Overview
The Keswick movement continues to grow and develop. In 2016, nearly 15,000 people, over three weeks, attended the event in the Lake District. The movement has done extremely well, and is replicated in many countries around the world.
This book contains many of the messages from the three weeks of the event. It reads well and there are some excellent speakers contributing to its pages. If you have not been to Keswick, then picking up this book is a great place to start!
The Keswick movement began 140 years ago, so it is not a new convention, yet to this day many people continue to attend the event. It has a good presence on the Internet, it’s evangelical and introduces speakers from a variety of denominations. It is truly a cross-denominational work, appealing to Christians from a wide range of church backgrounds.
Reading this book reminds me that Keswick is well-founded in its true doctrine. It is able to see across denominations, recognising that ‘Christ is always the same’, no matter what denomination you may be part of. This is a great story!
The Authors
Elizabeth McQuoid is the editor of the work. There are 12 speakers in total. There is an emphasis on Ephesians, to which six speakers contribute, then three speakers cover the Bible Readings, and the Other Addresses involve a further three speakers.
The Book
The Keswick movement worldwide has adopted a key Pauline statement to describe its gospel inclusivity: ‘for you are all one in Jesus Christ’ (Galatians 3:28). Keswick Ministries works with evangelicals from a wide variety of church backgrounds, on the understanding that they share a commitment to the essential truths of the Christian faith as set out in the Keswick statement.
The book is introduced by Jonathan Lamb, the Minister-at-large of Keswick Ministries. Jonathan sets out to explain the basis of Keswick’s work, and looks carefully at how the movement operates around the world.
At the end of the book are the Keswick resources, plus useful notes about the Keswick websites. If you have been to the event, then this is a good place for you to access the Keswick material. This quote from the back cover gives a good flavour of the book:
Christlikeness. We want it, but how does it happen? God has promised one day to finish his work and we want to be well and truly like Jesus. But what happens in the meantime? How do we overcome the pull of sin? How do we live like Christ today? Is change really possible?
There are three parts to this book: Paul’s letter to the Ephesians covers half of the book, then there are the ‘Bible Readings’ followed by the ‘Other Addresses’. The book has been well edited and it’s a joy to read. Some of the chapters are easier to read than others! This is good, as it ensures that every reader gets completely immersed in the Keswick message. I really enjoyed the last chapter of Ephesians, given by Bill Bygroves. Simply excellent!
Ephesians is covered by six speakers; they are all quite different, but all bring the same understanding of the letter to the reader. Peter Lewis, Adrian Holloway, Jonathan Lamb, Ray Evans, Calisto Odede and Bill Bygroves all make interesting points and cover Paul’s letter from their own perspective.
Jonathan Lamb’s section on ‘How do I Overcome the Pull of Sin’ is particularly good. It’s practical and helpful. He lists six points which help all of us combat the pull of sin in our lives. It’s not easy but it does work!
The Bible Readings are all quite different. The speakers are Simon Manchester, Steve Brady and David Jackman. They each look independently at Deuteronomy, Revelation and Isaiah 53.
Steve Brady’s grasp of Revelation is extremely good. He has clearly looked into the subject very well. He brings across topics from Revelation which he believes are important for us to know.
The Other Addresses involve Derek Tidball, Rico Tice and Jeremy McQuoid. Derek Tidball looks at ‘What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit’? This is a good chapter and points out many of the issues relating to being filled with the Holy Spirit.
The book closes with Jeremy McQuoid, quoting from C.S. Lewis:
‘Who likened our lives on this earth, however long and painful they may be, to the preface of a book. When we get to glory, we’ll begin the real story, where each chapter is better than the one before’. (The Last Battle p.222).
As Jeremy says, ‘Carpe diem’ - Seize the day!
Eddie Olliffe
Bookseller and Distributor for the past 35 years. Now Consulting Editor of Together Magazine. I blog on Christian Spirituality, UK Publishing and Bookselling matters.