Our Street Church (now shut down)

Our church has been closed now for over a year due to issues with the people visiting and the city. We are praying about getting another building soon but with street ministry nothing comes easy again due to the type of people we attact. I will post some pictures, information and messages that we shared with our friends. Maybe some of this will help others working in evangelical street ministry.

below was a typical night...


Friday Night in Whalley, Surrey

The gang of volunteers starts to show up around 5 P.M. at the Friendship Community Mission to get ready for the evening of ministry at the little church on the King George Highway. Like most Friday nights there is lots to organize, getting the new additions of clothes sorted in boxes and onto the racks used to hang the pants, shirts, blouses and dresses, along with shoes, socks and underwear. The pre-cooked food is taken out of containers and added to the many cans of sauce and tomatoes that will be used for the spaghetti, all of it prepared in a big roasting pan to be heated in the oven. One of the volunteers is cutting the bread and applying the special mixture for the ‘garlic toast’ that will served with the spaghetti.

We have put the coffee on and checked the cream and sugar. Is there enough plates, cups and plastic cutlery out for the evening? It’s starting to get near to 6 and the coffee has finally brewed, so let’s put the “welcome’ sign out. Some of our friends have already arrived, relaxing in the seats, listening to music and talking amongst themselves. Everything seems to be ready for the evening service that will start soon. Now is when we communicate and share with our visitors, we are able to listen and talk about things that have happened over the last week.

One fellow is desperate to talk to me about all that has happened, he is anxiously following me, needing to tell me about his wife, child and the situation he is in. I assure him he is in the right place ‘now’. He talked for a long time, I listened. We discussed steps that could be taken, paths that can be chosen and goals that can be reached. I asked him to listen carefully to the message that night as it pertains to what we have to deal with each day and how Our Loving Father has given us the ‘instruction book of life’.

Another fellow was outside the little church sitting on the ground in great pain when he asked me if I would pray for him. I asked how he received his injury, he told me and confessed his sin and guilt in his life with his use of drugs. I prayed to Our Father to help ‘His child’, to ease the pain and free him of his burden of addiction. My friend was in tears. God willing, one day he will be released from this bondage of Satan. This man knows Jesus loves him, we pray that one day he will make changes in his life and he will accept Jesus Christ as his Saviour.

As I was eating dinner after the message, the guy beside me asks ‘ my dad and mom were cremated, where are they now?’ And what about other deaths and burials and where do we go after death? Is there a waiting time, when do we go to heaven? Boy, what a barrage of questions…how was I going to answer all this and have it make sense. So I figured to do just one answer at a time and told him I will prepare a message just for him on this topic. By the way, he thought that was great…the ‘just for him’ part. We all want to be special, don’t we! And that helps me to prepare messages that will help our friends with everyday struggles and issues that we may face.
That, my friends, is just a glimpse of the Friday night ministry in Whalley for one volunteer. Wouldn’t you like to join us so you can share your real life stories about what Christ is doing in the live of a volunteer (you) and the friends who lives you touch?