A response to the witness statement of Mark Willis for Ultreya 24th January 2026

Thank you, Mark, for your witness statement.

It is interesting to hear about your journey of faith and your reflections in the light of the passages of scripture and the wat people came to hear the Good News.

Our journeys are never a straight line or simple formula which lead to God and your story in many ways probably mirrors that of some of us here.

What your words highlighted to me is that things don’t always happen in what we might call ‘the right order’ or at the most opportune time in our lives yet somehow God reveals himself to us in ways that are right for us and at the times when we are able to respond.

Somehow, despite the messiness of our existence, the Holy Spirit can work within us and finding faith becomes possible. You describe the experience of sharing and having your belief questioned having positive consequences.

My prayer is that we are all confident enough to share our faith story with others and able to grow through thinking about and expressing our belief.

Your example of the time you were in London and found yourself invited to explore the question ‘Has Jesus Christ risen’? challenges us to consider the times when we are presented with opportunities to hear and think more deeply about our Lord and Saviour, Do we take them? Or do we think we already know enough and go about our business? Are we willing to explore the deeper questions about faith?

Scripture is full of examples of people making choices about the way they turn, the path they take and their willingness to learn more about Jesus and his message of love, hope and forgiveness. My prayer is that we never allow ourselves to think we know all we could know about Jesus and remain open to learning more through prayer and study.

Your second communication is a great example of how God can speak to us in many ways and at times we might not expect. This often involves other people passing on a message to us or making a comment which answers a question or brings relief from anxieties.

We do need to be ready to hear God’s message to us and to act upon his prompting. To accept that God can and will make his will known to us and that we are important enough to him that he does want to communicate with us. This is the first step of course and the second step is what we do with the message we receive. We can choose to ignore it or to listen to that still small voice.

Again, scripture is full of examples of people who God spoke to. Some chose to listen to him and some chose to turn away.

Thank you, Mark, for giving us the opportunity today to hear about your experiences.

I am certainly challenged to be more aware of the choices I am offered, to remember that I will never know enough about Jesus and to be vigilant in listening for God speaking to me.

The Rev’d Jackie Bullen