Wild Goose is pitching bigger theological stakes. Franciscan friar Richard Rohr will lead a workshop; as will “recovering evangelical” writer Frank Schaeffer, son of the 1970s evangelical icon Francis Schaeffer.

It’s summer. It’s hot. It’s the South.

That must mean it’s time for an old-fashioned camp meeting.

Starting next Thursday, the bygone staple of the tent revival will be reincarnated on a bucolic North Carolina farm as The Wild Goose Festival. Nearly 10 years in the making, the festival is an attempt to reimagine Christianity for the 21st century under a bigger, wider more inclusive tent.

The four-day festival is expected to draw thousands of young campers and some of the leading lights of the so-called Emergent Christianity movement.

With musicians such as David Wilcox and Michelle Shocked, and speakers such as Brian McLaren, Jay Bakker, and Shane Claiborne, festival leaders hope to establish the premier venue for 20-somethings who love God but aren’t thrilled with institutional Christianity, particularly the religious right.

“We want to look each other in the eye and say, ‘We may not agree on everything but we’re going to recognize our essential humanity,'” said Mike Morrell, festival spokesman.

Festival planners are a diverse bunch. They include more traditional evangelicals alongside emergent church leaders, neo-monastics and progressive Christians.

Organizers want to distance themselves from the politicized versions of Christianity, and re-engage in social justice work — particularly prison reform, a topic of some of the sessions.
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Already, the festival has drawn the ire of more conventional evangelical bloggers who don’t like its inclusive nature or openness to gays and lesbians, though festival leaders have not taken any formal positions on such issues.

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