We are constantly trying to reach out to our local community with the Good News about Jesus. Alpha has been the mainstay of our evangelism for many years. In addition, we deliver invitations to every home in our large community each Easter and Christmas, welcoming people to our services at these important times of the year.

Our children’s holiday club each summer is rapidly becoming a week of mission to the whole family, and God has been leading us to take a broader view of the family-wide possibilities that are now present at this time of the year.

An article from Dan Robertson

Me and Stef (my wife) were Street Pastors in Inverness before moving through to Aberdeen. Here's some info and thoughts and stories…

 

The official description of a Street Pastor (off the website) is…

 

" a Church leader/minister or member with a concern for society - in particular young people who feel themselves to be excluded and marginalised - and who is willing to engage people where they are, in terms of their thinking (i.e. their perspective of life) and location (i.e. where they hang out - be it on the streets, in the pubs and clubs or at parties etc).

Street Pastors will also be willing to work with fellow activists, church and community leaders, and with agencies and projects, both statutory and voluntary, to look at collaborative ways of working on issues affecting youth, and initiatives that will build trust between them and the Street Pastors.

As the Street Pastor gets to know people in the community he/she will find out their needs are and what can be done to help. A presence of Street Pastors will earn credibility in the community, so that people know that the Church is there for them in a practical way. The role is not about preaching heaven and hell, but one of listening, caring and helping - working in an unconditional way."

 

What about some biblical basis/insight for this?

 

Well - In the Book of Jeremiah God tells his people to move into and bless the city of Babylon (see chapter 29). It seems that some of the prophets and diviners have wrongly been telling God's people to be distinct and disconnected from the Babylonians. The reason - they didn't want to be 'contaminated'. God however wanted something different. He wanted his people to be distinct, involved and to take the initiative. He wanted his people to play an integral part within the community – not seeking its downfall and damnation but promoting peace and its well being.

 

God says, 5 "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

 

God's heart is for city folk (and country folk!) be it Babylonian or Aberdonian. He wants to bring peace and prosperity. He wants his people, his church(es) to love the city the way he does. He wants this love expressed. This does not mean condoning sin, neither does it simply mean being a commentator on morality - it means loving people and trusting that Jesus' kind of love effects change for the better.

 

Street Pastoring is a great way to express Jesus kind of love with actions and with words…

 

Like when…

 

...we lift a young man out of the gutter when he's blind drunk and has fallen in (kind of like the way God lifts us out of our sin).

 

…we give a space blanket to a girl who is wearing a short skirt and a wee top on a winter night, stuck outside a club waiting for her friend who is inside with her wallet, phone, money and house keys. Then we give her a phone to call her mum to pick her up. Then when she gets no answer we get her a taxi to a friend's house - because who knows what would happen if she walked. And then when she asks, bewildered and perplexed, tear in her eye why we're bothering with her, we get to tell her that God is bothered about her.

 

…we listen for an hour to a young man who pours out his heart, sharing his hurts and pains and dreams. During this he tells us he thinks Jesus was more likely a man and not God. To which I reply, "Why don't you ask him." He ends up going home with a Bible because he wants to read about this Jesus.  

 

…we give a woman flip flops because her feet are sore from wearing high heals all night. Then she says, "Ok – tell about this God stuff then," and I get to share the gospel. To which she says, "But dead men don't rise from the dead!" And I say, "That's kind of the point." To which she exclaims, "But that that would change everything!"

 

… I don't punch a young man in the face for asking my wife to have oral sex with him. And end up praying that he would know God's love and forgiveness (under the gentle guidance of both wife and the Holy Spirit!).

 

…we are able to set people up with the local experts when it comes to medical care, detox, counselling, housing and financial aid.

 

…one middle aged Street Pastor stops a fight outside the chippy by putting her best 'mum' voice on and asking the young men what exactly they thought they were doing.

Seeing all kinds of churches working together for the peace and prosperity of the city and praying for the immediate and ultimate wellbeing of the inhabitants is a great thing. 

 

For more details check out http://www.streetpastors.co.uk/.