Word Alive (previously known as New Word Alive) was an annual conservative evangelical

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

conference which originated through a partnership between the UK Christian organisations UCCF and Keswick Ministries. The conference is focussed on

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

teaching, corporate worship, and family time. The conference is a continuation of the former Word Alive event which ran within Spring Harvest, from which it split in 2007. As well as attracting around 4000 guests, the conference has historically included the largest

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

student conference in Europe.

Format

Word Alive was billed as "a Bible holiday week inspiring and refreshing the whole body". There was a full adult programme throughout the day along with activities focussed for children and youth. There was also a specially tailored 'Student Track' conference which was one of the largest Christian student conferences in Europe. The Student Track joins the main programme for the morning Bible Readings, the centrepiece of Word Alive, during which the main speaker for the week gave an in-depth bible study. There were a variety of sessions available throughout the day – Bible studies, seminars, activity groups and worship meetings. Later in the evening there was an 'After Hours' programme featuring contemporary worship, film nights, live interviews, comedy nights, gigs. The majority of guests stayed in the on-site accommodation (chalets) provided at the holiday centre. There were also Day Visitor and Events Passes available.

Venue

From 2008 to 2011 Word Alive was held at the Haven Holiday Park, Hafan y Mor, near

Pwllheli Pwllheli ( ; ) is a market town and community on the Llŷn Peninsula (), in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011, which declined slightly to 3,947 in 2021; a large proportion (81%) were Welsh language, Welsh speaking. ...

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

. From 2012 the conference moved to the Pontins site, Prestatyn Sands,

History

The first Word Alive event took place as part of Spring Harvest in 1993 and was a partnership between UCCF, Keswick Ministries, Spring Harvest and initially the Proclamation Trust. In 2007, it was announced that Word Alive would no longer be a part of Spring Harvest, and from 2008 would run independently (as New Word Alive) in

, rather than Skegness. Press releases explaining the split were released by UCCF, Keswick Ministries and Bishop

Pete Broadbent Peter Alan Broadbent (born 31 July 1952), known as Pete Broadbent, is an English Anglicanism, Anglican bishop. He served as the Bishop of Willesden, an area bishop in the Church of England Diocese of London for twenty years, 2001–2021. Dur ...

of the Spring Harvest leadership team. The statements emphasise different factors leading up to the decision to cease working together. Following a subsequent statement by Pete Broadbent all sides accept that disagreements over Spring Harvest leadership team member Steve Chalke's view of the

atonement Atonement, atoning, or making amends is the concept of a person taking action to correct previous wrongdoing on their part, either through direct action to undo the consequences of that act, equivalent action to do good for others, or some othe ...

played at least some part in the split. From 2008 until 2015 the conference was run over two separate weeks, with different speakers on each. From 2016 onwards Word Alive has been run for a single week only. The 2024 event was cancelled following Pontins closing the Prestatyn Sands site in November 2023. It was announced in June 2024 that the event would be closed as no suitable site could be found.

Main speakers and worship leaders

Notes

References

{{reflist Evangelical Christian conferences Student religious organisations in the United Kingdom Recurring events established in 2007