If you look on our Upton Vale
Baptist Church Facebook page you’ll read this amazingly encouraging comment, ‘Thank you for being there on the street and
for your prayers. The Lord placed you there in my hour of need’.
Street team stories need to be told and this blog space is a
great opportunity to tell you all what happened last time the team went out.
We’d only just set up the gazebo and started to serve the
hot drinks when two police officers turned up to see us. I don’t know why I always feel slightly
apprehensive when being approached by officers of the law, it probably stems
from my early teens when my police encounters weren’t always too friendly. We always make sure we have informed the
right departments and obtained the right permissions for all our outreach
events so I really shouldn’t have been too worried.
One of the team quickly offered the officers a free drink
and cake but was told, ‘I don’t want a free drink but I need a free hug – it’s
just been one of those weekends’. So she got a hug (I should point out from a
female team member) then both officers stayed to chat for a long time. They
were telling us that they have been so impressed by the impact and integrity of
Street Pastors and the difference it has made to how the police see Christians
and churches in general.
While this was going on a couple stopped off at the gazebo
for some prayer. They had just come out of a challenging church service (in a
good way) and were thinking through what God might be saying to them. They’d
been wondering what to do next then saw our ‘Free prayer’ signs so came and
asked for prayer.
While this was going on another woman approached the gazebo
gratefully drinking her hot chocolate. Her story was very interesting. She’d
actually been praying earlier that morning that she might meet someone to talk
about God with but didn’t want to go to a church. She had then gone shopping and forgotten
about it until she was offered a free drink. So a couple of the team talked and prayed with
her.
This particular Sunday we’d gone out later than usual and
all this happened in under an hour! Imagine what might have happened if we’d
left earlier and stayed out for longer?
Street teams have been in action for nearly a year and I
continue to be amazed at how God uses the team to connect with so many people-
people who often wouldn’t dream of stepping into a regular Sunday church
service.
Prayer support is crucial for the street team; we need to
have people committed to praying for the team while they are active talking and
praying with people on the street. The
great thing about prayer is you can do it while walking home, cooking your
Sunday lunch or using the prayer room available in the church building.
The
team go out again this Sunday (25th November); please will you
consider being part of the prayer support team this weekend?