok with mediocre attempts of worship and who are intentional about creating authentic, faithful communities.

I’m counting the weeks to UNCO12. As a closeted introvert/ambivert [this is a new revelation for me, btw], I look forward to one-on-one conversations and the energy that we’ll draw from being in a sacred space together. Mostly, I’m looking forward to doing leitourgia–the work of the people–together. After months of conversations in the twittersphere, I’m craving our time together so we can begin [and continue] those conversations about our hopes for the church of today and tomorrow.

Sophia is the Director of Communication & Outreach at First UMC Seattle. She’s working on her M.Div at Seattle Pacific Seminary and likes to spend lots of time reading about and doing communications & media.

She likes talking about faith/culture/church/hope/love/art over good food and drink. You can read her blog at wanderingnotlost or follow her on twitter at @sophiaspu

Permission Slip, photo by author

Today was the final day of Unco12 East. Here I am sitting in my apartment when 12 hours ago I was sitting in Stony Point’s mess hall pondering the upcoming day. Today is the day of transition.

Today we take what Unco has been, the discussions we’ve had, the relationships we’ve formed out into our crazy lives.

There was a session called “Shared Learning” where the group highlighted some things we wanted to continue talking about in order to get some concrete ideas about where to start or how to begin. In that session Carol Howard Merritt (who is one of my favorite authors and I can’t believe I got to meet her in person!) handed out slips of paper.

These slips of paper said many different things; and Carol urged us to realize that we have permission to be creative, to dream, to ask questions. God has already given us permission. I like the slip I got (pictured above) which turns permission into “per” and “mission.”

Per-for each/every

Mission-creating and living out (as best we can) God’s vision for our world in big and everyday ways

More than ever I am convinced of how context matters in ministry. The priesthood of all believers isn’t just a nice idea. It’s necessary. Every person participates in mission; every person has a vocation. In the broadest way that vocation is living into our baptismal identities. That’s going to look very different here at my seminary than it is for the leaders of Isaiah’s Table in Syracuse which is going to look very different than Michael Gyura and his Worship Times ministry.

The group that gathered at Unco had diverse understandings of their individual and their community’s mission. Yet, there are also similarities. We prayed together. We ate together. We traded stories of hope and stories of failure together. We were many parts of Christ’s Body, and we want to work together.

Where do we go from here? It’s a good question. What are we doing? How are we going to do it? Who are we going to do it with? All good questions.

Tonight, though, I’m basking in the laughter, the love, the hope, and the affirmation I personally received at Unco. Little things that are anything but little to me like, “I read your blog” and “I see why you do liturgy.” Big things that overwhelm my soul with gratitude like, ” Let me know how I can help you.”

The other slip I received this morning declared: “You are loved.” It’s one thing to see it in purple pen on a white slip of paper. It’s another to know deep inside your soul that statement is true because you have seen God’s love embodied.

When’s Unco13?

Emily Hope Morgan is student at Princeton Seminary and a candidate for the ministry of teaching elder in the PC(USA). She writes the blog Fight the Bees which deals with pondering questions from a young adult’s point of view. Find her on Twitter @PresbyEmily.

Unco Day 2 Morning Prayer, picture by author

Confession: I might have gotten caught up in a conversation today about a comic book store ministry and missed most of morning prayer.

Unco Day 2 is the day of breakout sessions. Lots of breakout sessions. The day started with organizing all the breakout sessions. (Well, actually with morning prayer but see confession above.) In the auditorium there is a large sheet with the polar bear mascot on it, and people wrote all kinds of ideas for discussions on it. Many overlapped. A giant grid was filled in with times and room numbers. Four or five breakout sessions were offered for each time slot; so, as the elders foretold, no one could do everything.

Some of the topics: subversive ministry in suburbia, experiential worship, interfaith ministries and interfaith families, leading as an introvert, gender and the church, bi-vocational churches/ministry, urban ministry and new church development, and the church’s role in economic issues.

The whole schedule is available here.

I wanted to talk about experiential/holistic worship. (Worship is one of my big things.) The breakout met during the first time slot, and it was a great discussion. We were trading resources, telling stories about things that didn’t work,  and throwing out ideas to begin bringing experiential things into worship. Best quote of the session goes to Travis Jeffords:

“What we do in worship is a beautiful experiment” -Travis Jeffords

Something that came up several times was the idea of having a language to talk about faith. It came up in three of the four sessions I went to. How do we enter into relationships with people who speak different cultural dialects (not just different languages but different frames of reference)? I admitted at one of the sessions that I’m fluent in Geek, but I can’t speak Business. How do we equip people from all sorts of different cultural frame of references to talk about faith stuff? (Hint: there’s no one answer.)

I’m really happy to know I’m not the only person out there thinking about things like this. It’s going to take a while for all this stuff to settle down in my brain because right now my mind is running around like crazy. I’ll be lucky to sleep tonight.

Unco Day 2–The Day of Awesome Conversations. A day of connections, ideas, commiserating, and re-framing. I’ve actually told a group of people what my dream ministry job is (comic book store ministry), and (surprisingly) no one seemed surprised. I love being in a room where I can say something that in other places would be considered super crazy. In most places I feel like I’m pretty out there. At Unco, I think I’m normal. It’s a weird thing to feel normal.

More reflections to come as all these thoughts settle down!

