jonnybaker

this is an AMAZING opportunity!

if i were to think what are the themes i want to look at and think about at the moment in the world they would be ecology, economy and faith, and guess what next saturday - dec 1 - there is an incredibly creative event in london doing exactly that - ADVENTurous. 

the day consists of

• a serious of speakers in a TED talks style day - exploring those themes. the speaker line up is fantastic as far as i can see
• artists who have engaged with the themes displaying their work which will go on to leeds and colwyn bay after
• an evening of performers including no less than world slam champ harry baker (biased moi?!)

it's all hosted by greenbelt. you can get tickets for the day, evening or both. if you can't afford it and want to come e-mail me and i'll see what i can do (shhhh don't tell anyone)

i can't wait! what a great way to kick off advent. i'll try and get blogging this week about advent - no time no time and yes i know advent is about waiting.

now is the time you ADVENTurous bargain hunters

ADVENTurous is an event not to miss - greenbelt comes to London for a day in the winter! but the cheap ticket price deal ends at the end of october so get yourself over to the web site and get yourself a ticket!!!!

ADVENTurous

ADVENTurous is an exciting festival on dec 2 in london hosted by greenbelt at the wonderful union chapel. there is a day of thinking, artistry and imagining around the world we live in and the issues we face in the areas of faith, ecology and economy and how we get to a new world. the line up of speakers looks great - mike frost, ann morrisy, ruth valerio, ann pettifor, abdul rehman malik. then in the evening there is an evening of artistry with harry baker (!), iain archer and hope and social. tickets for the whole day if you book before the end of october are only £25 which seems like a pretty good deal. 

en gedi arts are curating the visual arts for this and simultaneously exhibitions and events in leftbank leeds and the imperial hotel in colwyn bay. hope to see you there!

spontaneous eucharist kit

i really love this spontaneous eucharist kit created by molten meditation for greenbelt this year. there's an elaborate write up on it here and how robin and suzanne from two fairly different christian traditions created a way of doing something that was as respectful as possible whilst breaking communion out of it's box. here's how robin describes it

Sometimes it seems that the ritual of the bread and wine are hidden, are kept from people and guarded by the Priests and the church. My desire really is to give the Eucharist away...

...The concept we were trying to get across is that the bread and wine could have a greater significance for us in our daily lives if we took it out of the church. In any moment of celebration or where something needed healing you could bring out the box and share Communion with those around you - or with yourself. How beautiful could that be?

so they had the bread and wne blessed by an ordained priest and created little kits and gave them away - simple eh? you can download a kit here.

this is without doubt a worship trick! no 29 in series 4.

if you are in norfolk check out soulcircus that they are both involved in...

gb talk available

my talk from greenbelt is available now on the greenbelt web site here - another world is possible

new beginnings

well that's the theme of greenbelt next year as she turns 40 and looks back and looks forward. this year greenbelt as ever was a delight - a hopeful sign of the kingdom of god and what the church can be at her best - creative, searching, diverse, hopeful, honest, celebratory, learning, welcoming, human, spiritual, on the way to a better world, healing. my favourite moment i think was hearing bruce cockburn sing 'lovers in a dangerous time' with that immortal line - you got to kick at the darkness til it bleeds daylight. showing my age but i probably first heard him sing that getting on for 25 years ago. greenbelt was the muddiest i can remember since the year goldie was DJing in a tent next to one where grace were leading quiet worship! greenbelt was also the moment i think i will have transitioned into being 'harry baker's dad' as he rocked greenbelt with his sensational poetry off the back of his edinburgh shows - so exciting to see...

seemed like an appropriate blog post title too. after greenbelt it always feels like the chilled summer season is definitely over and the mayhem is about to start! i am gearing up for a new intake of students later in september on the cms pioneer mission leadership training including our first intake of pioneer ordinands and the addition of a new MA in pioneer ministry. we'll also be switching accrediting body to the university of durham over the next two years which whatever way you look at it will create work. so time to get cracking...

thanks to everyone who bothered to get up and come to the session i spoke at on monday morning - i was amazed anyone was there! if you liked the content you might like this series on newness -

1 the adjacent possible | 2 the new belongs elsewhere | 3 dissent | 4 refounding |5 darkness and unknowing | 6 connect don't protect | 7 imagination grief and amazement | 8 mission community beyond lose networks

and this series of talks which is an expanded version really of what i was sharing about another world is possible.

off to greenbelt 2012...

hope to see a load of friends old and new at greenbelt 2012 in cheltenham... no doubt you will have your own schedule of stuff to do but here's a few things i'll be doing.

in gloucester cathedral for a gathering tonight - always a highlight...

on the cms stand and meeting people to talk about the totally wonderful pioneer mission leadership training - find me there or in the tiny tea tent if you want to chat about it

doing a talk called another world is possible on monday at 9:30am in GTV (i think) - here's the spiel... 

