| Fact File | Each street pastors team is made up of volunteers from local churches. Each volunteer applicant must attend the Street Pastors Training Course run across 12 Saturdays over a period of 7 months. After attending the first introductory part of the course Street Pastors will be grouped for weekend work, Friday or Saturday nights, 10pm – 4am each night. Street Pastors work in teams of 12, divided into 3 groups of 4. Each Street Pastors group of 4 will be expected to work from 10am – 4pm once a month. |
| "Street Pastors go out onto the streets between 10pm at night and 4am in the morning and the idea is to be a Christian presence out on the street..." | | Jim Overton |
Lacking cash could mean that you have to beat the streets from one bar to the next, open to the hungry fall out crowds spilling over from late night drinking session… or may be you just can't get in to anywhere at all. Whatever, the streets of Cambridge late at night can be a harsh and hostile environment with dim lights, bright knives and cold shoulders all around. Well, as BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Sunday Morning Presenter, Catherine Carr, discovered, help is at hand. A new scheme will soon see Christians from Cambridge's churches leaving the comfort of their pews for the hard night streets. They are called the 'Street Pastors' which is part of a nationwide initiative. Catherine spoke to Jim Overton who's working for the organization, Youth for Christ, who'll be co-ordinating the Cambridge team of Street Pastors along with James Darn, one of the volunteers. Jim explained that the Church can have a huge impact on its immediate community and that a group recognized this power in Brixton, where the scheme first kicked off; "The Church is an amazing organization where we have the same motivation. We want to make a difference and we want to serve and we can have a positive influence out there. Street Pastors go out onto the streets between 10pm at night and 4am in the morning and the idea is to be a Christian presence out on the street where things are happening. There's trouble on the streets and people get a bad reputation for what goes on in those hours of the night and we want to be a positive presence out there, making a difference on behalf of the Church." And they're hoping to do this hand in glove with the support of the council and the police so that it's effective team-working that helps reduce the levels of crime on the streets whilst offering people a friendly face in what can be a very hostile environment. Also, as James explained, it's really helping bridge the gulf between the two alienated cultures of Church and street. "It's something that I was really enthusiastic about just because there was so much trouble in the town and I spent a bit of time thinking about the relationship between Church and between the streets and young adults. Being a young adult myself, I noticed that there was a massive gulf and no real way of being able to interact between the two cultures." So, joining the Street Pastors and helping to bridge the gap between the two camps was a natural step for James, where it's not taking the Church out on to the streets to preach and pray, rather it's going out in the name of the Church to reach out to those who need it. And, with the logo 'Street Pastors' emblazoned on the back of their jackets, there should be no problem in identifying those on a mission to offer a warm welcome on a cold night. To find out more about getting involved contact the YFC office on 01223 727452 or e-mail cambridgeyfc@yahoo.co.uk. | 
