Community / Street pastors ‘not there to preach’, says Orkney coordinator
FROM offering a listening ear to revellers and clearing up broken bottles, to providing flip-flops to women needing a more comfortable walk home.
The role of a street pastor is certainly varied, and the scheme – which operates through the UK and offers support to people out and about at night – could be set to come to Lerwick in the coming months.
But could the scheme, which involves volunteers from Christian churches, be a success in Shetland?
Shetland News spoke to Barry Cockerham, the coordinator of the Orkney street pastors group, to find out about how it works in Kirkwall – and he is confident it would work if it comes to these isles.
A key piece of criticism on social media against the plans was a concern the street pastors could effectively “preach” religious messaging to folk out and about.
But Cockerham said the idea the volunteers are there to “preach when people are vulnerable” is “is so far from the truth”.
“We’re not there to preach. End of story,” he said.
“When we go through the training, which is about 13 sessions we have to go through…it’s always driven home to us that we’re not there to preach.”
He said if someone comes up to street pastors and asks a specific question about Christianity or religion then “fair play, we can tell our story or whatever” – but the motto is just to “listen, care and help”.
There are about 16 people on the Orkney street pastor rota, who come from different churches, with a team of at least three going out at night.
At 78, Cockerham is the oldest in the crew – he has gone out as a street pastor nearly 160 times, he reckons – with most in the 50 to 70 age bracket, with some coming from a teaching background.
It has traditionally focused on Saturday nights; when the scheme started in Kirkwall in 2012 the nightclub Fusion was still open, but it closed post-Covid, with the focus now on folk coming out of pubs.
Cockerham said a key problem back then was that people were leaving the club just after 2am and there was nowhere to get something to eat, and finding a taxi could be a problem.
“We discerned that there was a need for someone to be there and try and help people in that situation,” he said.
Cockerham said as well as offering to listen and speak to people, the team of street pastors will go out with a couple of rucksacks armed with various physical items – such as water bottles, basic rainjackets, a survival blanket, a first aid kit and the aforementioned flip-flops.
There are also high-quality sick bags – especially useful for anyone getting in a taxi who may feel queasy.
“Things like that help people at a time when they don’t have anything and they don’t know what to do,” he said.
“That can then help them to get home safely.”
There are also tasks like cleaning up broken bottles, while Cockerham raised one example of where street pastors assisted a man waiting on an ambulance – then gave his parents a run to the hospital.
He added an important tool in the street pastor arsenal happens to be lollipops.
They may seem innocuous but Cockerham said the sweet treats are a “amazing tension breaker” that can help to defuse tense situations.
In fact, they can go through around 80 per night.
So what are some of the challenges? Cockerham said a key issue in Orkney was the response they initially got from people unsure about what the street pastors were about.
“Something like the first 12 months, we were always telling people what we do,” he said.
“Over time, people get to know what you’re doing and why you’re there, and then fully respect it. But it takes a little bit of time for that initial trust to be built up, that you’re there to help people.”
Cockerham said the street pastors in Kirkwall have not been faced with physical aggression, but there were some verbal exchanges in the early days.
He added that there are “one or two people who are really inebriated who just don’t know handle to situations” – but there has been “nothing malicious, and nothing’s that not understandable for their condition”.
Cockerham also suggested a lot of people out in Kirkwall are not clearly “drunk”, but have maybe had a few drinks and are in good spirits.
He added that some of the female members of the team can have something of a grandmotherly-like influence on younger women, which might make them feel comfortable to speak about any issues they may be experiencing instead of letting it “fester” and potentially worsening.
Despite getting over some initial hurdles in terms of trust, it appears the Orkney street pastors continue to receive positive feedback – including plenty of what they term “spontaneous thanks”.
“Over time people really appreciate what you’re out there for,” Cockerham said. “Often they take the time to come up to you and say ‘thank you helping me last week’.”
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