malcolm chamberlain

Labels: alternative worship, Dream, Greenbelt, worship

Labels: alternative worship, Dream, Greenbelt, worship

I'm recovering and catching up after another great Greenbelt. The highlights of this year's festival for me were...

• Athlete on Monday night - the best music set at Greenbelt for a good few years (in my humble opinion)
• Gene Robinson - for a man who has been lambasted and judged by so many you can't help but be moved by the grace with which he speaks about issues that he is deeply passionate about, be challenged by his clear teaching, and be blown away by his deep personal spirituality and faith. I don't care if it does get me into trouble (with some) for saying so, but his seminars were definite highlights of the festival for me, and are well worth downloading if you missed them
• Rob Bell - the queuing was a pain but I can't think of a more effective and absorbing communicator in the Church of today
• the Long Worship in New Forms on the Monday (see photo above) - yes, I know that I was involved in organising and running it, but maybe for that reason it was moving to see so many people (over 900) connect with God in the space in so many unique and personal ways
• the atmosphere and catching up with friends - but that's always a highlight of Greenbelt!

Labels: Greenbelt

Greenbelt begins at the end of this week - I can't quite believe how quickly it's come round (did I say that last year?) but I'm really looking forward to it again. This year there's a pretty good music line-up too with Athlete heading the bill on Monday night. The new Greenbelt iPhone app has really helped in trying to work out which things I'm going to try to go to - I've got loads of stuff on my 'favourites' page, though I know realistically I won't get to half of it!!

Labels: churchless faith, emerging church, Greenbelt

update... as Steve so rightly points out in the comments, the forecast I put up here before is for the wrong dates - doh! This looks a little bit better...

Labels: Greenbelt

Following on from 'this post', Greenbelt has made it to the final round of voting in the UK Festival Awards in the following two categories...

Best Family Festival
Best Toilets (!)

The good news is that you can vote for a second time now the shortlist is published, but voting closes on 20th October so you'd better be quick. Click here to vote...

P.S. yes, that is me in the photo scratching (but definitely NOT picking) my nose!

Labels: Greenbelt

Greenbelt Festival is up for several award categories in the UK Festival Awards 2008, including...

- Best Medium Festival
- Best Line-up
- Family Festival Award
- Grass Roots Festival Award
- Best Toilets

You can vote 'here' until 20th October; though each category is narrowed to a short list of ten on 13th October so vote early to ensure that Greenbelt stays in the race! There is more info on the Greenbelt website.

Cast your vote and get word about Greenbelt out there!

Labels: Greenbelt

Had a great time at Greenbelt 08! Each year people ask 'what was the best thing about Greenbelt?' and, although I always manage to catch some great seminars/worship/discussions/bands (sometimes completely by accident), I have to say that the best thing about Greenbelt is... Greenbelt! Sounds corny but Greenbelt is just great; nothing makes it great apart from itself - the atmosphere, the environment of active exploration.

So no one thing stood out this year as 'the' thing that made Greenbelt for me, but I did enjoy Brian McLaren, Pete Rollins, Philip Yancey, the discussions in The Cooker and (though I know it's not everyone's cup of tea) the Beer 'n' Hymns in the Jesus Arms (organic beer tent which gets bigger every year!)

The Dream at Dawn service seemed to go well, as did the Spirited Exchanges seminars - below is a slide show of some piccies from the Dream service (flash required) - you can see them in full 'here'...

Labels: Dream, Greenbelt

I'm involved in the following things, so catch up with me here...


Sunday 24th August

from 12pm (ish) - Spontaneous Worship with Dream (it's meant to be a surprise but we'll be somewhere youthish!)

5:30pm at the CMS venue - Spirited Exchanges


Monday 25th August

2pm in New Forms - Dream at Dawn

3pm at the CMS venue - Spirited Exchanges

7pm in The Kitchen - Out of Body Experiences - leaving church, finding faith? (interactive seminar/discussion/panel) with Spirited Exchanges


Apart from this, I'm looking forward to hearing Brian McLaren amongst other things (a bit disappointed that 1 Giant Leap are no longer appearing though). Of course, I'll frequently be around the organic beer tent too!! If you're going, have a great festival!

Labels: churchless faith, Dream, Greenbelt

Ikon have now put all the words from their Greenbelt service (which I mentioned in this post) online 'here'. As Steve Collins said, it's great to be able to go back and spend time with the material that was densely packed into the experience that was 'the service'! In particular I'm glad that they have generously made available the text for the excellent 'where does your faith lie?' by Jon Hatch. It's well worth spending some time with.

