Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long
as ever you can.
John Wesley
| Text size: +/-Double-decker outreach in Wigan
 |
|
| The Rock Bus in Wigan |
Catching the bus in Wigan could be the start of a life-changing journey, discovers Laurence Wareing.
When the Rock Bus arrives at one of its regular stop-off points around Wigan, there’s no need to fish in your pocket for loose change or a bus pass. You don’t have to worry if a quicker one is going to arrive in a few minutes. The Rock Bus is unique, and it’s here for you.
More especially, it’s here for the young people who find on the bus a place for activities, conversation, perhaps a hot chocolate, and maybe a prayer. “We’re one of the circuit’s social outreach ventures,” explains the Revd Laurence Potter, “offering an alternative to anti-social behaviour on the street.”
The double-decker, originally a regular on Liverpool’s streets, was bought by the Methodist churches in Wigan already adapted for youth work. Operated by Youth Worker Hayley James and teams of volunteers, the bus has been kitted out with X-boxes, a large-screen TV and computers – but it can equally be a base for outside activities in the locations where it sets up shop.
The stop-off points have sometimes been identified by the police or a borough council, or the bus comes at the invitation of a local church. But wherever it goes, there’s no doubting the Christian basis for its work. Organisers are clear that this is “a place to encounter Jesus”. Though prayer times or discussions are always optional, young people do experience God’s love, sometimes quite unexpectedly, says Hayley.
She speaks of the bus pulling up in a pub car park one night, and of a fight breaking out nearby. “It was a very difficult night,” Hayley recalls. “The group of lads there were rough and challenging.” Bus volunteers managed to break up the fight and Hayley ended up spending time with one of the men involved – “he needed encouragement and I started teaching him to juggle with a diabolo.”
“When someone knows you care for them,” she continues, “they seem to grow physically. This young man left that night walking taller, more self-confident.” When the bus next returned to the area, this same lad ran up to Hayley, hugged her and said: “Do you remember who I am?” Nowadays he’s an occasional helper on the bus – a young man changed by the care that he has received.
Other older teenagers keep in touch with the bus volunteers, asking for help with job applications and sometimes asking for a prayer too. They’ve learnt from the voluntary prayer times that close each session that faith and prayer is what drives the Rock Bus – and that it’s there for them, too, if they want it.
MORE INFORMATION
