Tony Cummings, Chris Cole, with photographers Ian Bosworth and Peter Nolan give their impressions of Greenbelt and Cross Rhythms.

Chris Cole FRSA

Chris Cole braved the elements at Greenbelt
I am squelching like some sucker-footed alien through the mud when the grey skies open again. Yet as the rain seeps insidiously through my coat, and I with hundreds of others begin a careering, start-stick lurch for the shelter of the nearest hopelessly-overcrowded tent, I can't help but laugh. In the corner punters are browsing through Duel Edge's imports or packing around the band of bedraggled musicians which, as their wistful acoustics ring out over the now sardine-crammed throng, I recognise as Over The Rhine. This wizened thirty something attends, I think, my ninth Greenbelt fest. I'm enjoying the music, the banter, the ministry and old friends, oblivious to the mud, media-backbiting, toilets and more mud, being drawn into the warm, generous heart that is Greenbelt.

Maybe it has been the Communion Service that I went to prior to squelching to this tent that is the catalyst of my unreasonable good humour as now, rain momentarily abated, I stand outside The Bunker to ponder the choices in my programme: Gustavo Panajon at the Odyssey, Eric Delve in the Exodus, Marc Catley on the Fringe or Brian McGlyn at the Lab? Praise God for Greenbelt! Maybe I feel blessed because of God's touch I'd received at the Friday seminar when a Godly Henri Nouwen so gently ministered Jesus to us. Maybe it's just that for all its errors of judgment, self conscious trendiness and vulnerability to British weather, Greenbelt is still, for me, THE event which has encouraged, no even forced, the Church to emerge from its retreatist insularity to address culture. Each year Greenbelt is an exhilarating shock of creative energy to the nervous system of the Church. It has made its share of bad decisions, of course. Yet, Greenbelt has also made many good ones. Greenbelt is a beacon on a hill showing an astonished world, and an often-uncomprehending church, that human creativity is profoundly a glorious and Godly thing.

I do not profess to understand or agree with all that transpires at Greenbelt. In fact, I doubt if even Greenbelt understands all that goes on there. But I believe it is an unchallengeable fact of history that no other organisation in the UK has done more to break up the heresy of dualism - the sacred/secular divide than Greenbelt. "Being in the world but not of the world" is the Scripture Greenbelt are endeavouring to work out and could emblazon on their main entrance. As I squelch off to grab a burger trying to decide whether I'll catch Des'ree on main stage that evening (I won't get the chance - the wind and the rain are to close down main stage Sunday night) I ponder on the future for Greenbelt. The new permanent site is an exciting development. But there'll be a long haul ahead for them. Will they get the numbers right to make an immensely costly exercise break even in this recession-racked age? Will the 'evangelical backlash' against the liberal elements within Greenbelt yet bring it to its knees? These are questions I can't answer. What I do know is that I'm glad, very glad, Greenbelt isn't safe, and cosy, and an unreal, unchallenging retreat which does nothing to shake the church from its cultural lethargy and fear of thinking.

Cross Rhythms is committed to lifestyle evangelism and liberation through God's Holy Spirit. And like everyone else, we must guard against error and imbalance. But I know also that our fear of heresy is tied up with our fear of living. And that fear is there because we are insecure with God. Such insecurity cannot be remedied by creating and supporting an insular Christian subculture only interested in speaking Language Of Zion platitudes to the converted. That is as deceitful a path as worldly liberalism, the old religions of the New Age and all the other siren voices calling us to deviate from the way of Christ. I for one am profoundly grateful to Greenbelt. It needs to be affirmed for all that is has achieved in the past Without such a festival, contemporary Christian music in Britain could well have died and I doubt whether Cross Rhythms would exist. Obviously, with reaction to NOS, there is much to discuss and debate. But let us keep the situation in perspective and balance by seeking the mind of God.

A day later I watch Martyn Joseph singing from main stage. There's an expectancy in the air as he sings with his tight, new band. Martyn has a new single out, another small candle to shine a glimmer of truth in an age of lies. Martyn Joseph owes a lot to Greenbelt and one of its supporters, evangelist John Smith. It was John who ministered reality to the singer after years of stifling, sub cultural unreality had left him hurt and confused. I know Martyn's very grateful for Greenbelt being there. So am I.