This summer I went for the first time to Greenbelt, a Christian arts festival that is held every year on Cheltenham racecourse. I didn’t really know what to expect — I suppose I had this idea that there would just be a load of ‘Christian’ bands and lots of mud. What I didn’t expect was a sense of safety and friendliness, some of the best speakers around, and an overwhelming variety of stuff to do.

Most visitors choose to camp for the weekend in the centre of the racecourse. The village area, where most things went on, is based around the racecourse buildings and extends into a number of big tents. Wandering around on the first evening I found places to buy various stuff (everything from chocolate to sarongs), a huge Christian Aid Big Top and the places where the main speakers were going to give their talks.

I didn’t expect any speakers, but it turns out that Greenbelt isn’t just about Christian music. It seemed to be about every aspect of living a Christian life. It was important to get hold of a festival guide to make sure I didn’t miss any of the seminars that sounded interesting. On the first night I decided to soak up the atmosphere instead of going to anything specific.

On Saturday morning I found myself at worship led by Christian Aid and the Wild Goose worship group. It was early in the morning but the wild goose leaders got us singing some likable songs. Christian Aid’s input helped to put much of the weekend in context, as their sponsorship meant many events focused on their ‘Trade for Life’ campaign.

Following this, I went to the first half of the Greenbelt Symposium. Chaired by Canon Lucy Winkett, two speakers (Dr Jane Shaw and Rev John Bell) talked about the image of God — particularly about how women fit into it. Everyone I talked to agreed that both of these people were absolutely fantastic speakers — each coming from slightly different angles. I’m told that the second half was interesting as well, but not quite as good.

In the afternoon Martyn Joseph started his set on the Main Stage — just his name is enough to send certain female members of our group gooey. He is a very talented singer-songwriter who has been a fixture at Greenbelt for a few years who plays folky-style songs. At the end of his time, slightly surprisingly, there was an onstage blessing for a couple that had got married that morning and had met through the Greenbelt network. Rather sweetly, Martyn came back onstage and played for the bride after the blessing.

The biggest event of the weekend was Ned Flanders night. Apparently 1500 people had to be turned away from the 500 capacity venue. Luckily, we got in and were close to the front. Given that it was a hot evening anyway, cramming people in this tightly resulted in there being extremely high temperatures. Based on the fact that Ned Flanders is America’s best known Christian, the evening consisted of clips, live sing-a-ding-a-ling-along-with-Ned music, Flanders look-alikes, a throbbing dance track, Gadgets for God live, and ministry from Rev. Gerald Ambulance. If you hadn’t guessed already, all this was organised by www.ship-of-fools.com

The following morning was Sunday, so it made sense that we went to the Greenbelt Communion, which took place around the main stage. It was explained that the service was to be experimental in style, and it certainly was. Led by a number of different people, it started with getting us to feel what it might be like to be part of the feeding of the 5000. The most significant part of the service involved a communion where you brought along your own wine and picnic to share. The sermon was given by Tony Campolo, who talked about how we can be the people who can go out and make the world the place it should be. The Wild Goose group again led the congregation in Iona style chants, accompanied by a thudding collection of percussionists

Following the service I went to see Inderjit Bhogal’s “Only one way to the father?”. It was certainly refreshing to hear somebody of such authority (he is ex-president of the Methodist Conference) question ideas, and he expressed and justified clearly a type of liberal faith that I can deeply sympathise with. It was one of a number of the sessions which I wish I’d taken notes in, as I can’t quite remember all his arguments.

Later that afternoon was the time to stop all the deep theological thought and relax, as it was the audience with Nick Park (creator of Wallace & Grommit). As he is a Christian, he had agreed to come and be interviewed for Greenbelt. Although the interviewer briefly probed on how his faith affected his work, most of the time was spent talking about Wallace & Gromit and also the films which preceded them. This was interspersed with plenty of clips from all his animations — including Chicken Run. It was interesting that this event too was packed full — it’s the secular stuff (the Simpsons and Wallace & Gromit) that seem to be the most popular.

Every night at 11pm throughout the weekend there was a comedy show called “So Graham Kendrick”. I decided to go on Sunday night, and found that there were a number of acts, many of which were hilarious (such as the northern, Christian, comedy conjurer). A lot of the jokes needed a strange sense of humour to appreciate, and as it was late at night I didn’t get as much out of it as some of the others in the room.

On Monday morning “Have I got news for you?” was a Christian Aid seminar where the speaker showed that things in the Third World aren’t actually as bad as we sometimes think they are. That is due to a lot of the work that organisations such as Christian Aid have done and things are improving in much of the developing world. I decided to sacrifice my own comfort and stay where I was to listen to Bishop Peter Selby immediately afterwards in the same venue. His work on the international monetary systems is often talked about and it was good to here it directly from him.

As I had to leave mid-afternoon, the last session which I managed to get to was the last that John Bell was giving. His title “Fallen Women, failing men” didn’t give much away but he talked about some of the characters in the Old Testament, particularly some strong women. His powerful speaking style, and wicked sense of humour left me stunned. One thing I have taken away from Greenbelt was the argument about how Christianity must hang onto its inclusiveness. It is a part of our history that we take in those who cannot find a place elsewhere, and so many of the figures in the bible are basically just plain weird. From now on I’m going to rejoice in abnormality.

It was fitting that the last talk I went to seems to have affected me so much; there was so much to take in during such a beautiful summer weekend. I had gone to Greenbelt not knowing what to expect, but I went away having really enjoyed myself, and also being spiritually nourished.

Ian Miller