In Depth:  Keswick

en & Keswick Ministries

Katharine Hill

This article has been published as part of a collaboration between Keswick Ministries and en, which features contributions from the 2026 Convention speakers. Keswick Convention takes place annually each summer, its programme centring on Bible teaching, worship and Christian fellowship.

For more articles from this year's collaboration, visit the Keswick section of en's In Depth page.

en & Keswick Ministries

Adrian Reynolds

This article has been published as part of a collaboration between Keswick Ministries and en, which features contributions from the 2026 Convention speakers. Keswick Convention takes place annually each summer, its programme centring on Bible teaching, worship and Christian fellowship.

For more articles from this year's collaboration, visit the Keswick section of en's In Depth page.

en & Keswick Ministries

Clare Heath-Whyte

This article has been published as part of a collaboration between Keswick Ministries and en, which features contributions from the 2026 Convention speakers. Keswick Convention takes place annually each summer, its programme centring on Bible teaching, worship and Christian fellowship.

For more articles from this year's collaboration, visit the Keswick section of en's In Depth page.

en & Keswick Ministries

Mark Ellis

This article has been published as part of a collaboration between Keswick Ministries and en, which features contributions from the 2026 Convention speakers. Keswick Convention takes place annually each summer, its programme centring on Bible teaching, worship and Christian fellowship.

For more articles from this year's collaboration, visit the Keswick section of en's In Depth page.

en & Keswick Ministries

Sarah Bennington

This article has been published as part of a collaboration between Keswick Ministries and en, which features contributions from the 2026 Convention speakers. Keswick Convention takes place annually each summer, its programme centring on Bible teaching, worship and Christian fellowship.

For more articles from this year's collaboration, visit the Keswick section of en's In Depth page.

en & Keswick Ministries

This article has been published as part of a collaboration between Keswick Ministries and en, which features contributions from the 2026 Convention speakers. Keswick Convention takes place annually each summer, its programme centring on Bible teaching, worship and Christian fellowship.

For more articles from this year's collaboration, visit the Keswick section of en's In Depth page.

en & Keswick Ministries

Ruth Bancewicz

This article has been published as part of a collaboration between Keswick Ministries and en, which features contributions from the 2026 Convention speakers. Keswick Convention takes place annually each summer, its programme centring on Bible teaching, worship and Christian fellowship.

For more articles from this year's collaboration, visit the Keswick section of en's In Depth page.

Tim Chester

Hands up who wants to live for Christ? I see a lot of raised hands.

The natural instinct of a Christian is to want to be transformed so we become like Christ and serve Him. It’s as if a new destination has been punched into our inner Satnav. Instead of plotting a course towards wealth or comfort or career, we’re now heading towards Christ and His kingdom. We want to be transformed. But how?

Elizabeth McQuoid

Here, Clare Williams-Sarpong chats with Elizabeth McQuoid about how the gospel can transform our society. Clare Williams is an associate speaker with The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics and runs her own apologetics ministry ‘Real Questions’.

EM: How can we make sense of culture today?

Steve Midgley

“You always do that!” Their argument, and his response, was discouragingly familiar. The same critique, the same sulking withdrawal.

“Why do I always do that?” It had been a few months this time – she was beginning to think she had cracked it. But a couple of clicks and she was back in the mire. Her resolutions, once again, proved no match for the strength of her habit.

Peter Dray

Have you noticed how people see the world similarly to those born at a similar time to them? It’s evident even in trivial ways. Virtually everyone, for example, feels that the best music was created in their mid-teens (me included!).

The conditions in which we grew up shape our view of the world into adulthood. They set the presets against which we measure everything we encounter later in life. The Bible itself recognises this generational difference, with Judges 2v10 highlighting the distinct perspectives between those who entered the Promised Land and their children.

Philip Sowerbutts

Keswick has always been about transformation.

The Convention’s founder Thomas Dundas Harford-Battersby, Vicar of St John’s Keswick, was a man troubled by a lack of holiness in his own walk with God. It was while on holiday on the Cumbrian coast at Silloth that he was first introduced to a new teaching that would lead to a personal transformation by a work of God’s Holy Spirit. In just three weeks, he and his friend Robert Wilson organised their own “Holiness Convention” in June 1875 using a tent in the garden of Harford-Battersby’s Keswick vicarage (see photo of the 150th anniversary book cover*). Hundreds attended, and such was the success it was decided to hold another the following year, and so it has continued for 150 years.

Mark Ellis

I know what it’s like to feel dry. To feel Jesus is distant. To know in my head I couldn’t be closer; that my life is now hid in Christ. But not to sense that in my heart. To feel my eyesight is clouded and my heart is stale.

And the Keswick Convention is not the answer to my problem. But it can help. Because our good God gives us many ways to bring our hearts closer to the sunshine of the gospel; many ways that will melt our hearts as we look to Jesus. And what I love about the Convention is that it’s like an oasis. It’s an opportunity to be refreshed. And then sent back out again.

Amy Smith

We were off to the zoo! My four young children were in the car, we’d waved Dad off to work, the buggy and picnic were packed. As we reached the motorway, a little voice, full of worry, asked: ‘Where are we going and how long for?’ In all my preparation I’d missed a key moment – I hadn’t talked to the children! Four little people had no idea what was happening.

For one little boy, for whom all the events of moving from foster care to his new adoptive home was a conscious memory, this was a problem. He was understandably worried that he was leaving home and might not see Dad again. Without his question, I might have missed what was going on. Instead, my awareness of my son’s heart meant I could wrap him in a hug and say: ‘You are our little boy, God has given you to us and us to you, you are home with us.’

Femi Adeleye

Two years ago, I was invited by the Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Henry Chukwudum Ndukuba, to speak at the Joshua Generation International Youth Conference (JGIYC). It was to take place at the National Stadium in Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria.

When I was told 30,000 young people were expected at the five-day event, I had some reservations. To my pleasant surprise, there were about 33,000 young people in attendance, and they were all irrepressible in their response. At least one third committed their lives to serving God’s purpose in their generation.