The Keswick Convention is an annual gathering of conservative evangelical Christians in Keswick, in the English county of Cumbria.
The Christian theological tradition of Keswickianism, also known as the Higher Life movement, became popularised through the Keswick Conventions, the first of which was a tent revival in 1875 at St John's Church in Keswick.
History
thumb|upright=1.4|St John's Church, [[Keswick, Cumbria|Keswick]]
The Keswick Convention began in 1875 as a focal point for the Higher Life movement in the United Kingdom. It was founded by an Anglican, Canon T. D. Harford-Battersby, and a Quaker, Robert Wilson. They held the first Keswick Convention in a tent on the lawn of St John's vicarage, Keswick, beginning with a prayer meeting on the evening of Monday, 28 June. During the conference—which continued till Friday morning—over 400 people attended uniting under the banner of "All One in Christ Jesus"—which is still the convention's watchword.
Robert Pearsall Smith, a Quaker lay leader influenced by the Plymouth Brethren, probably influenced the convention's use of the American term "convention", rather than the British "conference". During the same time period, D. L. Moody—the New England evangelist—also employed the same term to denote a special Christian gathering.
Among the Keswick Convention's early notable speakers were the Anglicans J. W. Webb-Peploe, Evan Henry Hopkins, E. W. Moore, William Haslam, W. Hay, M. H. Aitken and Handley Moule, as well as the South-African reformed pastor Andrew Murray and a Baptist, Frederick Brotherton Meyer. The founder of the China Inland Mission, Hudson Taylor, also spoke; and in response Amy Carmichael decided to dedicate her life to missions.
By 1897 the New York Times was reporting that over 1,200 ministers were attending the annual convention, from every part of the United Kingdom and beyond.
In 1903 at the convention, Barclay Fowell Buxton and Paget Wilkes founded the Japan Evangelistic Band. The convention also influenced John George Govan, who later founded The Faith Mission in Scotland; and the highly influential founder of the Iwerne camps, E. J. H. Nash, valued the Keswick Convention and considered R. A. Torrey his theological mentor.
It was Stephen Olford who introduced Billy Graham to the Keswick message at a Keswick Convention in 1946. Graham wrote in his autobiography, Just As I Am, that this teaching came to him as a second blessing.
At the 1965 convention, the Rev. John Stott, Rector of All Souls, Langham Place, gave the week's Bible readings on Paul's epistle to the Romans, chapters 5 to 8. His exposition of chapter 6, in particular concerning "death to sin", is now regarded as a key watershed in recent Keswick teaching, departing from the approach taken to this passage in earlier years. Price and Randall state that "more than thirty years on the so called traditional Keswick stance on Romans 6 would now hardly ever be heard from the Keswick platform". The site is adjacent to the existing Rawnsley site and Simon Overend, operations manager, said that the idea of a single integrated site is very attractive and will allow the convention to grow even further and give flexibility over both sites. The move has been generally welcomed by townsfolk and Allerdale borough council. Tony Lywood commented that he very much welcomed the sale to Keswick Ministries, which is an idea that he had promoted for a long time, as it would solve so many issues for the Keswick Convention and the town. The pencil museum will still remain on the site, which was vacated by the Cumberland Pencil Co in 2008 when it relocated to a new facility in Workington. Planners want to see the pencil factory premises retained for industrial use.
The subsequent launch of “The Derwent Project” was one of the high spots over the three weeks of the 2015 Convention. The project aims to raise £5 million over the next three years. Most of the funds needed relate to the costs of acquiring the new site, demolishing the derelict buildings, improving access on foot and by car, and landscaping the combined sites to make them ready for an enlarged and integrated summer Convention in 2017. Jonathan Lamb, CEO, added that there are currently no immediate plans to dispose of the Skiddaw Street site at which the main meetings are currently held since this site will be needed to sustain the convention's operations for the next year or two. However, in the future, he recognised that the site might be developed for alternative purposes compatible with the locality.
Further details released during 2016 are that the project will feature a main building, an all year round 400-seat auditorium plus up to six "break out" en suite rooms and accommodation for 60 people. There will also be a dining area, toilets and an integrated space for the siting of the main convention tent and associated marquees. Updates during the 2016 Convention confirmed that the site had in fact been purchased during 2015 by another Christian trust (The Lind Trust) on behalf of the convention. The requirement is to repay The Lind Trust £3m by September 2018. The Keswick Ministries reported that the cost was more likely to be higher than that reported by Jonathan Lamb who earlier reported that the overall expenditure was now expected to be nearer £7m.