Best quote of the day goes to Ryan Kemp-Pappan:

“We need to be able to fail for Jesus!” -Ryan Kemp-Pappan

Emily Hope Morgan is student at Princeton Seminary and a candidate for the ministry of teaching elder in the PC(USA). She writes the blog Fight the Bees which deals with pondering questions from a Millennial’s point of view. Find her on Twitter @PresbyEmily.

Events in the Auditorium will be live streamed.

10:15-11:00am

Auditorium Subversive Ministry in the Suburbs

Conf A Experiential Worship

Conf B Creating Entrepreneurial Ministry

Seminar 1 Young Adult Status in Ministry

Beech Church of Diminishing Returns

Walnut

Magnolia

11:15am-Noon

Auditorium Experiential Ministry

Conf A Health, Boundaries and Stuff

Conf B Publishing/ePublishing

Seminar 1 Interfaith Ministries

Beech Innovative Ministry in a Traditional Settings

Walnut

Magnolia

Lunch Tables

Church and Technology,

Presby Women Online/Church Online

Artist as Pastor

1:00pm-1:45pm

Auditorium Leading as an Introvert (Quiet Leaders!)

Conf A Structural Safety Net for Prophetic Ministry

Conf B Sustaining Innovative Ministry

Seminar 1 Seminary Process and Stuff

Beech

Walnut

Magnolia Women/Gender

2:00pm-2:45pm

Auditorium Bi-vocational/Entrepreneurial Ministry

Conf A Urban Ministry

Conf B

Seminar 1 Church’s Role in Economic Justice

Beech

Walnut Connectional Hub

Magnolia Queer Sh*t

4:00pm

Seminar 1 12 Step

Unco12 Musicians, picture by author

Several months ago when my friend Mark suggested that I attend Unco, I had no idea what Unco was. Now, after the first day of Unco12, I’m not so sure I have any better of an idea.

We all seem to be having a lot of fun. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard! The type of conversations I’ve had are, well… Here’s some of the things I’ve talked about today: John Calvin, vampires, heresy, she-bears, seminary professors, hymn tune names, naked mole rats, pot/s, spiking wine with Gatorade, and Doctor Who (for a start).

Then there’s the worship! I had the great predestination to be a part of the Unco12 East opening worship music team. In a short period of time I learned three new songs (thankfully, we sang one song I already knew). I sang and played the shaker. Or does one shake a shaker? Anyway, the worship was streamlined yet still complete and authentic. Instead of a formal sermon or reflection the scripture passage was read (2 Kings 2:2:23-25 Elisha and the She-bears), and then the group brainstormed ideas about the passage, what was going on that the scripture doesn’t directly say, and whether or not the passage has any meaning for our lives today. I’m calling it stream of consciousness preaching because “brainstorm” doesn’t quite get to the heart of what happened.

I have been pleasantly shocked at how many people here I know from Twitter and how many people have said, “I read your blog.” I was so excited about it I texted my mom before dinner to tell her. (She now thinks I’m famous.) Almost everyone here has a Twitter account, and they had a live stream of tweets during the opening welcome and announcements.

I find myself checking my phone for tweets far more than usual. I’m meeting a lot of people for the first time or in person for the first time. People seem less censored than they would be in other contexts. Not in a bad way, but in a “these people get me” way. What’s amazing is these people do seem to get me, and it’s liberating.

What’s amazing is these people do seem to get me, and it’s liberating.

I’m an extrovert (with some introvert tendencies); I like talking to people. My worry is how much I have actually talked today. I can easily get swept up in the energy of a conversation, and I wonder if I have listened to the other Unco participants as they have listened to me. There’s so much going on at once. It almost makes me dizzy. I don’t feel frantic or anxious; but I do feel like there’s too much to do, too much to look at, too many conversations to have.

I’ve never been to a conference before, not a real one. I’ve been to snippets and lectures but never a full conference. It’s kind of like camp for grown-ups. Several of the Unco leaders have said that people can’t do everything… but I still want to. We still have days 2 and 3. Maybe by the end I will be wise enough to listen to the advice I’ve been given.

It’s also been raining all day. I’ve never heard the rain sound so beautiful.

Emily Hope Morgan is student at Princeton Seminary and a candidate for the ministry of teaching elder in the PC(USA). She writes the blog Fight the Bees which deals with pondering questions from a Millennial’s point of view.

I’m actually not really sure what this whole UNCO thing is about.

From what some past UNCO participants and organizers have told me, it sounds like one great big conversation–a conversation about who we are as people of God and as the Church, where we find our place in this world, and where/how do we move forward.

That idea alone might get me to go to UNCO. But in addition to participating in great conversation, I get the sense that being a part of UNCO also initiates you into a community that lasts well beyond the event itself. For months, my Twitter and Facebook feeds have (not-so) subtly reminded me about this event and created just enough buzz to get me interested.

I’m still unclear about just what UNCO is (although I suspect that’s how UNCO likes to be – without clear description and boundaries), but I do know that I’m excited about the possibility of going and participating, meeting others, creating connections, responding faithfully to the world around me, and being a part of something greater than myself.

Actually that sounds a lot like what the Body of Christ is supposed to be.

Ok, I think I’m in!

UNCO New Girl,
Sarah Chancellor

Sarah Chancellor is the Director of Children and Youth Activities at First Presbyterian Church, OKC. She graduated from Oklahoma State University, and served in Peru as a Young Adult Volunteer. She is looking forward to her UNCO experience at UNCO West.