Street Invasion 2009
 “I have never felt used by God in the way He used me at Street Invasion. I'm encouraged by what I've been a part of and am geared up to do more work in His mighty name.” Roz, Street Invader
“I volunteered to help Street Invasion as adult helper/driver. I was in awe of these young people and all they did. Thank you all for allowing me to be part of this incredible event. Your confidence in God and your faith has really challenged me.” Nicki, Street Invasion Adult Volunteer
“Street Invasion was an opportunity to reach out to local teenagers, something we had never done before. We were blessed to have some very capable Street Invaders from other churches attached to our team but also through Street Invasion, discovered some young adults with a gift for working with young people in our church. The Zone was very well attended each evening, even when it was pouring with rain there were people waiting to come in. The whole Street Invasion experience was so encouraging and I would recommend it to any church with a heart for the young.” Revd. Ian Pullinger, Christ Church Orton, Street Invasion Venue Host
With 80+ young people, 40 young adults, plus church leaders and other volunteers all on the team adorned with red Street Invasion t-shirts, the project certainly had an impact in many lives and on many levels.
As well as being covered by our own Media team, Street Invasion also made it into the local press through the Evening Telegraph. Throughout the week Street Invaders were being stopped in the streets by passers by to ask: ‘What’s going on?’ ‘Are you the same group as those working on the other side of the city?’ and importantly, ‘Why are you doing this?’ In the 8 venue locations we did many ‘acts of kindness’, hours spent painting fences, redecorating community shops, gardening projects in public spaces and elderly folks’ homes, litter picking, free caring, activities and sports for children and young people in parks. Peterborough saw & felt a groundswell of God’s love led by the youth – so often the target of bad press.
 During the afternoons whilst many were serving through acts of kindness, we had other teams of young people in the city centre stepping out in faith with ‘divine treasure hunts’. Young people from each venue team after receiving training and preparation, and with much support and leadership, were able to take part in street evangelism with a prophetic edge. After time waiting on the Lord they were led to folk who they felt God wanted them to talk to, pray for healing for etc. Many of these Street Invaders went beyond their comfort zones, trusted God and saw Him do amazing things.
These weren’t the only times that the Street Invaders had to get out of their comfort zones. During the evening Zone Youth events in all locations, young Street Invaders were the ones involved in the presentations sharing their stories of how Christianity has changed their lives, or delivering the illustrations used to engage the youth that had come into the venues with the gospel message. The majority of the venues saw around 50 young people attending The Zone each night with others rising to 70 by the end of the week.
 By the Friday night of the Street Invasion week, in the venues alone, 40 young people had already responded to the gospel message. We then had the finale to the week. We had invited Manchester-based bandwithnoname to play, and our heart was to get as many young people from the community as possible to attend this evening where we knew that there would be another relevant and powerful presentation of the Christian message. The result of this was another 30 young people responding to the gospel message. In comparison to 2008 the gig was on a much bigger scale, with 340 young people being let into the venue. Bring on 2010...
Simon Campling, CROPS
|