Thanks Ikon for a thought-provoking service and for making it all available to mull over again!

Labels: alternative worship, Greenbelt, spirituality

It's always an encouragement to read a positive independent review of worship that you've been involved in shaping, so thanks Kathryn for your comments about the Greenbelt Dream service - I'm glad that 'A Life More Ordinary' inspired you to engage with God.

Kathryn has also uploaded four photographs from the service as part of her Greenbelt 07 collection on flickr (the picture on the left is one of them), including a great one of our heavenopoly station.

Labels: Dream, Greenbelt

Another great year in Greenbelt's rich history, certainly helped along the way by the fantastic weather! A scorching August Bank Holiday weekend in an otherwise pretty dreadful summer - makes you wonder if God is a Greenbelter! The two things I was directly involved in (see 'here') seemed to go well, with several good conversations and positive comments arising from each - Richard has posted 'here' about Dream's unintentional flouting of health and safety! (thanks Laura for your encouragement there too!) The photo to the left is of one of the stations from the service (click on it to enlarge).

So, given that I'm much too modest to highlight these things any further, here are my 5 Greenbelt highlights for this year (in no particular order)...

1. Billy Bragg - still an inspirational and witty singer-songwriter who put in a great performance headlining Main Stage on Friday, not to mention his informative seminar on British identity and the discussions surrounding a Bill of Rights/written constitution. He'd still get my vote any day!
2. The Organic Beer Tent - great organic real ale including 'Absolution' brewed especially for the festival! The venue was not just about the beer though - over the last couple of years it's become the Greenbelt hub where you arrange to meet people for a beer and chat. So this makes the list both for the beer and for the conversations had there.
3. Ikon - always able to provoke and inspire, and this year was no exception. I went with someone who has never been to an Ikon service before and at the end she turned to me and said "well, I didn't understand a word of that!" - I think Pete and co would be proud! Seriously, it was a great event (worship or performance art? - whatever!) and I found the piece 'where does your faith lie' particularly challenging (in a good way!) During the service there was opportunity for people to edit the creed - see the final version 'here'.
   
4. New Forms Cafe - another top networking venue serving several varieties of fresh coffee. It was home to most of the emerging and alt worship services as well as some hidden gems such as Pete Rollins discussing the 5 films he'd most like to see with God!
5. Coldcut (pictured - taken on phone camera!) - not necessarily my first choice of music style but you couldn't help but be drawn in by what these VJs do on stage! A great set mixing beats and images ranging from 80s classics to present day. Before Sunday night I hadn't heard 'Pump up the Volume' by MARRS for years - oh the memories...! Steve Collins raves about the gig (no pun intended) with a link to video clips of it 'here'.

So that's my Greenbelt 07 - though there was lots more to 'write home about' (as they say) besides. If you were there, why not add your highlights to the comments...

Labels: Dream, Greenbelt, musings, popular culture

Labels: Greenbelt

Today feels hectic in the extreme as I'm getting stuff ready for the weekend (as well as other things coming in!) but I know it's all worth it because I never fail to enjoy Greenbelt. As always, I'm looking forward to this year's festival, to catching up with friends and to getting inspired again! Check out the festival website for up-to-date news about the program.

I'm involved in the following two things...

Friday evening, 7:30pm
Panel: "Supporting Church Leavers"
programme blurb... "Building on the work of 'A Churchless Faith' and 'Spirited Exchanges' in New Zealand, a UK network of groups for church leavers has been growing over the last two years, with strong connections to Greenbelt festival. This seminar will provide an opportunity to meet a panel of people involved in 'Spirited Exchanges UK', and discuss with them relevant concerns and issues, as well as giving an experience of the 'Spirited Exchanges' ethos."

Sunday evening, 7:00pm, New Forms Cafe
Dream worship: "A life more ordinary"
programme blurb... "An invitation to fishermen, shepherds, vicars and tarts, and all other extraordinary people with ordinary lives: to explore the presence of God and reality of heaven in your story."

Hope to catch up with some of you over the weekend!!

