Secret weapon behind Street Pastor success
 They are the secret weapon behind the success of Street Pastors on the streets of Norwich and other areas of Norfolk. While the pastors walk the streets, a team of intercessors are quietly praying in the background. Co-ordinator Val Chipperfield reports.
The story in Exodus 17:8ff about Joshua and his army fighting the Amalekites in the valley, and Moses praying on the top of the hill is a very good example of what the Norwich Street Pastors see happening every weekend in pub and clubland areas of our lovely city.
Joshua and his men were winning when Moses continued to pray. When his arms got weary, from holding them heavenwards, Aaron and Hur sat him on a large stone and held his arms up for him and stayed that way till the battle was definitely won.
A team of eight people gather every Friday and Saturday night, from 9.30 pm. to 3.30 am. Four of them are Street Pastors who street walk our city on behalf of the lonely and homeless, to befriend and show care where we are able - Joshua and his army, if you like. The other four are a vital part of the 'out' team but they stay indoors and prayer cover every need the pastors come across, mobile phoned in, and we call these the Street Pastor intercessors - ie Moses, Aaron and Hur. Now you get the picture.
To be fair, we don't see an immediate answer to every prayer, but every duty night we do see many of our prayers being answered, some almost immediately”.
Some of the victories we've seen:-
- Domestics, despite inebriation, can be almost immediately resolved.
- Other potential fisticuff situations, often one of the 'fighters' just turns and walks away.
- Sad, lonely people, not always only the youth, who are out to try and drown their sorrows, are amazed to find that there are those who care enough to spend time to talk with them.
- At least one attempted river suicide has been prevented.
- Menacing atmospheres where to be in the middle of a crowd can be terrifying, can literally be dissipated and the pastors, as well as everyone else, can walk safely right through it all.
- One slight youth, covered in alcohol bravado, wanted to fight the world, and chose some maturer more sizable characters to challenge. Instead of them quietly making him mincemeat, one offered the youth to share his pizza, and then sat on a seat together as though the best of buddies. How wonderful was that?
We hope your appetite is whetted enough to want to join us. We'd love to talk more with you,
either to a group meeting, or one to one. Transport home early in the morning is never a problem, we always care for our teams in covering that need, and duty nights can be every 6/8 weeks, but this can be negotiable.
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