At the 2017 Convention it was reported that there had been good internal support for the Project. The purchase of The Pencil Factory Site from The Lind Trust had recently been completed one year earlier than planned and for which The Lind Trust had generously agreed to forgo £400,000 of the £3m price. Development of the site including reuse (not demolition) of the Pencil Factory buildings would now be the next focus for fundraising for the Project.
Convention themes and Bible reading speakers
From 1978 the annual ministry book published each December has taken the title of the convention theme for that year (although only since 1991 has the convention itself been given a specific theme in the pre-publicity). In addition to the main speakers listed below, who are all men, each week has up to 16 other speakers covering seminars, evening celebrations and afternoon events. A full list of all speakers for the years 1875 to 1996 is given in Maurice Rowlandson's book.
{| class="wikitable"
! scope="col" width="50"|Year
! Theme
! Week 1
! Week 2
! Week 3
|-
| align="center"|1978||The Gospel, The Spirit, The Church||John Stott||Dick Lucas||
|-
| align="center"|1979||The Lord is King||Alec Motyer||Eric Alexander||
|-
| align="center"|1980||The People and the King||Donald English||Bp John B.Taylor||
|-
| align="center"|1981||Purity and Power||Dick Lucas||Alan Flavelle||
|-
| align="center"|1982||Walking with the King||Alec Motyer||Philip Hacking||
|-
| align="center"|1983||Living the Light||Richard France||David Jackman||
|-
| align="center"|1984||God's Very Own People||Donald English||Stuart Briscoe||
|-
| align="center"|1985||Giving God the Glory||Eric Alexander||Michael Baughen||
|-
| align="center"|1986||Rebuilding The Foundations||Dick Lucas||Keith Weston||
|-
| align="center"|1987||New Beginnings, Old Paths||Raymond Brown||David Jackman||
|-
| align="center"|1988||Real People - Real Faith||Donald English||Stuart Briscoe||
|-
| align="center"|1989||Servants of the King||Philip Hacking||Chuck Smith||
|-
| align="center"|1990||Looking To Jesus||Michael Baughen||Charles Price||
|-
| align="center"|1991||The Kingdom, Power and the Glory||R. T. Kendall||Roy Clements||
|-
| align="center"|1992||The Cross and the Crown||Derick Bingham||Raymond Brown||
|-
| align="center"|1993||Dangerous Faith||Donald English||Alistair Begg||
|-
| align="center"|1994||The Whole Family of God||Philip Hacking||Jim Graham||
|-
| align="center"|1995||The Light of His Coming||Alec Motyer||Roy Clements||
|-
| align="center"|1996||Clean Hands||Michael Wilcock||Stuart Briscoe||
|-
| align="center"|1997||A Voice in the Wilderness||Michael Baughen||Charles Price||
|-
| align="center"|1998||Truth on Fire||Chris Wright||Alistair Begg||
|-
| align="center"|1999||Deep Impact||Don Carson||Nigel Lee||
|-
| align="center"|2000||One Lord, One Church, One Task||John Stott||Jonathan Lamb||
|-
| align="center"|2001||A Different Drumbeat||Michael Baughen||Steve Gaukroger||Stuart Briscoe
|-
| align="center"|2002||Learning Together as God's Royal Family||Bruce Milne||Liam Goligher||Steve Brady
|-
| align="center"|2003||From Base Camp To Summit||Joseph Stowell||Charles Price||Vaughan Roberts
|-
| align="center"|2004||Out of Control?||Alistair Begg||Jonathan Lamb||Derek Tidball
|-
| align="center"|2005||The Glory of the Gospel||Sinclair Ferguson||Steve Gaukroger||Dominic Smart
|-
| align="center"|2006||The Church in the Power of the Spirit||Chris Wright||Ajith Fernando||Vaughan Roberts
|-
