Leaders Take the Plunge

Written By Janet Ayres

“Let us do a fundraiser” said John

“Yes, good idea” said Janet.

“It must be really cold” said John

“Let us invite our friends to take part” said Janet.

“Great idea” said Jo, Ben, Sonia, Stuart, Erica, Duncan and Anna, Joy, Jack, Ben, Matt, Greg and Mark and many more.

And so began the idea for our personal fundraiser for 2023.  On Tuesday 20th June at 6am, we began our Ice Plunge Interviews fundraising challenge.  John Lawson (Team Leader) and Janet Ayres (Operations and Enterprise Co-ordinator) hosted 10 minute interviews, on the hour, every hour for 24 hours in a very, very cold pool of water. 

23 people took up the challenge with us to share about their ministry, what is exciting them, sharing their hopes and dreams and bringing points for us all to pray for, including 15 local church and ministry leaders, three partners using space at the Hub building at Woodseats, our Message Hub Leaders from East and West Midlands, a Team Leader for our newest Eden Team in Jordanthorpe and Batemoor, our Prisons Outreach Worker and a previous staff friend sharing what he’s getting up to now.

All the interviews started with some random questions about favourite foods and pastimes as people adjusted to the full body impact of the cold water and brains went dead.  We got some interesting answers about scallops and non-alcoholic beer, anything cooked by their wife, jerk chicken (from a vegan who forgot whilst coping with the cold!). 

Once the ‘real’ questions started we began to hear inspiring stories of what is happening locally, from ideas and dreams springing out of lockdown, youth work and men’s groups supporting and discipling each other, working with volunteers to support young people in schools, charities working to unlock God’s purposes in people to meet the needs of those most in need, praying for ourselves and our communities and being bold about asking to pray with people when we’re out and about.  

One thing that carried across all the interviews and really struck us is how local leaders are really championing each other.  The partnering of churches and ministries across Sheffield in order to support and pray for each other and their communities has blown us away.  Transformation is no longer restricted to own backyards, but seen from a city-wide perspective – “what can we do to help you?”. 

The sharing of ideas and projects and dreams has left some people commenting how they hadn’t realised all this was happening.  We pray that what started as a crazy idea while staring at a baptistry pool in reality brings more people and churches together for the gospel, and that the well that is springing up within the city bursts out into the outskirts and surrounding areas as one church gathers together for one purpose.  We feel so privileged to be able to play a part in it.

Thank you to everyone who took part, dropped in with goodies, pizza, dried towels, came early, stayed longer and kept our spirits up as we sank into tired delirium, and to all those who have donated to the challenge. 

We’re keeping our Just Giving page live for a little while longer so if you would like to donate something please go to https://www.justgiving.com/team/teamyorkshirehub and select to give to a team member.  If you would like to donate to our work on a more regular basis, or would like us to visit your church to talk more about The Message and our vision here in Sheffield and wider across the Yorkshire and Humber region, then please contact us at yorkshire@message.org.uk.

We’re already harnessing some ideas for the next crazy Kingdom collaboration opportunity so do let us know if you would like us to keep you informed: yorkshire@message.org.uk

Janet Ayres
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