The idea of #doyouknowHim? came about when the team at one of the churches in Skipton was planning for Easter in 2017. They decided that the Easter Sunday theme would be based on the story of Mary Magdalen on the first Easter morning and Jesus MEETING her, risen from the tomb. That prompted a brief rendition of the hymn ‘Thine be the glory’. “Lo, Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb!”

They talked about ‘Meeting Jesus’; ideas flowed and then the phrase, “do you know him?” was said and immediately, lots of cogs seemed to click into place and it led to…
#doyouknowHim?

It was kind of influenced too by a video online using the words of the Rev Dr. S. M. Lockeridge, a pastor from San Diego, California in 1976.

The question seemed to lend itself to those who are already know Jesus but are challenged to know him more but also to anyone who has never thought about the fact that Jesus knows and loves them and desperately wants us to know and love Him.

It asks have you met Jesus; do you know Him? & if you do know Him, how well do you know Jesus? Like any relationship – the need to invest time, effort and heart to make it grow.

We then put together a list of characteristics of Jesus – aspects of Him that we know and helps us in our lives. The list went on and on and on…
So, we condensed these to a ten-week series looking at particular aspects of Jesus. It included follow up material for individuals and small groups to study further.

The church shared it with the leaders of other churches in the town of Skipton and another church trialled the series about Jesus too and a vision was caught.

A vision in which ALL the other churches in Skipton would follow the same series at the same time – with all the churches in their sermons and services focussing on JESUS under the strapline, ‘#doyouknowHim?’.

All the Skipton churches agreed to follow this series. All uniting around JESUS and the challenge of how well we know Him. From February to April, for ten weeks, the churches of Skipton are going to learn more about Jesus in services, in small groups (including some mixed-church groups) and also individually by reading the gospel accounts of Jesus.

We are also wanting to pose the question to Skipton too. To give people the opportunity to think about the fact that Jesus knows and loves them and to be able to respond or just find out more.

We don’t know where it’s going to go? That’s up to the one who the question is about. But it’s exciting. It’s challenging. We’ll keep you posted.

Remember – It’s not just knowing about Jesus…
But KNOWING JESUS…

To KNOW Jesus more and more to KNOW Jesus.