| align="center"|2007||Unshackled ? Living in Outrageous Grace||Alec Motyer||Steve Brady||Ian Coffey
|-
| align="center"|2008||Creation, Chaos & Christ||David Cook||Liam Goligher||Charles Price
|-
| align="center"|2009||Faith that Works||Dale Ralph Davies||Jonathan Lamb||Vaughan Roberts
|-
| align="center"|2010||Christ-centred Renewal||Don Carson||Paul Mallard||Alistair Begg
|-
| align="center"|2011||Word to the World <small>Good news to the nations</small>||Ajith Fernando||Chris Wright||Peter Maiden
|-
| align="center"|2012||Going the Distance <small>Living in the light of the future</small>||Simon Manchester||Steve Brady||Jeremy McQuoid
|-
| align="center"|2013||The Transforming Trinity <small>Knowing the triune God</small>||Charles Price||John Lennox||Steve Gaukroger
|-
| align="center"|2014||Really? <small>Searching for reality in a confusing world</small>||Vaughan Roberts||Jonathan Lamb||Chris Sinkinson
|-
| align="center"|2015||The Whole of Life for Christ||John Risbridger||Paul Mallard||Liam Goligher
|-
| align="center"|2016||Power to change <small>Becoming like God's son</small>||Simon Manchester||Steve Brady||David Jackman
|-
| align="center"|2017||Captivated <small>Hearing God's Word</small>||Don Carson||Alistair Begg||Ivor Poobalan
|-
| align="center"|2018||Sent: <small>Serving God's Mission</small>||Christopher Ash||Chris Wright||David Cook
|-
| align="center"|2019||Longing||John Risbridger||Vaughan Roberts||Ray Ortlund
|-
| align="center"|2020||Hope* <small>Virtually Keswick Convention</small>||Christopher Ash|| No week 2 due to COVID-19|| No week 3 due to COVID-19
|-
| align="center"|2021||Faithful||Paul Mallard||Tim Chester||Mark Meynell
|-
| align="center"|2022||Grateful ||Alistair Begg||Jeremy McQuoid||Martin Salter
|-
| align="center"|2023||Human||Sam Allberry||Jonathan Griffiths||Ivor Poobalan
|-
| align="center"|2024||Resurrection||David Gibson||Andrew Sach||Vaughan Roberts
|-
| align="center"|2025||Transformed||Andy Gemmill||Tim Chester||Dane Ortlund
|-
| align="center"|2026||Strong in his strength||Andy Robinson||Sam Allberry||Michael Reeves
|}
(* Convention was cancelled due to COVID-19. They instead ran all of their sessions, including youth work, live on YouTube.)
List of chairmen
{| class="wikitable"
! Convention(s)
! Chairman
|-
| 1875–1882||Canon T. Dundas Harford-Battersby
|-
| 1883–1889||Henry Francis Bowker
|-
| 1890–1900||Robert Wilson
|-
| 1901||Albert Head / General Hatt-Noble / The Rev Francis Paynter (shared)
|-
| 1902||Albert Head / Capt F.L. Tottenham (shared)
|-
| 1903–1916||Trustees
|-
| 1917||(no convention)
|-
| 1918–1920||Canon John Battersby-Harford
|-
| 1921–1924||W.H. Wilson
|-
| 1925–1929||The Rev John Stuart Holden
|-
| 1930–1932||R.B. Stewart
|-
| 1933–1935||J.M. White
|-
| 1936–1939||The Rev William H. Aldis
|-
| 1940–1941||(no convention)
|-
| 1942–1943||The Rev E.L. Langston (held in London churches)
|-
| 1944||(no convention)
|-
| 1945||The Rev E.L. Langston (held in Westminster Chapel)
|-
| 1946–1947||The Rev William H. Aldis
|-
| 1948–1951||Fred Mitchell
|-
| 1952–1969||The Rev Alfred Thomas (Tim) Houghton
|-
| 1970–1974||The Rev John A. Caiger
|-
| 1975||Canon A.T. Houghton (acting chairman)
|-
| 1976–1984||Canon Alan S. Neech
|-
| 1985–1993||The Rev Philip H. Hacking
|-
| 1994–1996||The Rev Keith A.A. Weston
|-
| 1997–2000||Jonathan Lamb
|-
| 2001–2009||Peter Maiden
|-
| 2010–2011||Jonathan Lamb
|-
| 2012–2017||John Risbridger
|-
| 2017-2020|| Tim Chester
|-
| 2020-present|| Jeremy McQuoid
|}