There are always those in power in empires, organisations, cultures and churches who have vested interest in the status quo. Business as usual serves them rather well. In the midst of this stuckness there are those who see, imagine, speak and dream a new world. Through this gift brought by prophets, dissenters, poets and artists newness emerges and another world is possible.

cheering on world slam champion harry baker as he brings his 5 star show to greenbelt 7pm sat night in the performance café - solas were two years ahead of greenbelt on this one but hey they've caught up with the forward thinking scots and given him his own slot now!

watching joel's pechakucha (presentation of 20 slides lasting 20 seconds each) - no idea where or when that is? 

taking part in grace service god's not fair which will be in the art gallery saturday 3pm using si smith's amazing images on job, and attending grace workshop sun 7pm - what we've learned now we are eighteen

going to the beer tent saturday evening to meet with pioneers for a rendezvous (see here for other slots) and bucaneer kester brewin who is celebrating his self published book mutiny on all things piratical (is that a word?!) and his big 4 0 ! i read the book on holiday and really enjoyed it whilst raising an eyebrow or too at the rewrite of the prodigal son as a dark tale, christianity as ever the bad evil empire, and god as the wizard of oz who is not there when the curtain is pulled back (or torn in two)!! will try and review at some point it though my best intentions of reviewing books get overtaken by too much work to do these days (and i am still waiting for kester to review curating worship ;)  )

taking part in the annual photoswap 

greenbelt short talks afternoon may 20 - paradise lost and found

paradise lost and found afternoon of short talks on may 20 is being hosted by greenbelt at the greenbelt offices in london

greenbelt post tons of free talks

someone mentioned to me this week that they had been looking at greenbelt's talks on their web site. the last two years you have to pay for, but they have made all the talks from previous years downloadable free. this is a massive resource! there have been many wonderful talks over the years. if you have one you think is particularly worth listening to leave a comment...

then and now

steve collins has a photo of jen, me, joel and harry at greenbelt in 98 and one of joel and harry this year - then and now!

and some photos of the installation you are what you eat at greenbelt that no one got to see as it was sadly trashed by kids...

dinosaur love

dionosaur love - harry baker's latest performed at greenbelt last orders

pecha kucha

i took part in the pecha kucha evening at greenbelt. i stumbled across mike radcliffe's reports on greenbelt and saw he had uploaded a movie of my presentation - small adventures. the presentation format is 20 slides on for a duration of 20 seconds each.

greenbelt - a few things i'm up to...

pechakucha - no i'd not heard of it before but greenbelt has two evenings with people presenting in the pechakucha format of 20 slides giving a spiel for 20 seconds on each one. i am giving one (as is steve collins and presumably about 5 others) on sat night 8pm called small adventures on my approach to photography

silent pilgrimage - pick up a set of headphones and follow this year's trail which has been put together by proost and is all spoken word on the theme of home exploring longing, wandering, exile, and homecoming. we have three poets - pádraig o tuama, harry baker and chris goan - should be pretty good!

DJing - i confess i loved playing tunes in the wine bar a couple of years back and so had to say yes when mike rose and i were invited to play tunes in the beer tent on friday night. i think our slot is from round about 9:15-10:30pm. expect a pretty chilled selection - horizontal dancing. whether you'll be able to hear anything in there above the chat i have no idea! but at least come and say hi and buy us a beer :-)

grace are taking part in the worship programme as ever with two services and an installation. yearn riffs on the parable of the prodigal son on sat at 12 noon (which sadly clashes with harry's spoken word show in the big top - grrrrr) and love thy six billion neighbours on monday explores our planet as home at 2pm  and we are adding kitchen to the horsebox installation on home.

cms have a stand in g-source and pioneer training will be one of the things featured. do come and say hi or if you want to meet me to chat about it i will happily see you in the tiny tea tent or bar. there's a workshop in there at 5pm on saturday which i am taking part in along with guys from ripon college on ordained pioneer ministry.

