East Grinstead Street Pastors could have been forgiven for taking offence at this command thrown at them by comparative stranger a couple of weeks ago.
As it happened, everyone was quite happy because the ‘stranger’ in question was the Rev Les Isaac (OBE) who had come to East Grinstead especially to encourage our local Street Pastor team. Over two years he aims to visit every branch of Street Pastors, College Pastors, School Pastors and the new initiative, Railway Pastors.
Les Isaac (and here I’ll quote from the internet) is currently the CEO of a Christian charity called Ascension Trust which he formed in 1993. His mission is to train and develop individuals to serve the local community, city, nation and nations of the world. His desire is to see Christians working more effectively in their society. Such is his determination and convictions for Christians to get involved and impact their communities and society at large that he co-launched an innovative project called the ‘Street Pastors Initiative’ which provides a late night outreach service in high crime areas to tackle the issue of guns, knives and violent crimes on the streets of Britain.
Les spoke to the congregation without mincing his words: Jesus has given us abundant life so what are we going to do with that life? Are we going to hide it, or let is shine for all to see? Are we going to go out into our community to be salt and light to those vulnerable people who need to hear about the love of God? “Get a Life!”
Les also challenged us to consider that there is no age limit on that life. He quoted the example of a Street Pastor in near-by Tunbridge Wells who has recently retired from patrolling the streets to undertake the equally valuable work of being a Prayer Pastor- because he has just turned 91. I don’t know the age of the oldest East Grinstead Street Pastor because I don’t think it would polite of me to ask her! She generally ‘only’ patrols the 3 hours from 12 to 3 am and provides prayer support during the coldest winter months.
You may not feel a call to be part of the Ascension Trust initiatives but listen to Rev Les and think about how you can “Get a Life!”
Ann Rowsell
