What do you think of this example of people serving their neighbors?

I am on patrol with eight “street pastors”: people so concerned about the numbers of young people out drinking that they head to high streets every Friday night to deal with the fallout. They are part of an inter-denominational Christian group of adults moving out of their middle-class, middle-aged comfort zones to make the streets feel safer while they are on patrol…

The first person to benefit tonight is a woman in her early twenties who limps barefoot out of Vodka Revolution Bar, clutching sky-scraper heels. She tiptoes around broken bottles towards a taxi rank. Cathy, a primary school teacher in her fifties, fishes some flip-flops out of a bag to offer the shoeless clubber some protection.

Free flip-flops are the latest addition to the street pastors’ arsenal of goodwill. “We give them to young girls whose feet are hurting,” says Mark. “We try to chat to people to reduce their fear of crime here in the suburbs, where people’s worries can be as bad as people living in the inner city.”

And from a few of the street pastors themselves:

Melissa Wynn, who works for an IT company, says: “We all want to get out of the cosy environment of our churches and homes to where we can make a difference.”

Peter Ticher, aged 80, is one of the group’s newest recruits. “I’m not scared of going out on the streets,” he says. “We hear so much about knife crime, but not one street pastor has ever been injured.”

[HT: The Church Times Blog]