Will you come and follow me?

‘Will you come and follow me’ is from the Iona Community in Scotland and is by John Bell and Graham Maule.

The Iona Community was founded in 1938 by the Rev. George Macleod, a Church of Scotland minister in Govan, Glasgow. He had a vision of an ecumenical community centered on the restored medieval abbey buildings on the island of Iona.



‘Will you come and follow me’ is set to a traditional Scottish melody, ‘Kelvingrove’, and is often referred to as ‘The Summons’. It takes its theme from the Gospel. The Gospels tell us that Jesus called others to ‘follow him’, whether it was the Galilean fishermen who left their nets to become ‘fishers of people’, or his disciples who were encouraged to ‘take up their cross’.  Through the centuries, as today, Christ continues to call people to a life of faith, prayer and service.

‘Will you come and follow me’ celebrates how the Lord calls us by name so that his life can be grown in us. It is a way of living that involves taking up the cross and to ‘risk the hostile stare’. It is a call to love in action which liberates the captive and blind and which dares to ‘kiss the leper clean’. It is a summons, too, to self discovery and to the faith that can conquer our inner fears. The hymn ends with a prayer for strength to follow and ‘never be the same’. For in responding to Christ’s call to love in action we move and live and grow in him and he in us. (descriptions borrowed from another webpage)


1 Will you come and follow me

if I but call your name?

Will you go where you don’t know

and never be the same?

Will you let my love be shown?

Will you let my Name be known?

Will you let my life be grown

in you and you in me?


2 Will you leave your self behind

if I but call your name?

Will you care for cruel and kind

and never be the same?

Will you risk the hostile stare

should your life attract or scare?

Will you let me answer prayer

in you and you in me?


3 Will you let the blinded see

if I but call your name?

Will you set the pris’ner free

and never be the same?

Will you kiss the leper clean,

and do such as this unseen?

And admit to what I mean

in you and you in me?


4 Will you love the “You” you hide

if I but call your name?

Will you quell the fear inside

and never be the same?

Will you use the faith you’ve found

to reshape the world around

through my sight and touch and sound

in you and you in me?


5 Christ, your summons echoes true

when you but call my name.

Let me turn and follow you

and never be the same.

In your company I’ll go

where your love and footsteps show,

thus I’ll move and live and grow

in you and you in me?