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If you enjoyed Stories from the Streets please leave us a good review, some reviews are given below.

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Thanks so much - this helps encourage others to read about the good work of Street Pastors.

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Premier Christianity magazine - 4 star review May 2021.

Reviews via Amazon - Overall 4.7 out of 5 star rating March 2021 - click on links for more details. 

Everyone must read this wonderful book - Beautiful. Inspiring. Thought provoking. A wonderful book. An amazing eyeopener. Beautifully written. Every one must read it - Renita D'Silva (26th November 2020).

Beautiful - A beautifully written and eye opening account of the work of street pastors. And inspiring must read - Ryan Manning (30th November 2020).

Informative and Inspiring - A really interesting insight into the work of street pastors. Informative and enjoyable - well worth a read - Laura (20th January 2021). 

Real life stories from real life people - This is a excellent record of stories from street pastors, school pastors and response pastors. It will challenge you and encourage you. A great read, well put together and it touches your heart - Jan Ganney (4th March 2021). 

Learn about Street Pastors - This factual, interesting, book tells all we need to know about the work of the Street Pastors in our cities and towns. It has a good balance between explanation and first hand experiences, helping us to understand about the nightlife in our cities and the dangers to the vulnerable, as well as explaining why people become Pastors, and the benefits to our society. There is also a chapter about the homeless on the island of Antigua (1st February 2020). 

A firsthand account of how to help people on the street  - A real world account of the amazing work Street Pastors carry out across the UK (and globally) when most people are fast asleep. Engaging, motivating and well written. It has inspirational and thoughtful reflections on the problems found on our streets after dark and the practical solutions offered - and the power of a smile and a listening ear. Worthwhile, if not essential reading for those in training to become Street Pastors and indeed anyone interested in the nighttime economy - Mrs Mary L Le Tissier (16th December 2020). 

Absolutely Inspiring! - This well written account gives us a helpful answer to the question - "What do Street Pastors actually do?". Very readable, it gives us clear picture of some of the problems facing our society and how the network of Street Pastors across the country are making a real impact in peoples' lives. The organisation was founded to be part of the church's response to issues in society and we are given first hand testimony of how this is happening. Thank you Sue and Dr. Luke for putting this together! - Andy Amour (19th January 2021).

An inspiring and heartwarming read - This very readable book, written by real Street Pastors and featuring detailed accounts of their endeavors across and outside the UK, serves as a reminder of the true meaning of faith and the value of a community of (extra)ordinary religious people whose aim is to help all those in need on the streets - Mr Robert H Davies (16th December 2020).

Street Pastors in action!  - Luke and Sue give us an enthralling account of some of the experiences of the many Street Pastors who gladly place themselves on the front line in busy areas of our towns and cities. We are able to hear, at first hand, of the needs – physical, psychological, spiritual – with which many people are battling, and how the simplest sincere response of friendship can give much valued relief, and often even more, in inspiring hope and purpose, where once it was lost. Stories from around the UK, together with more from the West Indies, weave a tapestry showing every aspect of the volunteers’ work and its underlying principle. Heart-warming and inspiring, it is a simple tale of the Christian calling being expressed in compassion and love on the streets of our lands - Kindle customer (19th December 2020). 

Inspiring and Eye Opening - Part of review only below, please click on link left for full review. 

This is the inspiring account of the work of Street Pastors by Dr Luke Randall and Sue Shaw. Stories from the Streets explains how Street Pastors started and what they do including many stories of helping vulnerable or potentially violent party-goers and the homeless. I had already heard of Street Pastors and how they hand out water, space blankets (foil blankets like those marathon runners are given), lollipops and flip-flops. I hadn't realised how valued and respected the teams are or the big difference they make in making our city centres a safer place............. I didn't know that Street Pastors get intimately involved with people affected by terror attacks and national tragedies such as Grenfell. They provide on-the-ground practical support to survivors as well as a safe space for emergency responders to open up and talk about what has happened and how they feel (6th January 2021).

Real-life stories of the work of Street Pastors - If you want to know about the work of Street Pastors, what motivates and energises them and the challenges their work involves, then this is the book for you. Luke and Sue lay out the background and history of the group, as well as the scope of their mission and the way they organise their volunteers to go out and offer care to the many vulnerable people on the streets of our towns and cities. The story is enlivened by numerous accounts of real-life incidents and case studies drawn from the experience of those involved, so the book is both informative and inspiring, packed with human interest - Mike P Gordge (7th January 2021).

What happens when you volunteer to walk the street of your home town at night? - This book details some of the stories and experiences of the Street Pastors - that body of Christ - who for the love of Christ and their neighbour walk the street at night. The stories range from saving lives to helping find a lost chihuahua. They listen, give advice or guide the needy and vulnerable to the appropriate agencies for help and support. It is difficult to put a number on the lives that have been changed even by the simple ordinary acts of just listening and showing the love of Christ. We will never know the difference Street Pastors have in the lives of everybody they have encountered or reached out to. However the book details some of the thanks that the Street Pastors get from those who are able to say 'thank you' at the time or the next time they meet the Street Pastors. This book shows how small ordinary acts of kindness can turn another fellow human being's life around. It is an inspiring, heart-warming read - Alexandia Barling (1st March 2021).

