KEEPING THE STREETS SAFE

Tessa McLeod tells us how she became involved in the Street Pastors Initiative in Kingston, Surrey.

This is a really wonderful initiative to help keep our streets safe and bring the love of God out of the church to the people outside. Street Pastors now operate in two thirds of London boroughs and up and down the country. Some work in town centres where there are night clubs and others patrol housing estates. I am a prayer pastor in Kingston where Street Pastors have been operating for the past 2-3 years.

How does it work? First of all there needs to be a central location, preferably a church, which can be used as the base for the night time activities. To be part of the programme you have to agree to commit to one night a month for two years. The idea is that a group of 4 fully trained street pastors will patrol the streets between 10pm and 4 am, while a minimum of two people (night prayer pastors) back them up in prayer and intercede as the Spirit leads. The night is divided into three and the street pastors come back to base every one and half to two hours. Here the prayer pastors bring them refreshments and everyone relaxes as the street pastors recount what has just happened on their walk. Before they go out on their next round, everyone prays together according to the needs that the outreach team have met on the previous round.

The team on the streets have seen fights stop within minutes, a suicide averted, girls rescued from illegal cabs and countless other people helped. We don’t intervene in fights but we can warn the police if a fight appears to be developing and we can pray against the situation or pray for calm. Sometimes the street pastors will simply wait with a person who has collapsed on the street, assessing whether or not an ambulance is needed and waiting perhaps for one to come if necessary. They also often hand out flip-flops to girls who have taken off their high heels and risk cutting their feet from broken glass, as they walk home bare foot. In winter we have also given out “space blankets” to people who have gone out partying in skimpy clothing and are freezing.

Although night prayer pastors don’t see so much action, our role is very necessary. If there isn’t a minimum of two people to pray at the base the street pastors cannot go out. No one likes the idea of giving up a night’s sleep – and at first the prospect of staying awake the whole night praying was pretty daunting. I remember my first night, I didn’t think I’d be able to stay up the whole night, but I thought I would stick it out as long as I could. But I found that the night flew by and I was wide awake and full of beans without a trace of tiredness. Every night that I’m on duty it has been like that except when I have been over-doing it during the week before. I think this is another of God’s gifts – we give a little and He gives a lot. I have come to realise that my little sacrifice of a night’s sleep is also a prayer as far as God is concerned.

This commitment has caused a breakthrough in my own personal prayer life too. I now try to offer lots of little sacrifices all through the day. Age is no barrier: The average age of both prayer and street pastors is 19-80 years old. Street pastors have to undergo 12 days of training before they can go out onto the streets. This takes place over 5 months on Saturdays. The training includes teaching from the police and social services as well as local Christians offering street wise insights into practical evangelisation and such things as how to deal with drug addicts and what to do with guns etc which might be handed in and what to avoid. The training is very thorough, very practical and very safe.

As well as feeling I am helping to make a difference to the community, participating in Street Pastors has helped me meet lots of Christians from other denominations and we have great conversations about our faith and the different ways we do things. Christian Unity week doesn’t provide nearly such a good opportunity to talk to people. I would urge others to consider getting involved. Things are getting worse and worse in many of our towns and many areas are becoming no go areas. We can either turn a blind eye or get involved. Ordinary people did extraordinary things during the Second World War, because it was the war and they realised they were needed. We are in a spiritual war for the minds and hearts of our young people and we are all needed, so please consider it!

Street Pastors, Ascension Trust, PO Box 3916, London SE19 1QE. Ph: 0207 771 9770

DO YOU HAVE ANY NEWS TO SHARE? LET US KNOW. Write to: Goodnews Allen Hall, 28 Beaufort Street, London SW3 5AA