I had the privilege of living in Chile, working with the South American Mission Society and SEAN (Study by Extension for All Nations), from 1971-1995. One of the first things to do was to learn Spanish, of course, which was quite intensive – but what a great blessing and encouragement it was to find that, in my first summer there, an English-language ‘Keswick Chile’ would be held. What a relief (as a ‘new kid on the block’ ) to be able to look forward to really listening, studying and speaking in my own heart language, for a week!
It was held in the ‘Region de los Lagos’ – Lake District, south of Chile – surrounded by mountains – and the occasional volcano – somewhat higher than the Cumbrian hills and Dales…..
‘Keswick Chile’ had happened for a good many years, ministering to sometimes up to 60 or more English-speaking mission partners (and families), mainly from UK, USA, Canada Australasia and who worked with several evangelical societies and denominations. Sometimes the speakers were mission partners, some were well-known in their own countries, – and some were already speakers at Keswick UK – including John Stott.
These times of deep teaching and fellowship were such a blessing to all of us – and gradually, English-speaking Chileans would begin to attend, too.
As the Chilean protestant churches grew, local leaders emerged, were trained and, praise the Lord – the churches took on evangelism, teaching and ‘mission’ themselves; the role and number of mission partners gradually diminished as, in effect, they ‘worked themselves out of the job’, Thus the need for an English-speaking Keswick Convention for ministry to a very reduced group of mainly native English-speaking became very limited.
The last Chilean Keswick Convention was held in the early 1990’s,