'Street pastors use the language of love'

Trevor Partington (right) is one of a group of street pastors in Stafford

"Though we do have what I call faith conversations, primarily the language that we're using is the language of love, we're caring, we're listing and we're helping."

Trevor Partington is one of dozens of people who walk the streets in the West Midlands to make sure people are safe, usually late at night and in the early morning hours.

Commonly known as street pastors, they all have one common goal - to look after people.

We have been finding out what drives street pastors in Stafford, Hereford and Coventry to do what they do.

'Our faith motivates us to do this'

Trevor says they are often thanked for what they do

Trevor, from Stafford, is 83 and used to be a church minister.

"We don't go out there for the praise, but I have to say that every week we go out, people who we are not specifically helping on that night do thank us for what we're doing," he said.

"They say: 'You helped my friend', or, 'You helped my brother'."

He said he and a police officer once talked down from a bridge a young man who went on to get psychiatric help.

"Six months later, that same young man came to one of our street pastors and said: 'I want to thank you… my life is so much better now'."

"I could tell you story after story like that," said Trevor.

He said speaking about his faith often helped people, but also meant they understood his motivations.

"Sometimes people say... why are you doing what you're doing?," he continued.

"It's then that we have the opportunity... to speak about our faith, and why that motivates what we're doing."

'We get in the mess with people'

Immi Abbott, from Vennture in Herefordshire, says their street work involves medical triage

Immi Abbott is a volunteer coordinator at Vennture, a Herefordshire-based charity which supports individuals and families in a variety of ways through crisis.

For Immi, their street work is not just providing a calm presence, it's stepping in to be a critical service.

"It's also about providing medical triage," she said.

"We are there, on hand, to see if we can help and whether it needs to be escalated, whether someone needs transport to the hospital, it may be within our capabilities to assist them there and then."

Immi said her team want to give back to others

She said the reason they provide help is to give back.

"We always say that we get in the mess with people and just meet them where they are," she told the BBC.

She added that they often get thanked while on the job.

"It makes you realise how worthwhile it is," she said

"Especially the ones where you get the parents emailing you or calling you up saying: 'Thank you so much for looking after my son or daughter'."

'You always touch someone's life'

"I've always felt its really important as a Christian that you don't just go to the church on a Sunday, you get out of the church, you get to where the people are, the needs are," said Erica Young, from Coventry Street Pastors.

She said she also joined the group because it was something she thought would have been great when her children were younger.

She described getting a "buzz" from helping people.

"There are some Fridays when I think, 'I'm so tired, I'm not in the mood'… [but] every single time you go out… there's always somebody whose life you touch."

Over more than a decade she has helped a variety of people, including women being followed, and giving advice to a member of the LGBTQ+ community who had been pushed out of their church.

"I've had a few conversations with young Muslim men, and they've ended the conversation wishing God's blessing on us, and I absolutely love that," she said.

"This is a Christian initiative, but there are people of other faiths who support what we do and bless what we do."