The Bishop of Exeter, the Rt. Rev'd Dr Mike Harrison, shares his New Year message for 2026

Looking back at 2025, one moment that stands out for me is entering the Cathedral with the French and Italian women’s national rugby teams in August as Devon welcomed the Rugby World Cup into the County and celebrated its arrival.

The applause on entry was rapturous and long-lasting – and a fine example of the outstanding hospitality this part of the South West has so often provided – be it to students, sojourners, sightseers, or in this case sportswomen.

I confess to being concerned for the Italian team who appeared to be half the size of the French team – and hoped that what they lacked in build would be made up for in speed – but sadly for them they were trounced.

And looking forward – these are challenging times for us globally. Indeed it’s been described as a time of monsters. Not in terms of Pixar movies but in terms of leaders who rise to the top by being the least scrupulous, the most brazen, the at best amoral – indifferent to historic distinctions between virtue and vice, truth and falsehood, selflessness and selfishness.

We need good leaders, especially when surveys suggest there is more and more polarisation and fragmentation in our communities. So my hope is for good leadership and good leaders. Of course we all need to do our part, and for me that means supporting, encouraging and resourcing the leaders and people of the 595 churches I oversee as Bishop to continue to grow in service of their local communities.

And it also means celebrating some of the wonderful initiatives we see around us in Devon – whether the work of the Deaf Academy (celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2026), St Petrock’s charity working with rough sleepers in Exeter or the Devon Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs (Devon YFC). And, of course, having fun in all of this – with for instance the Bideford Water Festival marking it’s centennial or Torbay hosting the Stand-Up Paddleboarding World Cup in June 2026.

And my message to you all this New Year? From Herod to Scrooge to the Grinch there have always been symbolic characters looking to extinguish the light.

The Good News of the Christmas season is that the light shines in the darkness, the darkness has not overcome it and we are called, we are invited, we are beckoned to this light, to catch alight ourselves and radiate light.

So let’s shine as lights in the world in 2026. Happy New Year!