Feedback from Bristol Street Pastors Open Forum

See below a summary of the meeting which took place on Saturday, 21st January.

The meeting was very positive and I'm very much indebted to 

• all at Victoria Methodist who helped to host the evening and provide refreshments
• Dorrel for sensitive worship leading
• the Street and Prayer Pastors who came from Kingswood, Weston-Super-Mare and Chepstow to help out
• everyone who signed up for anything

There is clearly sufficient interest to take things forward; therefore the next steps will be

• forming a committee - if you're interested in being on the committee, and haven't received a 'Bristol Street Pastors Committee' email by the end of the week, please email me back to ask
• arranging for the Ascension Trust to visit and meet with Church leaders in Bristol, and the committee signing the 'License Agreement'
• Formal Launch of the Project
• Start of Training

As you can see, it will be a while before training can start, so in the meantime, can I ask you all to do some of the following

• pray (primarily wisdom for organising committee)
• keep an eye out for news on Bristol Networks ( http://www.bristolnetworks.org.uk/ ) and facebook group Street Pastors for Bristol ( http://www.facebook.com/groups/127937480648725/ )
• Ask your church to give a 10 minute slot to explain the vision of Street Pastors. If you have the technology, show a video (you can use the following software  http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/products/dvd/Free-YouTube-Download.htm to download Street Pastors videos from YouTube). If you'd like a real live Street Pastor to come, email me and I'll see if I can supply one!
• Tell your friends that Street Pastors is coming to Bristol, and to contact  streetpastorsforbristol@gmail.com for more info
• Spend next Saturday at the NightLIFE day conference in Kingswood ( http://www.bristolnetworks.org.uk/Articles/293668/Home/Action_Zones/Politics_and_Social/Features/Street_Pastors.aspx )
• ask to go out as an Observer with a neighbouring Street Pastors group one night (email any of westonsupermare, chippingsodbury, bath, kinsgwood, chepstow, chippenham, cheltenham, trowbridge, newport, gloucester @streetpastors.org.uk)
• contact the police and ask to observe them: http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/LocalPages/RAS/
• find out more about Street Pastors on their website (  http://www.streetpastors.co.uk/ )
• Buy Les Isaac's 'Street Pastors' book (  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Pastors-Isaac/dp/1842914197/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317659575&sr=8-1 )
• Watch Street Pastors videos on YouTube

Street Pastors Open Forum Meeting Saturday 21^st January 2012

Rev David Hart of Victoria Methodist Church welcomed a room full of people and opened in prayer.

Dorrel Feruguson led us in a time of worship, then Mike Pout introduced himself and a DVD describing the Street Pastor ministry was shown.

Rev Andy Mason gave a short talk covering what it means to be a SP.

Points that came out of this were:

-this is an opportunity for churches in the City to work in unity and put a human face on the face of the church through care, compassion and listening to the hurting and broken.

-this is an opportunity to share the love of Jesus to those who may never otherwise come across any Christians.

Questions posed at this point were around how long it takes to set up a Street Pastors group- it took around a year in Salisbury but longer for Kingswood.  Emphasis on how the Ascension Trust aim to do things properly such that S.P. groups have real credibility with the Home Office, the Police and the community.  Prayer and Prayer Pastors vital for this all to work.

Training involves 12 days spread out over weeks and is comprehensive, necessary and professional.

Split up into seven groups with a Street Pastor assigned to each: answering basic questions

1-     Who are you and why are you here

2-     How do you see yourself being involved in Street Pastors?

3-     Any other questions

The meeting finished with a few more general queries and a time of prayer and worship.