Rachel Baker, Young Leaders’ Community Enabler, is on the podcast today.

Rachel talks about:

✝️ Growing up in Bristol

✝️ Helping to release young people into leadership roles in the church

✝️ How God called her to Rotherham

✝️ Worshipping at St Francis Bramley

✝️ The church leaders who inspired her

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Explore Part 2 of our 2025 Words of Grace Christmas Special, as Ben is joined by his wife, and guest co-host, Revd Debbie Coyne-Fearn as they journey through Christmas Live with Christ Church Stannington.

Hear Ben and Debbie talk about:

✝️ How Christmas Live has been going for over 30 years

✝️ Their chats with Revd Alison Cook - one of the main organisers

✝️ How it draws hundreds of people every year

✝️ The cast performing between different locations in one night

✝️ Meeting Jo Jo the donkey

➡️ sheffdio.org/podcast

This episode is composed of edited highlights of Christmas Live, and not the full evening.

Don't forget to catch Part 1 of our 2025 Christmas Special at All Saints Totley!

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Paul is joined by special guest host Becca as they visit the All Saints Totley Christmas Experience!

Paul and Becca talk through with Vicar Ben Tanner what the experience entails, what they think to it and why you should come along next year.

Join us next week for Part 2 of our Christmas Special, as we visit Christmas Live at Christ Church Stannington.

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‘I remember putting my hands up and I felt such an overwhelming presence - I can’t describe it’.

Toby Butler, Church Planting Support Lead for Faith in the North, is on the podcast today.

Toby shares stories on:

✝️ His background in church planting

✝️ Church leadership challenges

✝️ Faith in the North and working across the Northern Province

✝️ Being called to mission work within the UK

✝️ How his new church family has been a place of healing

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The Rt Revd Leah Vasey-Saunders, Bishop of Doncaster, is on the Words of Grace podcast today.

Bishop Leah talks about:

✝️ Growing up in a working-class family

✝️ Coming to faith at the age of 18

✝️ Her experiences of different theological traditions when training for ordination

✝️ Her passion for choral music

✝️ What drew her to the Diocese of Sheffield

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‘When I first heard about Jesus, it all made perfect sense’.

Julie Sandoval, Lay Reader at Tankersley, Thurgoland and Wortley, joins Paul and Ben on the podcast today.

Julie discusses:

✝️ Coming to faith as a teenager

✝️ Why church didn’t initially appeal to her

✝️ How she met her now husband Ricardo on a mission trip in Mexico

✝️ Loving the training process for lay ministry

✝️ Being licensed at the Celebration of Lay Ministries service in September

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Revd Canon Justin Dodd, Canon Missioner at Sheffield Cathedral, is on the Words of Grace podcast today.

Justin talks about:

✝️ His upbringing in Johannesburg

✝️ How the fight against apartheid informed his faith and ministry

✝️ His previous work in advertising and copywriting

✝️ His passion for mission

✝️ His calling to Cathedral ministry

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Tim Renshaw, CEO of The Archer Project, and the Dean of Sheffield Cathedral, the Very Revd Abi Thompson, join Ben and Paul for a Camino Pilgrimage Special.

Abi and Tim discuss:

✝️ Why you should take part

✝️ Abi’s previous experiences on the Camino

✝️ Helping The Archer Project’s outreach work

✝️ Walking 20km a day

✝️ Encountering God through people from all walks of life on the pilgrimage

Sheffield Cathedral, The Archer Project, and The Choir with No Name are coming together as Team Sheffield, raising vital funds for the work they do supporting people experiencing homelessness.

The deadline for booking onto the Camino Pilgrimage is the 28 November, and it will take place from the 14-20 March.

Sign up here: https://www.sheffieldcathedral.org/whats-on/2026/camino/fundraising/sheffieldcathedral

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Sian Checkley, Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor, and Claire Sayce, Safeguarding Training Officer, join Paul and Ben for a special Safeguarding episode.

Sian and Claire talk about:

✝️ Their roles in the Diocese

✝️ How they came to faith

✝️ Improvements made to safeguarding

✝️ Why it’s important to affirm the work of safeguarding officers

✝️ The upcoming Safeguarding Sunday (16 November)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Revd Tom Finnemore, Rector and Oversight Minister at St Thomas Crookes, joins Ben and Paul on the podcast today.

Tom talks about:

✝️ His working-class background and how it’s shaped him

✝️ Being given bad advice at school

✝️ How faith has transformed him

✝️ The importance of being authentic and speaking directly

✝️ Moving to Sheffield three times

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Lizzie Ilsley, Assistant Curate at Rotherham Minster, is on the podcast today.

