When we consider who is out on the street — our sons, daughters, friends and colleagues – we want to do our best to ensure they have a fun time and get home safely. Our heart is to see the streets of Melbourne changed.
Yarra Street Pastors is a community project aiming to create a safer night-time experience for people frequenting key entertainment districts of the City of Yarra (Brunswick St, Smith St, Swan St).
Across the world there are over 10,000 Street Pastors covering 260 locations. They have made a remarkable impact on the nightlife in each of their respective areas. Commendations come from bar/club owners, police, ambulance staff, security staff, councils and more.
Street Pastors is an inter-denominational church response to challenges in urban nightlife hot spots. The front-line of the organisation consists of teams of volunteers who go out onto the streets at night, engaging with the people who frequent the nightclub scene to care, listen, dialogue and offer practical help. We will hand out bottles of water to sober people up, give thongs to those with sore feet from high heels, give blankets to the cold, help people get home safely, comfort the distraught, diffuse potentially difficult situations before they occur, protect the vulnerable, build relationships and connect people with help. The organisation has a significant and effective presence worldwide since its establishment in 2003, and our objective is to bring this to the City of Yarra. A team of people from different Christian churches aim to work in partnership with community organisations, local council and police to make this happen.
If you are a church leader, or member of a church and are interested in getting involved then we would love to talk further. We would love to do a presentation at your church or consider your application if you are keen to sign up: