On Facebook and Twitter you’ve asked your burning questions and here Les gives his answers to the best of the bunch.
If you could start Street Pastors all over again, what one thing would you do differently?
I would try to recruit more young people. Young people are full of creativity and vision. Not enough time is spent tapping into the energy and resources of our younger generation.
Is there any possibility of inter-faith Street Pastors?
It’s complex. We do a lot with other faith groups in community partnership. I believe that every faith has a distinctiveness that is unique and cannot be diluted and we are committed to dialogue and partnership. What makes a Christian volunteer to be a street pastor? It is part of our DNA as a Christian to love our neighbour as ourselves and obey the command to look after the poor, weak and vulnerable in our society.
I love being a street pastor but would love the clothes to be better fitting for us ladies – any chance?
We know we have got some improvements to make in the uniform department, and we’re working on it. Change is on the way.
Street Pastors are desperately needed to ‘patrol’ large social housing developments (during the day and/or the night) and to build relationships with third sector housing organisations. Is this happening anywhere or is it planned?
We do encourage Street Pastors teams to be flexible and work day or night, in partnership with local police and council, in response to local needs. The bottom line is that it’s all about availability and resources – whether there are enough volunteers to get a team together. There is flexibility within the scope of Street Pastors for this to happen.