Labels: churchless faith, Dream, Greenbelt

Jonny Baker wrote his Church Times Greenbelt column about Dream this month, which you can read 'here'. Jonny's also blogged about Dream in more detail 'here'. Great to see Dream growing all the time - there are now 8 groups meeting, with others soon to get up and running! Check out the Dream website to find out more. Dream will be leading worship at this year's Greenbelt Festival at 7pm on the Sunday (26th Aug) evening in the New Forms Cafe.

Labels: Dream, Greenbelt

This may become a quickly aborted attempt at blogging from a very slow connection at an internet cafe in Peshawar, Pakistan!! For those who are interested there are some photos of the Greenbelt Dream service now online 'here' - thanks to Steve for posting them.

A quick note about the Pakistan experience so far (I'll blog more comprehensively when I return to the UK)... We have met many people connected with the church here and tonight have been involved in a new group that has been set up to foster good relations between the different faiths, especially Christian and Moslem. It is really encouraging, as 14 years ago, when I was last in Peshawar, it would have been unimaginable that such a meeting could take place formally.

We have also visited Pateka and Balakot - two of the areas badly hit by last October's earthquake. It was very moving to hear the stories of the tragedy from people it most affected, including one man who lost most of his family in the quake. The areas we visited were flattened on October 8th and the Pakistan government has stopped any rebuilding on one side of the river because the town (Balakot) lies on such a massive fault line that the experts say the next quake will totally wipe out the town (i.e. Balakot will literally sink into the earth). The diocese of Peshawar has been involved in an amazing work here, being the first people to arrive with relief after the earthquake, and this has been an incredible witness amongst the Moslems of the area. It is frustrating, though, to see how the Pakistan earthquake, which the UN declared a worse disaster than the Asian Tsunami, has completely disappeared off the radar in the UK. I'm sure I'll blog about this some more on my return!!

That's all for now - let's see if the computer will let me post this!!!

Labels: Dream, Greenbelt, Pakistan

It's a quick turn around! Flying to Pakistan tomorrow evening with a team of 5 others to visit the diocese of Peshawar and the Peshawar youth interfaith forum, before travelling into the mountains to see the relief work in the earthquake affected areas and then onto the capital, Islamabad, where we'll spend time with ICAN (Islamabad Christians Against Narcotics) - a drug awareness and rehab project. It's going to be a great 3 week cross-cultural encounter and I'm really looking forward to it, especially to revisiting Peshawar where I lived and worked 14 years ago, but life is all a bit mad at the moment!

If time allows I'll try to visit an internet cafe at 2 or 3 points and blog some reflections as we're going. If not, I'll be back at the end of September!

Labels: Greenbelt, Pakistan

So Greenbelt has been and gone for another year! When you have to go several days without a shower and use toilets that are, at best, a bit smelly, not to mention getting drenched in bank holiday rains... why do I love it so much?

Why... because Greenbelt brings together thousands of people with differing characteristics and perspectives into a weekend's celebration of creativity and faith. There is so much variety in terms of music, worship, talks, seminars, art installations, discussions, debates, comedy and animals (yes, there was even a mini farm this year!) In short, I always see Greenbelt, in its God-centred variety, to be a taste of heaven!

The highlights for me this year were the New Forms Cafe (pictured), which provided an excellent space for worship and discussion around a whole range of issues to do with emerging church (Dream and the two Spirited Exchanges UK sessions happened there) and the thought provoking Ikon service (see Pete Rollins' take on the service 'here')! Thanks Ben and Ian (and teams) for working so hard on New Forms - let's hope it returns next year!

If you took photos at Greenbelt, add them to the flickr group and post any comments/reflections on your experience of the festival here (especially if you were at Dream or the Spirited Exchanges sessions and have comments to make).

If you want to find out what others thought, Jonny Baker has some good reflections (with some interesting comments in response) 'here', and Paul Chambers has written a Greenbelt poem 'here'.

Labels: Greenbelt

a quick blog post using Greenbelt's (well, Cheltenham Race Course's) wi-fi network! Greenbelt is half way through and going great...

full house for both Dream and the first 'Faith without Church' session... several deep conversations as a result of both... good discussions at the Global Zoo... welcome return of the main stage... kids loving it (but tired!)... great communion service this morning with inspiring thoughts from Doug Gay... welcome return of the organic beer tent... just about to hear Jim Wallis talk about God's politics... looking forward to the second SE UK session tomorrow.

For a growing collection of photos from this year's festival see 'here'.

Labels: Greenbelt

Labels: churchless faith, Greenbelt