The series of Keswick Conventions in Japan is one of the most remarkable ministries I have experienced. The 2018 conventions was my fifth time to minister in Japan Keswick Conventions since 2008 and my ninth trip to Japan.  This year it was my honor and privilege to deliver the closing message of the 2018 Tokyo Convention.  The closing message of the convention is always followed by an altar call, a time of decision and response.  The Keswick messages aims primarily at the Christian, but it always speaks to many non-Christians and brings them to faith in Christ.  The Japan Keswick Convention also asks the speakers to emphasize God’s call to missions and ministry.  Hence, the altar call is a very important time of drawing the net of the cumulative impact of the series of sermons by the Japanese and foreign speakers.  God blessed with a bountiful response of His people to the Word of God.

Dr. A. Pierson, an American Presbyterian from another era, was a frequent speaker at the Keswick Convention in England, the first and original Keswick Christian Life Convention.  Dr. Pierson called Keswick a “Spiritual Clinique” He compared Keswick to a medical-clinic where a patient is evaluated and remedy is prescribed.  The Keswick Convention provides a spiritual evaluation to determine the spiritual condition of the Believer’s heart.  It then provides steps by which the Believer can enter into spiritual health.  The leadership of the Japan Keswick conventions (a series of ten conventions) holds to this aim of assisting all participants in their journey  toward a life of holiness and spiritual health.

I give thanks to God for the Japan Keswick Convention leadership and for their vision of how Keswick can impact their country and beyond. I observe the diligent planning, the faithful praying, the expenditure of time and energy, and the heart felt passion of leaders, workers, and volunteers alike.  All of this is done that the Word might be preached and that Jesus might be glorified.

Roger Willmore