Annual evangelical conference
Spring Harvest is an inter-denominational evangelical conference and gathering in the United Kingdom that started in 1979.[2]: 245
The festival arose in the late 1970s at a time when evangelicalism was growing in the UK and there was uncertainty as to how that movement would relate with Church of England and evangelicals within it; the event, among few others at the time, welcomed all evangelical Christians,[3]: 292–293 including people within and outside the charismatic movement.[2]: 245 Hylson-Smith comments that non-denominational activities such as Spring Harvest did much to encourage pan-evangelicalism which tended to minimise historical differences between denominations[2]: 247
Its stated aims are to "equip the Church for action" through a range of events, conferences, books and resources. The tone is evangelical with modern worship music, workshops and seminars.
History
The event was first held in 1979 for one week at Prestatyn, North Wales.[citation needed] In 1986 the event moved to Butlins Minehead and then in 1987 it moved to Skegness. Attendance passed the 50,000 mark in 1988 and the following year it was also held at Butlin's Ayr, Scotland.[4] By 2010 the event had been reduced by a week from the previous year, and the 2011 attendance was approximately 28,000 people[5] From 2012, there were three Minehead weeks and one Skegness week. From 2014 to 2017 the events continued to reduce in length. In 2018 Harrogate Convention Centre was first used as a venue.[6]
Recordings of parts of the event sometimes appears on British TV such as the BBC programme Songs of Praise. In most years up to 2020, CDs of the associated songs are published.[7] From 2022 this moved to Spotify.[citation needed]
References
External links
