You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
24<br />
Faith on the Streets<br />
By Nicola Gray<br />
When people say, ‘charity begins at home’ they often<br />
mean that you should look after your own circle first<br />
and then extend your kindness to people in the wider<br />
community. This isn’t the case though for local charity,<br />
<strong>Wigan</strong> Street Pastors; their mission is to come to the<br />
rescue of vulnerable people on the streets of <strong>Wigan</strong> and<br />
in turn make their community safer.<br />
<strong>Wigan</strong> Street Pastors are led by a local coordinator and<br />
have support from local churches and community groups<br />
in partnership with the police, <strong>Wigan</strong> council and other<br />
statutory agencies. Street Pastors is basically the Church<br />
in action on the street, responding to a crisis. It is about<br />
volunteers rolling up their sleeves and getting involved<br />
in practically responding to the problems of crime and<br />
safety in their area.<br />
The overall mission is to provide a calming presence, a<br />
listening ear and practical help to vulnerable people in<br />
the night-time economy of <strong>Wigan</strong>, showing God’s love<br />
to anyone and everyone they meet. Being a street pastor<br />
can look like so many things, but what does this help look<br />
like in a practical sense?<br />
The volunteers often find themselves being a listening<br />
ear for someone who in that moment really needs it; or<br />
just providing some practical help by giving out water,<br />
flip flops, space blankets to help keep people warm and<br />
spikeys, which can be placed into bottles to help prevent<br />
drinks being spiked.<br />
The street<br />
pastors are<br />
often able<br />
to sign post<br />
people to<br />
services that<br />
can really help<br />
them; and other<br />
times they are<br />
just making<br />
sure that people<br />
get home safely.<br />
Ultimately their<br />
caring services<br />
are used as a tool that they use to be the hands and feet<br />
of Jesus; to show kindness and compassion and the love<br />
of God to everyone they meet.<br />
The <strong>Wigan</strong> faction is a growing team of volunteers from<br />
local churches, the group currently stands at 6 active<br />
members and is growing all the time. The team undertook<br />
their first patrol in November 2017, and they are still<br />
patrolling on Friday and Saturday nights four years later<br />
reach more and more people in a vulnerable position.<br />
Up until last year the team had been patrolling the town<br />
centre streets from 10.30pm to 4am and then COVID<br />
hit, and everything stopped. The pandemic obviously<br />
stopped teams from going out as we the nature of the<br />
role puts volunteers up close with the people they are<br />
trying to help, and they couldn’t put their volunteers at<br />
risk. The team were efficient when it came to re-training<br />
when restrictions were lifted, and they have been back<br />
out on the streets over the Christmas period.<br />
The charity largely runs on donations from the church<br />
and with services being stopped during lockdown, like<br />
many other organisations, they have felt a real financial<br />
hit, and any donations or financial support would be<br />
greatly appreciated.<br />
The aim for the future is to recruit and train more<br />
volunteers, requirements are simple, to be a Street Pastor,
Change language