Next Friday through Monday some chatty cathies will muster in Foggy Bottom to re-imagine the Emergent Village, or emergent movement, or the emerging church movement, or missional generative friendships.

Or maybe something else altogether.

But I must warn you: it will not be easy. There are hurdles. This movement often finds itself at odds with conventional organizational leadership structures. Increasingly it is left wondering: How do you fundraise for a conversation?

An interesting question, isn't it? (I can't recall that Plato touched on this difficulty in The Republic.)

On the up-side, Emergence has moved closer than ever to open sourcing. Wide open. Re-imagine the Russian steppes. As of this date the movement lacks organizers, a coordinator, and board mandates, but it desires to speak the future into being and to see what form the movement will take. Now that sounds like the sort of work best done in this nation's capital.

I can hardly wait for the report.

As a first step, the Emergent Village board of directors has already begun a transitioning process toward repopulating a new board.

So one board has begun a transitioning process toward repopulating another board. What are those hippies smoking?

This movement still doesn't know what to call itself, and after a decade it is still in search of a form. Some might see this lack of identity and an absence of a recognizable shape as bad news. Some might see it as an especially amusing—dare I say ironic?—problem inasmuch as such progressive and imaginative people are saddled with it. 

Last summer, the Emergent Village board put out a survey to see what Emergent felt itself becoming. The overwhelming result of that survey was that people wanted this network of generative friendships to continue.

So they did a survey to find out "what Emergent felt itself becoming". The result of that study was overwhelming: people wanted the network of generative friendships to continue.

I hope that study didn't cost too much.

I can't wait to see the results of next week's chinwag.