Hello! I’m Nicola, and I’ve been a Street Pastor in Chester for six years now. I’d like to tell you how we spend a typical night.

We meet together in Festival Church at 9.30pm – there are usually 3 or 4 or us. We’ll chat over a coffee whilst checking through the contents of our ruck-sacks – we have a checklist to make sure we’re fully stocked. We carry such diverse things as flip flops, a charging power-bank, lollipops, first-aid kit, lighters, safety-pins, woolly hats and gloves, sick-bags, foil-blankets etc. Oh and a dustpan and brush! We’ll then have a short briefing where any news or update is shared, followed by a short time of prayer for ourselves and any needs we bring with us, and particularly that God will be present in the city and for wisdom for us as we seek to share something of God’s love and help to the people we’ll meet. Some of us are happy to pray out loud, others prefer just to pray in the quiet of their own hearts. That’s all fine.

We aim to set off as soon after 10pm as we can on patrol – we “check-in” with the city’s radio, linked to the staff who constantly monitor the city’s CCTV cameras, and shared with door staff, police etc… They like to know who many we are – we never patrol alone, so if there are only three of us then we’ll stay together as a three-some, but if there are four of us then we then split into two sub-teams.

We then walk around town, available to chat to people out for the night in Chester, door staff, rough sleepers, police, etc. The Street Pastor uniform leads us into conversations we wouldn’t normally have! Some are short – greeting us – asking us for directions – thanking us for what we do – “You saved my life last year!” – maybe a hug or two and a selfie… others can be longer, sometimes much longer fuelled by alcohol, and hard to get away from! Rough sleepers often appreciate a friendly chat with us – we encourage them to try to access the help that is available, if they’re ready. We are often asked what we do and why, giving us opportunities to gently share our faith – we never preach but in response to questions we can share something of God’s love for us and all people. It is positive that we come from quite a mix of Christian traditions – Baptist, Free-church, Pentecostal, Catholic, Church of England… Sometimes people will be very happy for us to pray for them, either out-loud there and then, or later.

We never quite know what we’ll need to do on any given night. Sometimes we are just present to chat and be available – Friday evenings are often quiet. Other times, especially on Saturday nights,  we can be extremely busy. Flip-flops to women walking bare-foot due to high heels and painful feet (avoids risk of broken glass getting in their feet, saving A&E visits); bushing up broken glass (protecting feet, again!); picking up abandoned bottles (potential weapons); referring people to other services (a bed for eligible homeless people, for example); dealing with vulnerable people… We have the time to hang around and listen to people’s stories and offer support.

The CCTV team might call us on our radio to give assistance – perhaps to a a lone female who is very drunk and struggling to get herself safely home – at risk from unwanted attention, with the risks that entails. We try to find out who she is, reunite her with friends, support her as she sobers up, ready to then get a taxi or lift home. It is satisfying to see a happy resolution. We also appreciate good friends who are loyally supporting a drunk friends – we offer them encouragement and a sick bag/hair-bobble. If necessary we ask for help from Safe Space (Saturday nights – emergency medical assistance and support – they’re a great addition to the town centre) or the police or ambulance services, but the help we give can often free-up the emergency services by managing the situation ourselves. We do receive training on first aid, how to be safe on the streets, etc, but we will always call for help if we feel we need it. It’s always good to be wary if people might have taken drugs, but I have always felt safe on the streets. Keeping our teams safe and comfortable and looking out for each other is our top priority. We are not there to break up fights! Instead we stand back and might quietly pray and report things on the CCTV radio, letting the police respond.

We meet up as our two sub-teams regularly through the night, or we might patrol close together on opposite sides of the roads. I really enjoy talking with other Street Pastors during the night – we make new friendship or renew old ones with Christians from other churches. We always have a break – either at Festival Church or at Night Church if this is open (definitely worth a visit!). We can choose from a good selection of hot drinks or soup, as well as yummy biscuits! And at the end we pray briefly and check that everyone is happy with what we’ve seen and been involved with, before heading home at around 3am, or sometimes earlier if it’s been quiet.

It is a real privilege to be part of the wider network of people looking to bring peace and keep people on the streets of Chester safe – we enjoy mutual collaboration and support with police, door-staff etc. Our contribution is warmly appreciated by many senior people on the council, police, pub-watch etc. It’s great that we can be hands and feet representing Jesus as part of a national – and indeed international – family of Street Pastors. And each night is a slightly different experience!

Do get in touch with us if you’d like to come out as an observer if you think you might like to become a Street Pastor. We have a certain amount of training to do, plus one patrol per month, but I’ve found this to fit very well with my other home/work/family/church responsibilities.