Perth Street Pastor who puts his fellow citizens’ lives first

You will have heard of the butterfly effect. The idea that one small occurrence can have a large and unpredictable influence on the future.

It is often imagined with a butterfly flapping its wings and causing a typhoon.

In Perth, it was a simple fish supper that changed one man’s life.

Michael Archibald – the 80-yearold founder of Perth Street Pastors – bought the meal for a stranger while pounding the streets in his role 10 years ago.

He explains: “I was at a cafe a few weeks ago when I saw a guy who I recognised slightly.

“I sat down beside him and I said: ‘I kind of recognise you, tell me who you are,’ but I didn’t know his name.

“Then he said: ‘I’ve met you before,’ and I said: ‘Have you?’

“He said: ‘It was 10 years ago, outside the pub. I was absolutely terrible that night. I was full of drink and drugs.’

“I told you: ‘Do not speak to me at all. Do not ask me any questions.’”

ACT OF KINDNESS

It’s a night Michael, a retired accountant, remembers well.

He recalls: “I didn’t ask him any questions – I never said a word to the guy.

“But I took him across to the chip shop and bought him a fish supper.

“He was just muttering and cursing, and then we got his fish supper and he was away. And that was all I knew about him.”

The man told Michael how the random act of kindness made him realise “what a state” his life was in.

Michael said: “That night changed his life and he is now a college lecturer, so he has done alright.”

The stranger is just one of thousands of people that Perth Street Pastors has helped since it was launched in 2007.

The branch has 25 volunteers from churches across Perthshire and is part of an network that spans the UK, USA, Africa and Caribbean.

Members pound the streets of Perth every Friday and Saturday night, lending a non-judgmental ear to vulnerable revellers.

Where necessary, they also hand out bottled water, foil blankets, lolly pops and flip flops – “to give people energy and help prevent injury”.

Michael, a reader at Bankfoot

Church Centre, says the group often helps people dealing with suicidal thoughts.

“One guy I remember came out of the nightclub on Canal Street and we walked up the lane and came to South Street towards the river.”

ON BRINK OF SUICIDE

“He was determined to commit suicide.”

The volunteers, along with a member of the public, spoke with the man for some time.

Michael says: “We walked him up the street away from the river as far as we could get.

“Then he said: ‘You can leave me now.’

“As we were half way across the street he said: ‘Can I pray for you tonight?’ ”

Despite the enormous fall in nightlife over the past few years, Michael says: “I think Street Pastors is still very much needed.

“The youth, generally speaking, in our area are very uncertain about the future.

“There is nothing guaranteed about the future, nothing guaranteed about their job, nothing guaranteed about their pay – nothing guaranteed about anything.

“With war and climate change, they are worried about the future. So they are quite happy to speak to someone.”

Although the organisation is rooted in Christianity, Michael says it is not about converting people to the religion.

“We are not mobile evangelists – that is not what this is at all,” he says. “We don’t hand out any written stuff – we are just out to listen and to care and to help.”

At 80, I ask Michael what keeps him motivated.

“I have enjoyed ever minute of it,” he says. “I have always been passionate about putting faith into action. I am not interested in sitting in a pew, discussing the problems.

“I’d rather be out on the streets and doing something about it.

“And that is what we are doing with Street Pastors.”

We aren’t mobile evangelists – we are just out to listen and help