Everybody wants to follow something these days! We follow friends on Facebook, influencers on Twitter, and channels on YouTube. We follow our favorite bands, TV programs, celebrities, and, in the old days we followed our radio show.

As Christians we speak about following Jesus, when we are confused about which direction to take in life, or how to respond to a particular situation, we may ask, “What Would Jesus Do?”

And therein lies the difficulty - we often don’t know what Jesus would do and so, rather than doing the hard work of learning what Jesus would do, we find ways of using scripture to justify our actions, often when they are opposite of Jesus’ intentions.

As we gather together this year we will be intentionally looking at what it means to follow Jesus - and what the gospels tell us Jesus did. I think we may find that what he did is a little different to what we think he did!

And this is hopeful because as we try to live our lives in times which are often confusing and hopeless, the way of Jesus offers us real hope, beyond the religion which often distracts us from genuine encounter with God.

I look forward to sharing this journey with you over the coming 12 months!