History


Maidstone Bible Week was originally founded as Maidstone Bible Convention.

There is evidence that the first meetings were held sometime between the two world wars. The meetings were suspended between 1939 and 1945, but were restarted in 1956 and have been held every year since then, until 2020, when they had to be cancelled due to the global covid-19 pandemic.

From its inception the purpose of the convention was to provide a platform for Bible based teaching on a non-denominational basis for Christians from across the town and surrounding area.

To that end, the series of meetings were held at different church venues each year, to encourage various fellowships to engage with the meetings and each other, something that is still the aim today.

A number of different formats and dates were tried in the early years, the meetings being held anytime from the last week of April until the first week of June.

There were five meetings between Tuesday and Friday in the early 1960's with an afternoon meeting on Thursday. In 1964, the Convention was five nights,with additional afternoon meetings on four of the days! A meeting with emphasis on youth was started on Friday nights in the late 1960's.   

After 1974, the separate youth night was abandoned and the Convention settled into the the four night format of teaching, still used today. Originally Tuesday to Friday, the current Monday to Thursday format was introduced due to declining attendance, as there were a number of clashing church based meetings on Friday nights. 

In 2010, the decision was taken to rebrand Maidstone Bible Convention to Maidstone Bible Week, to be more relatable to a modern audience.

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