Reviews via Google books - Overall 5 star rating January 2021.

Very readable book. I found it encouraging to read really positive stories from the streets in many different locations. I recommend this book very highly especially in these gloomy times. Thank you for a great read.

A well written book. Easy to read. I was inspired and humbled by the stories of street pastors giving up their free time to show selfless acts of kindness. The book covers many aspects of the work. It's good to see churches working together. Many see different denominations as a divided rather than a diverse church. Loving God and loving people is all that's needed. Street pastors do just that without judging those they help! 

I found this book to be a truly insightful introduction to what really goes on in our town and city centres after dark. Warm, inspirational and purposeful, the work of the street pastors goes largely unnoticed by most of us but what they do is so important. Easy to read and thoughtfully written, it’s a great book for anyone who wants to know more about the valuable work of street pastors. 

An inspiring account of the work of Street Pastors with many interesting stories of how people have been helped and on occasions lives have been saved. The book is an authentic social commentary of life on the streets after dark in modern British cities as well as some examples of Street Pastors helping rough sleepers in Antigua. it is a great reminder of the impact Christians can make in their local communities through genuinely 'loving their neighbour'.

I am a Street Pastor myself and I am hugely impressed by how readable and enjoyable it was.  It really portrayed the love that we take out onto the streets and also gives a reality to the situations we find and how challenging they can be.  I think the chapters on Safeguarding and on Drugs are a teaching tool in themselves and could be useful to many people outside of Street Pastors.  Well done and congratulations on what a blessing this book will be to all who read it - Dina.

Five-Stars for this excellent and highly readable book by Dr Luke Randall and Sue Shaw, as they present amusing, serious and heart-rending, real-life accounts of life on the streets, when most of us are tucked up in bed, fast asleep. “Stories From The Streets” is a book about Street Pastors, an organisation of volunteers, Christians from most denominations, who give freely of their time to help make the streets of our towns a safer place in the middle of the night.
They are not just the stories of night-club revellers out for a good time, but who have rather over indulged, and need help avoiding the dangers-of-the-night and in getting home safely. It’s also the true-life realities of what it is to be homeless in the middle of the night in all weathers; and about an organisation of volunteers, ordinary people like you and me, who would rather be in that cozy-warm bed.
What would you do at 3 am, a 1.57m twenty-something female, confronted by an intoxicated 1.88m fella who is promising to punch your lights out? Ask him if he would like a lolly? Not blooming likely! Or presented with a female lying on the ground, whose friends around her say she is not breathing and is going to die, and you suddenly realise you have to choose… to wait for the paramedic or cross that rubicon, and go mouth-to-mouth and commence chest compressions… What if she is only having an short intoxicated kip, before continuing on her 18th birthday, party-night. Or the homeless man who asks for a sleeping bag for the fifth time in four weeks, and you’re sure he’s selling them on, to fund a drug habit, but have no proof.
What would you do?
This well-written, easy-read book will take you into perhaps another world of human behaviour, where fact is sometimes stranger than fiction. I highly recommend this book which is sometimes funny, at times sad, always informative and definitely entertaining - Meryn Broomhead, January 2021.

Reviews via E-mail

I thoroughly enjoyed Stories from the Streets. You have done a good job representing the compassionate heart of Street Pastors, and describing how very ordinary any patrol can be, yet how unexpected significant connections happen when we least expect them.  I like the way you have structured the book, showing that the training is well thought through and of a high standard. I got 4 copies myself and have started lending out two of them! The other two are earmarked as gifts. Barbara, Street Pastor & Prayer Pastor, Coleraine (November 2020). 

Reviews via blogs 

Sue's trifles - I received a .pdf review copy of Stories from the Streets: An insight into the work of Street Pastors from the publisher, Instant Apostle. I was interested to read this book as at least one of my friends and acquaintances volunteers as a Street Pastor in a local town.

Stories from the Streets by Dr Luke Randall and Sue Shaw is available now in paperback or for Kindle, having been published in November 2020.

Street Pastors are all members of various Christian churches eligible to belong to Churches Together. They put into practice Jesus’ teaching to care for others, especially the poor and people often avoided. The book sets the historical scene of Christian social action at different times and also includes information about other contemporary initiatives such as CAP (Christians against Poverty, an organisation which helps people recover from debt). There are stories of Street Pastors’ experiences from various towns and cities in the UK and farther afield. As it says on the cover, there are ‘inspiring testimonies of hope where it is needed most’.

The book is well-written and has many references to other sources of information, conveniently placed in footnotes. At the end there are pointers to information for anyone wishing to find out more or indeed thinking of becoming a Street Pastor.

Although the circumstances of some of the stories are disturbing, the book is encouraging. While most people are asleep at weekends and other busy times, dedicated volunteers are out helping people who are on the streets at night, whether they are homeless or have been to pubs and clubs, the well-trained Street Pastors are ready to provide non-judgmental assistance. They work with the emergency services, freeing them to attend more serious incidents.

As I read the book I wondered how the Covid-19 pandemic had affected night-life and Street Pastors. It was updated before publication to include a chapter on this topic.

I found Stories from the Streets very readable and recommend it.

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