Late-night
team in
Burnley

Six members of Mount Zion Church spend at least one night a week in the centre of Burnley walking the streets.

They do so not to enjoy themselves, but to help the thousands of people on a night out avoid trouble.

The six volunteers are part of the Burnley Street Pastor’s Team which has been operating for almost a year.

The complete Street Pastor team is 30 strong, all from local churches, and another eight recruits recently completed their training.

Teams of three or four go out into Burnley town centre from 11pm until 3am after a prayer time making themselves available to LISTEN, HELP, and CARE.

This involves being a friendly face in the crowd, offering water, flip-flops for ladies whose shoes are beginning to pinch after a night of dancing, picking up bottles and broken glass, giving basic first aid, and talking to people and listening to their concerns.

Sometimes the team take people to the Rest and Recovery Centre for professional medical attention or make arrangements to get others home safely in a

Two Street Pastors and clubbers

Street Pastors celebrate their community award

taxi or even call an ambulance in the most serious situations.

They have been very well received by the clubbers who number over
4,000 on a busy night and are now an established part of the night scene working alongside police, ambulance service and the door staff. As part of the town’s Community Safety Partnership, they have had lots of support from the police and town council, recently receiving a Highly Commended Community award for their contribution to safety in the town.

The group is very aware of the support it gets from the local churches and in particularly the prayer support. They are not on the streets to preach but to show the people Jesus in action and many do recognise this and there have been many meaningful conversations, with sometimes the privilege of praying for people on request.

Street Pastors are an extension of the church on Burnley’s streets.