Gloucester Street Pastors go out in the evenings to live God’s love on Saturday nights. They are there to help people in trouble, to listen and to be a friendly face – the sort of person that you would love to be there to look out for your own son or daughter on a night out or if they were in need.

What did Street Pastors do over the last year?

1,277 volunteer hours on the streets, friendliness and friendship offered, a listening ear, a word of witness to a loving Lord, prayer for people and with people. Vulnerable people were helped, aggressive situations defused. 1,638 bottles and broken glass cleared away, 344 flipflops given out and 433 bottles of water. Thanks received from all sectors – clubbers, mothers, homeless and street people, door staff, nightclub managers, police.

Extracts from Saturday night reports

‘We prayed for a young man who was feeling down and lonely. He said he felt encouraged… A quiet night – thanks and hugs… The police asked us to assist a girl found collapsed outside GL1… CCTV asked us to help a drunk man outside the registry… We came across several people incapacitated by drink and being helped by a friend… Talked with someone who was suicidal – talked and prayed and got him to speak to Samaritans…  Listened to the life story of a recently homeless man and prayed with him… Called by CCTV to a girl in distress and suicidal. We monitored her being escorted by her sister and a friend… We attended to a lad outside ATIK who was drunk. We gave him water and stayed with him until his mates came to escort him… We minded an intoxicated girl whilst her boyfriend arranged a taxi… A lady offered to take home a drunken girl whom she didn’t know because we had helped her own daughter a few weeks before…

 Why do the volunteers do it?

Jan says – ‘For me, I’d say it’s to give something back – my daughters and son have all been in ‘situations’ but there have been good people there to help them and I love being able to do that for another parent. It’s being able to give comfort and dignity and reassurance when people are frightened, confused and alone’.

Diana says ‘It’s working in a team, a practical expression of my faith, being hugged and thanked….’

Ben says ‘I love that Street Pastors brings people together from all kinds of different churches and backgrounds. We get so much love and positivity from the people we meet, and I think that the work that we do really changes a lot of people’s perceptions of what Christians are like’.

From someone we helped

‘Thank you! I couldn’t thank you enough when you helped me! You made me feel like no matter what mistake I made, no matter how stupid, I am human….’

Would you like to help?

We would love to have some more people working with us as Street Pastors. If you would like to know more, read about us at https://streetpastors.org/locations/gloucester.

If you would like to come out for an observer session with us, please email Sue at streetpastorsgloucester@gmail.com