Lizzie talks about:

✝️ Growing up in a mixed Catholic and Anglican household

✝️ Working as a Speech and Language Therapist for 20 years

✝️ Her experience of living with depression as a person of faith

✝️ Rotherham Minster’s welcome to the community

✝️ How a silent retreat helped to guide her path to ordination

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‘Jesus provides this hope. I realised there’s more to life than getting a degree, getting a job, getting married – I found that in the person of Jesus’.

Revd Jon Hidden, Oversight Minister and Priest in Charge of St Chad’s Woodseats and St Paul’s Norton Lees, is on the podcast today.

Jon discusses:

✝️ His family coming to faith at the same time

✝️ Working in banking after studying marine biology

✝️ When he first asked someone to pray for him

✝️ The warm welcome at Anston, Woodseats and Norton Lees

✝️ The three methods for making tea in Yorkshire

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Revd Vicky Camber, Priest in Charge at St Peter’s and St Paul’s Todwick, is today’s Words of Grace guest.

Vicky talks about:

✝️ Her faith evolving in her late twenties

✝️ The importance of conversations about Jesus

✝️ How she feels rooted here in the Diocese

✝️ Encouraging others in their faith

✝️ The communities in Laughton, Todwick and Ulley

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‘The fundamental reality of Christ is that he is there reaching out to us.’

John Davis, former Ministry Experience Scheme student in Sheffield, joins Paul and Ben via Zoom from his New Mexico home.

John talks about:

✝️ Generations of his family working on a ranch

✝️ Swapping the American West for Sheffield

✝️ What attracted him to the UK

✝️ His hopes for ordination

✝️ His placement at All Saints Ecclesall and the Derbyshire Rural Chaplaincy

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‘Every step I’ve taken, God has been incredibly faithful. I love doing all the work I’m doing and being able to speak about God all day.’

Revd Rachel Crossley, Curate at St Chad’s Woodseats and St Paul’s Norton Lees, is today’s guest on the podcast.

Rachel talks about:

✝️ Growing up in a Methodist household

✝️ Spending her childhood telling people she’d never become a minister

✝️ Receiving her calling to ordination during bereavement

✝️ Finding new ways to connect with God – particularly outdoors

✝️ Metal Methodist services and what they entail

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John Ray, author and former mountaineer and teacher, is on the Words of Grace podcast today.

John talks about:

✝️ Watching the Battle of Britain as a 12-year-old from a Surrey field

✝️ Working at Gordonstoun School

✝️ Being inspired by Lesslie Newbigin

✝️ Working in Pakistan for 25 years

✝️ Moving to Hook in his eighties for a new challenge

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Revd Canon Karen Cribb, Associate Vicar at St Mary’s Bramall Lane, is on the podcast today.

Karen discusses:

✝️ Growing up in North London

✝️ Being part of a brethren church background in her youth

✝️ Her passion for social activism

✝️ The diversity of the congregation at St Mary’s

✝️ Busting Self-Supporting Ministry myths

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‘It was my faith that saved me, and believing that God can – and will – restore.’

Faye Smith, pilgrim guide, speaker and writer, joins Paul and Ben on the podcast today.

Faye talks about:

✝️ Leading walking pilgrimages in Derbyshire

✝️ Losing her husband and daughter in the space of two years

✝️ Doing a 700km solo trek across two countries following a bad car accident

✝️ Finding fellowship with others to boost mental health – including former Diocese of Sheffield Vicar Fiona Kouble

✝️ The importance of not suppressing grief

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‘A tangible voice which I can only describe as the Holy Spirit said quite clearly, “I will never leave you. I will hold your hand and will take you where you need to go”’.

Revd Carol Rashid, Curate at St John’s Goole, is on the podcast today.

Carol talks about:

✝️ Coming to faith around the St Lawrence Hatfield church environment

✝️ Leaving an abusive relationship and finding God through difficult times

✝️ Her deep-rooted calling to serve others

✝️ How she felt presiding over her first communion

✝️ Her spiritual moment climbing to the top of Mount Sinai

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‘I got the confidence to talk about my faith after I came to the UK.’

Shumaya Stephen, member of the St James Doncaster congregation and Diocesan Synod, is on the podcast today.

Shumaya talks about:

✝️ Growing up in Lahore

✝️ The challenges she faced as part of a minority Christian group

✝️ Growing more confident in her faith

✝️ The importance of worshipping in Urdu at St James

✝️ The biggest cultural differences between Pakistan and England

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