The Bishop of Dunwich, Mike Harrison, has become an unlikely TikTok star after appearing on the video-sharing platform in a bid to raise money for this year's Christian Aid Week.
The Bishop has created a fair bit of buzz after tweeting out videos of himself dancing (and swapping clothes) with his teenage daughter.
His daughter posted the video on her TikTok account, alongside two others of her Dad dancing. The #fliptheswitch challenge is a trend on Tiktok in which people film themselves in their own clothes and then cut the video to immediately show them in each others' outfits - meaning she was in his roman purple bishop's shirt with a cross on a chain and he was in a skirt.
The original video has got 1.927 views and another 16,000 from the Bishop's reposting of it on Twitter.
The reaction has been very positive. "This is brilliant," one person replied on Twitter. "This is GLORIOUS!! Solid gold!!" another added.
Bishop Mike said: “I’d been watching my teenage children dancing all the time, and we decided it would be fun to do – and hopefully put a smile of people’s faces during this time.
“My friends and family have loved it – some have said it’s made them happier than any other tweet they’ve seen - I’m bowled over by the reactions.”
This year's Christian Aid Week is raising money for poor communities around the world who will be significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Bishop Mike added: “We have been long-time supporters of Christian Aid having seen at first hand some of the superb projects they are involved in worldwide, whether in health care, vocational training, microenterprises enabling people to make a living or crisis intervention.
“Christian Aid enable the poorest of the poor to stand on their own feet and realise the dignity and respect due to all human beings - generosity focused in such an outward-looking and compassionate way is great for the projects and a blessing to those caught up in being generous and compassionate.”
Christian Aid’s Head of Community Fundraising and Public Engagement, Chine McDonald, said: “Christian Aid Week cannot be a community celebration in the usual sense, where people come together for sales and Big Brekkies and special services and such like. But Bishop Mike shows us how community can still thrive in different ways.”
