A Look Back at the Summer Meet
A few weeks ago, on Monday the 15th of July, Christians in Media helped to run an event in Yorkshire with Bishop Nick Baines and his wife Linda.
Marianne Clough, regional ambassador for CIM, writes:
“Fast following on the back of our first meeting held at CAP, there was the suggestion that October was too long to wait for the next. So, right up there in my most embarrassingly cheeky of asks, I requested to the Bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines, that we have a Summer gathering at his home and that he could be our speaker - and he graciously accepted.
I wondered if we'd attract a slightly different crowd by going to Leeds and how many of our Bradford gang we might lose. Well, a couple dropped out through sickness but we pretty much had a full house - which was fab. Praise God!
It had been a hot working day and our guests seemed grateful to be able to grab a drink, a decent plate of food and disappear outside into the cool of the Bishop's lovely garden. The food was made by Nurture, the catering arm of St George's Crypt in Leeds which cares for the ever-growing number of homeless people in the city.
So, who did we have there? Various freelancers both in film, photography and press who lapped up some company! We had one lad training in journalism, and some having had a long, full career in the media. We had someone from the TV programme Say Yes to the Dress who has the constant pressure of finding two brides a week with back stories and no dress!
As before, we had quite a few comm types from locally based national Christian charities. We had one gentleman, who had come all the way from Manchester for our gathering. There were lots of familiar faces from last time and a few extras in the mix.
My main ambition has been, with all of this, that we are real with each other. Media is always going to be a competitive industry where egos loom large. However, when we meet as Christians if we can't be honest about how things are, what's the point? Paula Stringer, our first speaker at the inaugural event had very much spelled this out.
I was heartened to hear people have conversations like: "How are you?" and be answered "Actually, things are really difficult for me at the moment..."
I saw a lot of genuine interactions and people arranging to meet for coffee or giving an encouraging word and offers of prayer.
After our meal, Nick, who is a gifted linguist, encouraged us to always work out what language our audience is speaking, which words would resonate and to always set our minds on how a message is received. He was enthusiastic about having us at his home and said we'd be very welcome again.
The role of being Leeds Bradford Ambassador is a real joy because I can see that in this difficult sector there are few championing the media person in their own right, rather than what they do or what they achieve - and it gives me license to do this.
I really would encourage others to take on this ambassador role, which doesn't take up much time and is all reward.”
