England’s Galilee

The ‘Bread of Life’ – multiplied to multitudes for 150 years

My wife Linda and I are still basking in the warm glow of the Keswick Convention we visited last week. And as one for whom Israel and the Jewish people are always close to my heart, I couldn’t help comparing it to Yeshua’s teaching around the Sea of Galilee.
 
Keswick
 
Keswick has been held annually for 150 years in the heart of the town of the same name set amidst the magnificent Lake District. It is surrounded by lofty mountains and overlooks the serene Derwent Water, just three miles long and a mile at its widest point. One of the lakeside views was regarded by noted writer and art critic John Ruskin as among the three most beautiful sights in all Europe. The lake is even dotted with a few islands which have been the focus of ancient pilgrimages.
 
The convention now attracts some ten thousand people who come to hear anointed Bible preaching and take part in rousing times of worship. I was particularly reminded this year of the feeding of the five thousand on the hills above Galilee, and how we too feed on the miraculous manna from heaven that gives eternal life to those who listen, meditate and act upon the words of Jesus.
 
The Greatest Story
 
My thoughts on Yeshua’s ministry also relate to my current reading of a remarkable new book by Bear Grylls, the now globally known adventure icon who has turned his many talents into writing The Greatest Story Ever Told (Hodder & Stoughton, 2025), re-telling the gospel through the eyes of five different witnesses – Myriam, Ta’om, Shimon, Yohanan and Myriam of Magdala.

Being with Yeshua always felt like the most radical place to be ...

Not everyone is familiar with their Hebrew names, but it’s the Jewish context of Bear’s accounts that make it so authentic, and many who are very familiar with the New Testament will surely be wowed and greatly moved, as I have been, by his colourful, down-to-earth storytelling.
 
Bearing in mind that this year’s convention is on the theme of Transformation, here is a quote (from Shimon) that is so apt: “Being with Yeshua always felt like the most radical place to be… He brought real life to everything, and he transformed people’s lives… After all, he had told us on that hillside: he was the ‘bread of life’.”
 
Multiplication of loaves
 
As it happens, the miraculous multiplication of loaves was alluded to by preacher Martin Salter with the story of Watkin Roberts, who was influenced by the 1904 Welsh Revival and heard God’s call to India when he came to Keswick in 1907.

It proved a very difficult and dangerous assignment, with returning home an obvious option. But at that point he was sent a £5 note (the equivalent of £600 today) which could have paid for his boat ticket. But, instead, he invested it in gospel literature he sent to the tribal leader.
 
Today there are 200,000 Christians in North-East India who owe their salvation to the £5 investment made by Watkin and his generous supporter. As Martin put it with reference to the boy in Galilee offering his five loaves and two fish to feed the gathered 5,000: “He could have kept his lunch that day, but he would have had no story to tell.”

He could have kept his lunch that day, but he would have had no story to tell.

Knock-on effects
 
Across the bay from the Lakes, we visited an old friend who led my late wife Irene to the Lord – over the telephone – way back in 1979. They had made good friends as neighbours in Yorkshire, but she then moved to Morecambe in north Lancashire. So they kept in touch by phone, and my friend recalled how she saw the £5 spent on these lengthy conversations as a spiritual investment!
 
It was indeed, and there were multiple knock-on effects as Irene spread the word of Christ wherever she went. And when it fell on good soil, it produced a crop – “a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” (Matt 13:8).
 
Praise God for Keswick! For one day they will have played their part in producing “a great multitude that no-one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” (Rev 7:9)