Wear Your Faith Fortnight (WYFF) is a collaboration between the Diocese of Sheffield and Arise Sheffield, and it’s hoped Christians across South Yorkshire will wear a symbol of their faith in the weeks surrounding Halloween – to be Lights for Christ at a time of year which can feel particularly dark.
The campaign runs from 24th October to the 7th November.
The Lights for Christ team have partnered with Arise Sheffield to design and produce a limited number of free pin badges, which are available for free from churches across the Diocese.
Ben Woollard helps to lead the team at Arise Sheffield:
“Wear Your Faith Fortnight has come out of a desire to see festivals across the city re-centered on Jesus. It’s one of the invitations to people taking place over the Halloween period. We want to help followers of Jesus feel like they can be honest about who they are and who they follow.
“We live in a culture that longs for authenticity: Wear Your Faith Fortnight gives us permission to be authentic about our faith. Often, we can feel a bit pressured by culture to not mention our faith. I remember one of my first jobs when I was at university; I was talking to someone on my lunch break and they said ‘you’ll get along fine here, as long as you don’t talk about religion or politics.’ I replied saying it would be a problem as I was studying politics and had just started following Jesus!
“We want Christians to live their faith on the outside as well as the inside, and that’s why it’s been so natural to partner with Lights for Christ, because it’s about following a rule of life that helps us daily to orient ourselves towards Christ. Wear Your Faith Fortnight is just one of many ways that we can be like Christ over the Halloween period.”
You can get involved by wearing a symbol of your faith that is meaningful to you – this might be a piece of jewellery, a pin badge, an item of clothing with a hopeful message on it, or you might like to display a sticker on a water bottle, car or laptop.
People have already taken on board the message, with more than 3,000 badges being snapped up. Members of the clergy in the Diocese have also recorded video messages of what they’ll be wearing for WYFF and why.
Ben is hopeful this can lead to conversations with people who may not have otherwise asked questions:
“I often find that people are really curious about faith, but they really lack a context, a place to ask the questions and feel like they have permission to ask. Wearing a symbol of your faith not only gives you permission in our culture to represent who you follow, but it also acts as a green light for other people who are curious and searching to ask you.
“It’s no secret that British culture is geared towards being reserved and post-COVID I’d say that’s even more true. We’re even less likely to talk to people we don’t know, but something as small as a little symbol can be used by the Holy Spirit to give someone help to feel comfortable enough to approach you and ask you a question.
“My hope would be that the campaign will increase the individual confidence of the everyday believer in who they are in Jesus. We often hear stories of Christians who don’t know each other in the workplace. My prayer is that God would use this to create friendships and relationships where people who are searching meet people who are putting a green light on themselves.”
You can find more details on how to get involved here: https://www.lightsforchrist.uk/wyff