...and i'll be taking a photo along to the photoswap i mentioned below

but no doubt i will be mainly talking to friends old and new from near and far thinking i really must go to something!

greenbelt photoswap is back

the last couple of years at greenbelt there has been a photoswap. it does exactly what it sounds like. and you get a photo exhibited over the weekend. i have taken part the last two years and no doubt will again. here's some blurb on it

Bring your photograph along on the first evening of the festival and see it hung as part of an exhibition that will last all weekend. 

Bring your friends to see your work, and eavesdrop as people try and understand your "motivation". 

Then, on the final evening, watch as your fellow photographers fall over each other for the privilege of taking home your art and sticking it on the fridge. 

You bring a photo, you take one back. Simple. Inspirational.

full blurb here | download info here

mavis staples at greenbelt

more lineup announcements from greenbelt today - mavis staples is playing which is wonderful! harry baker also gets annunced in the lineup which made me smile. he's putting together what promises to be a pretty stonking line up for a spoken word night.

greenbelt announce line up

greenbelt festival announce some of their line up today - of course there will be a bundle more to follow! always a must visit festival to end off the summer...

Best-selling author Rob Bell returns, alongside the likes of political satirist Mark Thomas, theologian Brian McLaren, Christian Aid director Loretta Minghella, and emerging church guru Phyllis Tickle.

Beyond the talks programme, already confirmed to in the music lineup are singer and activist Billy Bragg, familiar Greenbelt names Iain Archer and Martyn Joseph, folk favourite Kate Rusby and Scottish rock outfit Idlewild.

Other musical highlights include Christian rock outfit [dweeb], new worship group the Rend Collective and jazz-rap renegade Soweto Kinch.

As previously announced, Greenbelt is focusing particularly on family and children’s provision this year. New performance, film, craft and play venues for children will operate alongside spectacular shows for the whole family, including breath-taking aerial theatre from Ockham’s Razor, charming puppetry from PuppetCraft, and dance workshops led by Britain’s Got Talent finalists Flava.

"We're so pleased with the lineup that’s coming together," said Greenbelt Chair, Andy Turner. "Only Greenbelt could host such a diverse group of incredible artists, thinkers and activists."

Further contributors will be announced over the next few months.

To celebrate the launch of this years lineup, Greenbelt will be hosting two evenings with Rob Bell which will take place at Westminster Central Hall (in partnership with the Methodist Church) and at Cheltenham Racecourse on Tuesday 19th April. The Festival itself will take place from Friday 26th - Monday 29th August 2011. Tickets for both events are available at greenbelt.org.uk/tickets.

greenbelt tv

greenbelt have just mailed out their latest newsletter and in it is a link to greenbelt tv youtube channel which includes a bundle of video short talks (around 8 mins) from people speaking at the festival. one is me talking about worship. the way these were put together was that a booth was set up and the media team contacted people on site on the day to come and give a talk. i was asked and foolishly said yes and even more foolishly had no time to think about what to say until i stepped up. fortunately what was at the time embarrassingly stop start and incoherent has been edited into something at least vaguely coherent. apologies to anyone in the audience in that particular session! - but go watch the likes of dave andrews on the beattitudes, mark vernon on friendship or clare short on palestine and many more...

go to gloucester

the most astonishing exhibition of sculpture opens tomorrow for the next two months in gloucester cathedral. the web site bandwith is exceeded which is a little unfortunate but you can read about it here. called crucible, it contains work by around 30 sculptors in and around the cathedral including the likes of gormley and hirst. the cathedral is remarkable in itself! the evening before greenbelt we had a gathering of emerging communities/leaders/friends in the cathedral so got a sneak preview wandering around the sculptures which was truly wonderful. i didn't take my camera to greenbelt this year as i had enough to carry round without. but i will definitely be going back.

obviously back from greenbelt. brilliant as ever. feeling bleary eyed as ever! now it's the last day of august - time to gear up for what always feels like the start of the year for me even though i left school a long time ago!

greenbelt, proost and don't forget the week after...

