It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog as we’ve been so busy!
Our third commissioning service was held in Ventnor on June 3rd to celebrate the commissioning of 15 new Street Pastors, and the graduation of 15 street pastors who had completed a year’s service. There were also about 20 prayer pastors commissioned on that night too. It was a fantastic evening, and great to see the new recruits starting out on their exciting journey as Street Pastors on the Island.
We now have 52 street pastors from 28 different churches, and approximately 50 prayer pastors. This means we can now have a team out every Friday night in Newport and Ryde, and a team every fortnight in Ventnor, plus we have a team going out once a month on a Saturday night in various locations. This expansion means we will be helping a lot more people across the Island, and working in communities who haven’t benefitted from Street Pastors before. This is great news, and big thanks must go to all the dedicated volunteer Street Pastors and Prayer Pastors for all their hard work, as well as to our many funders. We are planning more expansion of Street Pastors just as soon as finances and supply of willing volunteers allow.
We also were on patrol for all 3 of the Isle of Wight Festival nights, the opening night of the Island games and Ryde regatta. We’ll also be out during Cowes week again this year.
If you are interested in becoming a Street Pastor, there will be another round of training early in 2012, and it’s certainly not too early to express your interest in joining us. We are also actively looking for more Prayer Pastors to support us. Just get in touch if you want to know more.
We also still need more support financially. Regular givers are crucial to keeping Isle of Wight Street Pastors going. If you can give each month you will help us get more Street Pastors out providing help and support to people where and when they need it. You can download a form to complete and return here.
