As 2017 draws to an end it will be remembered for many reasons. It has been a rollercoaster year; with turbulence in current affairs of a level that many of us feel has been unprecedented in our life times. Passions run deep as arguments bounce back and forth, wafting and weaving through issues such as Trump’s rise, Brexit’s shape, Corbyn’s surge, and Weinstein’s breaking of a dam.

But for many followers of Jesus it has also been significant in its marking of the five hundredth anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing of his 95 theses to the door of the University of Wittenberg. The Protestant Reformation had many passionate actors and played out over many years, but those events at the end of October 1517 are regarded as its single most significant milestone.

Reflecting back and looking forwards, and thinking also about the current landscape of the church in our own Province, Contemporary Christianity invited five writers from a range of backgrounds to consider the following question: what reformation do you hope and pray for in the church in Northern Ireland in 2017?

The five pieces that were written will be posted next week from Monday to Friday, and it’s our hope they will be a challenge to many in the final weeks of 2017, as we consider what next year and the years following after may hold in store for the church in this land.