‘We celebrated 80 baptisms - it’s an answer to united prayer’

You may know Rotherham as a small ex-mining community in the heart of South Yorkshire. Or maybe you are familiar with the stories of grooming gangs, child sexual exploitation, racial tension and riots. 

But perhaps you’re not aware of better news: in Rotherham, and across South Yorkshire, God is at work - as he is across the whole of our nation.

God’s light always shines the brightest in the darkest of places. Within a mile of the infamous hotel that once hosted asylum seekers and was the focus of racial hatred is the beautiful Manvers Lake. As the senior leader of Liberty Church in Rotherham, we had a vision to plant a church in every postcode area of the town. Our fourth plant was established in the boathouse at Manvers Lake in 2024, and our location pastor, Michael Olofin, began to dream of seeing a public baptism in it’s waters.

Living waters

The lake itself was created in 1997, in the location of an old coal mine, and last year I had the privilege of meeting an old Christian miner who had prayed for his colleagues, and for the location; for a mighty move of God in the area. There was a prophecy spoken many years ago that said: “God will set on fire the communities that once mined coal” - and we believe the fires are truly being kindled.

Just 25 miles from Manvers Lake is the river Trent, where we find the old river ford at Littleborough. In 628AD, St Paulinus was sent to re-evangelise the English. After a hugely successful mission, he took his new converts to the river Trent and there, in the presence of King Edwin, he held a mass baptism. In fact, mass baptisms across the North of England feature prominently in the historical writings of the Venerable Bede.

We have believed and prayed for many years that what the Lord did then, he will do again - that the rivers and lakes of this nation will once again host mass, public baptisms. 

Unity

A number of local churches started to meet together once a month for fellowship, friendship and prayer - and together they began to believe and plan for a united public baptism. In 2025, we saw 55 people come forward and be baptised. This included eleven first time commitments on the day, six of whom were also baptised there and then.

This year, we saw 80 people go through the waters of baptism. 20 local churches, from a wide variety of denominations and cultural and national backgrounds, took part and many others came along to support and join in the celebrations. The event really reflected the beautiful diversity of the Church in South Yorkshire, with worship teams from Asian, African, Caribbean, Eastern European, British and multicultural churches.

Manvers Lake is a very popular place for a Sunday afternoon stroll, and we saw over 2,000 people in and around the event, enjoying the free BBQ, youth and children’s activities and clear blue skies. The prayer tent was very busy with people giving their lives to Jesus, recommitting themselves to Him and receiving prayer for healing and restoration.

Revival is coming

Psalm 133 speaks of how unity among believers is a catalyst to seeing the blessing of God break out on our community. We believe that revival fires are burning, many churches are growing and the days are coming when the hills and valleys of Yorkshire will echo again with praise of Jesus, making his name famous throughout the land.

We have believed and prayed for many years that the rivers and lakes of this nation will once again host mass baptisms 

Someone once said that a rising tides lifts all boats. It is not our heart that one church will grow at the expense of others, but that each and every church will grow and flourish as the spiritual tide turns in our nation.

The message translation of Matthew 5 says: “You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.”

If ever there was a time for the church to stop hiding and start going public on this, it is now!