Shrewsbury Street Pastors Celebration@Central

It is a year since Shrewsbury Street Pastors first patrolled the town and last night there was  a  very good turn out at a service at Central to celebrate the first anniversary
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There really was quite a lot to celebrate and it was good to hear from the street pastors, members of the local community and others, just how well the project is going. Speaking to the local MP and the town Mayor afterwards they were equally impressed.

During the first year of Shrewsbury Street Pastors not one patrol had been cancelled



To my surprise I found parts of the service very moving as people shared what Street Pastors or being a Street Pastor meant to them as individuals.
I was also struck that during the first year of street pastors alcohol related incidents had declined by 19% from the previous year and even more importantly there had not been one death in the river.So this is a ministry that has not only helped and comforted large numbers of people but also very possibly saved lives.

The 18  street pastors themselves come from a number of different churches in the town and judging from some of the conversations happening afterwards there are a number of  other people willing to sign up

All in all a very encouraging evening for a great project