{"id":30082,"date":"2014-04-08T15:52:10","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T07:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/?p=30082"},"modified":"2022-02-22T16:41:01","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T08:41:01","slug":"gods-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/gods-streets\/","title":{"rendered":"God’s Streets"},"content":{"rendered":"

8 April 2014 by Donna Uning CM – <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Working the streets on Friday and Saturday nights from 10 pm to 4 am braving the cold, meeting strangers and picking up the fallen are nothing new for street pastors Jane and David from South London, England.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the fourth visit for Ps Jane; and the husband and wife team speak about their ministry while traveling here in Kuching with friends a few days ago.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe work under the umbrella of Ascension Trust, which is a movement of a Christian organization in England,\u201d she explained.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe go out in teams of four walking the main high streets, clubs, pubs, eating places,\u201d she continued, saying they show love to the people who needs it in a practical way. Their teams stay in one area of England. There are currently 250 teams in the United Kingdom and some 9000 trained volunteers.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe wear special uniforms with the words \u2018Street Pastors\u2019 on it; and is part of a corporate uniform with street pastors,\u201d said Ps David. \u201cWe show practical Christian love to the people on the streets.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cMany people don\u2019t go to church or know God,\u201d added Ps Jane but, \u201cwe show love and care and many need help in various ways.\u201d She told how people can be vulnerable, especially the ladies; some need people to talk to, get help getting taxis, or just have someone to listen.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when they start asking why we do what we do; we tell them because of our love of God and that\u2019s when they start asking about faith,\u201d she told. The team would answer their questions and were often asked to pray for them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t discuss spiritual things and we don\u2019t force,\u201d she said they would talk about God only when asked. \u201cSome people wait for us to come (to their areas); often they ask us to pray for them or they have questions or just simply talk about their problems.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe people know they can trust us,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"IMG_6827_c_Z\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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The teams are equipped with information on centers, organizations, and hospitals. The street pastors are linked to some of the hotels and pubs; and they work in conjunction with the police. The teams have been working in the area for about five years and they have built up good relationships with the door staff and management of the establishments.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe work within a community of different denominations,\u201d she said telling they are mostly volunteers of committed Christians. \u201cWe make people feel comfortable and they can trust us with confidence; we are a safe place to share and keep things confidential,\u201d she continued.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While they roam the streets, a team of prayer pastors are praying at their base. \u201cThey are others who pray for us at home throughout the night and most of them are elderly people,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"MLP_8851\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe do come back to re-stock and to get out of the cold,\u201d she told, explaining about the rucksacks they carry with them on their runs. \u201cWe carry provisions such as water bottles, first aid, silver thermal cover, flip flops and other essentials.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is to show practical love of God and not to convert them. People respond to the love, they share and know we\u2019re non-judgmental,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t condemn and we administer to all nationalities.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The couple gets invited to meetings all over to share their experiences, train, and build relationships and connections for the Lord. They speak at churches, home groups and \u201csee how God leads.\u201d In Kuching, the pastors gathered with other Christians at Kg Rituh and Annah Rais hot spring, outside of Kuching.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Share<\/a><\/p>\n

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References for pictures<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/preston.streetpastors.org.uk\/wp-content\/Cimy_Header_Images\/0\/lep-news-street-pastor-11-resized.jpg<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.streetpastors.co.uk\/Portals\/0\/Street%20Pastors\/AT%20New%20logo.jpg<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/ormskirk.streetpastors.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/cropped-header3.jpg<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.stjames-church-bishops-stortford.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/IMG_6827_c_Z.jpg<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/liverpoolcity.streetpastors.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/MLP_8851.jpg<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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8 April 2014 by Donna Uning CM –   Working the streets on Friday and Saturday nights from 10 pm to 4 am braving the cold, meeting strangers and picking up the fallen are nothing […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4932,634,293,1010,923,912,204,538,297,1485,124,290,44,4934,4933],"class_list":{"0":"post-30082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-ascension-trust","9":"tag-changing-the-world-family-by-family","10":"tag-christian","11":"tag-christian-fellowship","12":"tag-christian-in-malaysia","13":"tag-christian-post","14":"tag-christianity","15":"tag-christianity-malaysia","16":"tag-christians","17":"tag-donna-uning","18":"tag-evangelism","19":"tag-kuching","20":"tag-malaysia","21":"tag-street-ministry","22":"tag-street-pastors"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66562,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30082\/revisions\/66562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}