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Matt Woodcock, Church of England Pioneer Minister and Mission Supporter in the Diocese of York:

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Well, Chris, I don’t know about you, but the most common piece of advice people give me is to ‘just be yourself’. Ironically, the second most common is ‘calm down’.Ìý I fear the two might be linked. The point is, I’ve come to see what a special gift it is to consistently be who we are.

Too often in my life I’ve wasted precious time and energy trying to be someone else. Speaking at a clergy conference recently, this was brought into sharp focus. Bounding onto the podium like an excitable labrador, I became painfully aware that my deafening, exuberant style was a bit grating for some. Introducing myself as the ‘Archbishop of Banterbury’ perhaps didn’t help.

I ploughed on, though - relieved to eventually pass the microphone to the next speaker. Talk about a crunching gear change. Sounding like a character from Downton Abbey, my colleague was articulate and refined. Spoke with quiet authority, depth and brevity. He held the room.Ìý Well, I was mesmerised.

Convinced that this was the way to do it properly I left the venue determined that I would strive to be more like this speaker in future. I’d slow down, pipe down and keep stiller. I’ve got previous for this. I spent years at school trying to mimic my classmate, Nicky. A golden-haired Hercules among spotty teenage boys. Unstoppable at footy, handsome and relentlessly pursued for bike shed romances, he was everything I wanted to be.Ìý Of course I never came close. None of us did.

Looking back, I wish I’d spent a bit more time working out who I was. I’d have saved a fortune in hair gel.Ìý Nicky’s middle parting was a nightmare to copy.Ìý Interestingly, since then, the people who most inspire me are never less than themselves.Ìý Even when that makes them seem far from Herculean at times. As a Christian, my faith compels me to draw from the goodness, and gifts of others - but not at the expense of losing my own identity.

‘Don’t compare yourself with others,’ St Paul writes.Ìý ‘Take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.’Ìý So for me, Chris, that means not being afraid of speaking with my own voice - however grating for some. But perhaps with a bit less volume

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