When the Jesus Movement came in the late 1960s Time magazine was announcing “God is Dead.” Everything was so secular and materialistic. But a great soul thirst followed and a new generation went crazy on everything from Zen to the Koran, to Celtic spirituality to magic to spirituality encounter groups – even back to Jesus. Now 30 years on we have left the spiritual desert and got lost in a spirituality jungle instead. But the world is longing for love as much as in the Beatles’ heyday. We don’t trust the system any more than the hippies, but we have gone back to materialism with a spiritual twist. I’m more convinced than ever that Jesus is the only way to satisfy soul thirst and hungry hearts.
John Smith has a radical urban ministry in Australia and is the President of God’s Squad Christian Motorcycle Club which reaches outlaw Bikers. A Human rights activist, he faced execution for defending peasants in the Philippines and is involved with social justice struggle of Australian Aborigines. He is a regular speaker at Greenbelt as he believes art is the nerve end of every culture.
