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12th November 2010 Commissioning Service and feedback from the streets!!! ASHFORD STREET PASTORSTeam members: Eric Cooney, Anne Crosby, Gareth Davies, Sarah Davies, Tricia Fraser, Terry Golding, Julian Guy, Trevor James, Dave Miller, Pam Millington, Tom Pelham, Rob Saunders, Lesley Stacey, Anwar & Hannah Bourazza (Ascension Trust reps) Prayer Team: Peter Crosby, Louise Mitchell, Rosie Farley, Jan Rowland, Mary Miller, Karen Last Friday evening saw the end of the beginning for Ashford Street Pastors! Over two years in-the-making, with much thought and preparation, our team of Street Pastors and Prayer Pastors was commissioned and to go and serve the people of Ashford in the wee small hours! There was great encouragement from many local churches, from our partners in council, police and other agencies and not least from County Square shopping centre and Costa Coffee! We were very grateful to be led by Anwar Bourazza from the Ascension Trust who reminded us that the core of our motivation (as Christians, not just Street Pastors) is the love that God has first shown to us, and which we now seek to share with each person we encounter. Shortly afterwards, the team departed from base for a brief introductory duty out in the town. Being early on in the night, the majority of our time was spent conversing with folks out on the streets, introducing ourselves to door staff, taxi drivers and restaurant owners, and answering the perfect starter for ten; "So what is a Street Pastor then??" And whilst Ashford wasn't especially busy so early on, there were a number of excellent conversations, and not just with those who promised discounts on fast food! We were also able to offer some practical assistance to a group of young women who had been followed into town by a man. The team was able to talk with the group, then see them on their way again and observe the stranger to make a break between him and the girls. It was an inspiring and motivating evening and we look forward to getting to know and serve the people of Ashford in the coming weeks. We are due to have teams out on Friday 3rd December and Friday 17th December and possibly other dates in the month depending on availability and our partners' input on the busy Christmas period. Thereafter, teams will be out twice each month; that is until we recruit some more Street Pastors and Prayer Pastors. Ends The Background We have been looking into the scheme in Ashford since the autumn of 2008 when different churches began to raise with each other the needs of the town and especially young people. Since that point, things have proceeded as follows...
The participating churches are as follows... |