News & Events

“Weirdly effective unworldiness”: The Spectator magazine on Street Pastors

Dec 7, 2015 | Interviews, Think about it

We think this fresh and insightful view of Street Pastors in The Spectator is worth sharing. The feature is a response to the announcement by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucester of a £40,000 grant to cover training and resources for local Street Pastors teams.

The reporter goes on to describe a fight calmed with a bag of chips by Stroud Street Pastors.

“The logic of it — overcoming street violence with chips — is typical of street pastors’ weirdly effective unworldliness. They start the evening with a Bible reading and prayer, and claim their work is only possible because others are praying for them. This spirituality makes itself felt not through any ostentatious zeal but rather, I sense, through a feeling that it is entirely natural to be out at 2 a.m. helping people get home.”

The magazine also captures street pastors in a satirical cartoon.

Spectator