Mennonite Weekly Review

The Greenbelt Christian Arts Festival has been a draw for Anabaptists in the U.K. for decades.

A scene from the Greenbelt Christian Arts Festival in 2008. Plans are under way for a North American version in 2011. — Photo provided by MC Canada

Now it’s crossing the ocean.

The festival has been going on in England since 1974, presently drawing more than 20,000 people each year. It is one of the most exciting things happening anywhere in the Christian world.

Now, plans are under way for a version of the family-friendly event to come to North America as the Wild Goose Festival.

The first Wild Goose Festival is tentatively expected to be held in North Carolina in summer 2011.

The director of Wild Goose is Gareth Higgins from Belfast, a speaker at Greenbelt during the past eight years. His faith is thoroughly Anabaptist, and he is eager to have Mennonite involvement in the festival as Greenbelt did in its early years.

The festival will probably move to different locations each year. Wild Goose will feature speakers such as Ched Myers, Jim Wallis, John Bell, Brian McLaren and Shane Claiborne.

Wild Goose’s draft mission statement focuses on inclusion and on the development of a radical community of grace, joy and peace that will seek to change lives and bring God’s healing and hope to the world. If this sounds familiar, it should: Some of these ideas and language are used in the “Vision: Healing and Hope” statement adopted by Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA.

While I directed the London Mennonite Centre from 2002 to 2009, serving with my wife, Kathy, through MC Canada Witness and Mennonite Mission Network, we attended Greenbelt every year we could.

We were enthralled with the Anabaptist feel of the music, dramas and talks, many of which provided Christian perspectives on peace and justice issues. In a country where only a small percentage of people attend church regularly, it was astounding and thrilling to see this huge crowd, averaging around 30 years old, gathered to hear about what it means to follow Jesus today.