Pastors on the streets

News Archive > General > Pastors on the streets

28/04/2010

STREET PASTORS headed out into St Austell for the first time on Saturday night, with the aim of being a calming influence on the streets.
The 13 pastors attended a special ceremony at the St Austell Baptist Church to receive their uniforms before taking to the streets.
The Christian Initiative involves Church members and leaders, and the pastors will work collaboratively with the Police and the local authority, going into the town on a Friday night fortnightly between 10pm and about 3pm.
They will give a listening ear to the lonely, frightened, intoxicated, vulnerable and intimidated and will offer genuine, non-judgemental support to anyone who requests it help.
Project Co-ordinator Debbie Stephens said: "I am pleased that it is finally ready and with how it is going, we just need more people. I think we will be a reassurance, and it will be a positive influence and have a positive impact on the streets.

"We had a wander around town, we spoke to a few people. Everybody was really friendly, a few people wanted to know what we were about and what we were doing. We didn’t experience any negativity."
The support they provide may be practical, such as giving free flip flops to those walking in bare feet, providing space blankets to keep people warm, or ringing a person's home for assistance.
The dedicated team will also pick up glasses, bottles, broken umbrellas and any other items that could be used as weapons in fights or trodden on by bare feet.
While on the streets, the pastors will be backed by a prayer team, connected to the Street Team through mobile phones and two-way radios.
Stuart Clarke, the Plymouth Street Pastors co-ordinator and Ascension trust representative, gave a presentation at the ceremony and commissioned the group as Street Pastors. He said: "We get asked whether we are ‘street pasties’ by people who have had a little too much drink, and they misread the signs on our shirts. We have great fun biting out lips and pretending we haven’t heard it before. And when they ask what we are, we say we are street carers, that’s what we are.”
Inspector Stuart Gibbons said: "I think it will be positive in that it will free up officers’ time on the streets and it is positive for the people they are dealing with."