looking forward to greenbelt this coming weekend. hope to see some of you there. our big news from proost is that the greenbelt shop is going to be stocking quite a few proost downloadable products - audio, movies and books. it's not particularly profiled on the site but the link is here. it will be great to develop this partnership and put the stuff out to gb punters, a wider and different audience. i think this will gain momentum after the festival but the infrastructure is there. it makes great sense as so many artists on proost are greenbelters doing things at the festival and it fits with the creative gb arts, faith and spirituality vibe.

as for proost ourselves lots of artists and communities will be doing stuff but we are not doing any exclusive proost events this time around. grace have a service on monday at noon in the big top which is going to be amazing - a lot of effort has been going into it! landskapes gets an airing in the hub on friday at 10pm. and i will be chairing a conversation around curating worship on sunday at 2pm.

this may seem crazy (!?) but after greenbelt we have a couple of days in oxford with dave andrews and mark yaconelli - who obviously are over for the festival. this is on the weds and thurs the week after. details below. please book in if you are coming so we know numbers for catering! details below. book online here

 

Join Dave Andrews and Mark Yaconelli in an exploration of rootsy youth and community work and radical spirituality.

Church Urban Fund, CMS and the Centre for Youth Ministry are hosting a couple of days in September at CMS House in Oxford to explore further useful ideas, thinking and practice to do with radical community and youth work. Inspiring and practical, with time to dig deeper and discover more, each day will help to equip you in the work you do. We’re really pleased to welcome Dave Andrews on Sept 1 for a day on community work, and Mark Yaconelli on Sept 2 for a day on youth work, spirituality and young people. Both Mark and Dave are well known and highly respected practitioners making rare visits to the UK.

 

1st September 10am-4pm: Growing Radical, Rooted, Distinctive Community work, Dave Andrews

This is a great opportunity to reflect on your own community work with a rootsy activist working at the grassroots. Dave is particularly interested in radical spirituality, incarnational community and the dynamics of personal and social transformation.

During the day you will:

1. Explore frameworks for effective community involvement that don’t assume large numbers or funds.

2. Develop skills to encourage and mobilise others in ongoing community work.

3. Provide perspectives to keep the fire in the belly, avoid burn out and help sustain ourselves.

4. Confront questions and seek answers about work.

5. Connect with other activists and organisations involved in compassionate community work.

Dave and Ange and their family have lived and worked in intentional Christian communities with marginalised people in Asia and Australia for nearly 40 years. With their friends they started Aashiana, Sahara and Sharan - three well-known community organisations working with slum dwellers, sex workers, drug addicts and people with HIV/AIDS in India; and they are currently working alongside Aborgines, refugees and people with disabilities with the Waiters Union, an inner city community network in Brisbane Australia.

Dave is an educator for TEAR Australia and an elder for Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor. He has written many books including Christi-Anarchy, Not Religion But Love, People Of Compassion and Plan Be.

 

2nd September 10am-4pm: Wonder, Fear, and Longing: Tending the Adolescent Soul, Mark Yaconelli

How do we slow young people (and ourselves) to the speed of God? How do we help young people discover their capacity for love, generosity, compassion, and kindness? How do we cultivate the heart and life of Jesus within the young people of our communities? How do we as youth workers, ministers, pastors and parents become transparent to the suffering and needs of young people without burning out? Through story, discussion, and spiritual practice Mark Yaconelli will share his experience and practical research from twenty years of ministering to the souls of young people and the youth workers who serve them.

Mark Yaconelli was the founder and director of the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project at San Francisco Theological Seminary which received attention across the United States for its ground-breaking integration of spiritual direction, contemplation, and ancient spiritual practices within adolescent spiritual formation programs. Mark is author of four books including Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing the Presence of Jesus and most recently, Wonder, Fear, and Longing. Mark currently serves as Project Director for the Center for Engaged Compassion at Claremont School of Theology.

You can download a pdf with the information on here. Please spread the word - e-mail it to your friends and networks. Drinks and lunch are included in the ticket price.

counting down to greenbelt...

well greenbelt isn't so far away now. how did that happen?!

last year i took part in the photoswap - which does what it says - bring a photo which gets exhibited for the festival. turn up on the monday and swap - you go away with someone else's. last year photos ranged from a small ink jet printed image through to a decent print. this year at least it needs to be on photo paper! but participation is the name of the game... follow the link above to see details