Why I’m Excited #11: The Methodist Church at Greenbelt
The Methodist Church are Greenbelt's newest partners, and so we thought we'd explain a little more of why the collaboration seems so suitable. Here's the Chair of Greenbelt Trustees Andy Turner to explain a bit of where the Methodists are coming from, and what they stand for:-
When I was young I was sure of everything; in a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before; at present, I am hardly sure of anything.
So said John Wesley. I think he would have fitted in well at Greenbelt. A place where people are free to throw things up in the air and see where they land; to listen and live; to debate, and wrestle; to experience and be transformed; a safe space to question and be questioned; a place which is somehow built and sustained for four short days every summer.
About 3,000 or so of the people who attend Greenbelt identify themselves as Methodist - that odd grouping of people who outsiders seem to only know as "some kind of Christian", and who don't drink alcohol. About the first point they are right, if a bit vague; about the second, they are a good century behind the times.
So, I am really excited that the Methodist Church has a chance to raise its profile at Greenbelt this year; to talk about, and show off, its place within the ecumenical community as a church that is concerned with Discipleship and Growth. The thing is, that can sound rather dull and pious, and I feel passionately that those two words are ones that the Methodist Church are learning to reimagine for the more fluid world in which we now find ourselves.
Methodists are proud of their history and heritage. They know that, at a time when something needed to be done about education, social housing and working conditions, the old-time Methodists were the ones that did it.
Take the case of the Topuddle martyrs - George Loveless was a local Methodist preacher from the Dorset village of Tolpuddle. In 1832, he became leader of six agricultural labourers who formed a society to protest against falling wages; essentially, a trade union. For this crime they were sentenced to transportation to Australia.
Today’s radical and active Methodist political tradition owes much to this group of pioneers, and maybe that’s why – out of all mainstream denominations – it’s the Methodists who are prepared to boycott goods from Israeli Occupied territories, following the call issued by the Just Peace campaign. This decision was made at the church’s Conference in Portsmouth this year - an annual gathering that decides Methodist policy. The official stance of the church will be to boycott any products made on Jewish settlements on the West Bank, and to encourage others to do the same. I think there will be people at the Festival this year that will want to wrestle with this issue, and those of us who have been doing this for some time can lend valuable insights into the pain of those difficult choices.
Methodists are also pioneering work with young people that falls outside of traditional Christian youth work models. They are taking risks, moving away from a theology of educating from a position of power, towards an inclusive, radical, holistic, (and perhaps a little scary!) philosophy of including young people in key decisions about developments in Methodist worship, church life, and policy. They are reimagining discipleship for now.
Greenbelt is about risk taking and space making, about getting down and dirty, and the synergy between the festival’s heritage and that of the Methodist Church is one that could set sparks flying. Wesley also famously said "catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn". So I expect the fire officers might want to take an especially close look at the Galilee venue! Hosted by the Methodist Church, the programme is looking great; together, we'll be taking the theme of "Think, Talk, Be", examining those concepts in the light of radical discipleship – reinventing and reclaiming that term for the 21st Century.
One final quote from John Wesley:-
The Methodists alone do not insist on your holding this or that opinion; but they think and let think. Neither do they impose any particular mode of worship; but you may continue to worship in your former manner, be it what it may. Now I do not know of any other religious society, either ancient or modern, wherein such liberty of conscience is now allowed or has been allowed, since the age of the Apostles. Here is our glorying; and a glorying peculiar to us. What society shares it with us?
Maybe Greenbelt?
