Streets of Light
A trail of Light, Love and Hope for the city of Sheffield and beyond.
Finlay Hammatt
Streets of Light starts on 25 October. Now in its 5th year, this simple idea of decorating windows has become an annual celebration that brings a spark of light to our streets at an otherwise dark and unsettling time of year.
This Sheffield event came about from one woman, Helen Ward, some graphic Halloween images in her local area, and a gentle nudge from God.
“One October afternoon in 2016, I was driving to STC Sheffield from the city centre. This route meant that I passed a prominent pub that is situated right on the corner of the road as you enter Crookes, and I was shocked to see full-sized gallows on the roof, with skeletons hanging from them; blood was dripping from the door and the windows were boarded up – the pub had spared no expense in going all out for Halloween.”
“This gruesome scene was the first thing that people were seeing when they drove into Crookes. Straight away, I felt God stir my heart and ask, ‘Is this really the first thing you want people to see as they come here? Is this the image that you want for this neighbourhood?’, and my simple answer was ‘No.’”
“As Christians, we’re called to transform the culture, and we’re called to do something good.”
So, Streets of Light was born and, from 2017 onwards, Helen and STC Sheffield started encouraging people to decorate a window of their home with the words Light, Love or Hope. The idea is that for one week local streets are filled with colourful pictures and images of life and love, lit up or decorated with fairy lights, as an alternative message to that of Halloween.
The team’s prayer is that the Streets of Light movement can change the culture of darkness and fear that often fills neighbourhoods at this time of year. “The first year it started, it was really quite small. It was mainly our church, a few local people, and that was it.”
Even in those humble beginnings, there was clearly an appetite for something new. ‘Straight away, we found it was well-received. We had lights in Crookes, but we also had houses in Crosspool, Walkley, and some people took part in Hillsborough too. So it was still a city-wide event, even in the first year.’
Not only was the first year a success, but it was also fulfilling a prophetic word; ‘One older lady from our church came to us after the first year, and told us of a vision she’d had a couple of years ago, of city streets across the UK being joined by streams of light. She said ‘This is it. This is what God was telling me.’
From there, Streets of Light has spread across the city and across the country. Last year, 19 churches in Sheffield took part in Streets of Light, and further afield there were trails in Tunbridge Wells and Wolverhampton, houses took part from Dorset to Lincoln to Leeds, much to Helen’s delight.
“To know that God gave that woman this vision, and that now it is coming to life, that the UK is being connected by these beacons of light, is really exciting.”
But seeing how far Christians were carrying this light was not the only thing that surprised the people at STC who started this all.
“Right from the start, one of the most surprising things was how many non-Christians got involved. We had a family who got involved, and made this amazing window of an African savannah, it was stunning. And she just said, when she posted the picture on the Facebook group;
‘Thank you so much for doing this. I’ve always felt a bit uncomfortable with Halloween, and that I didn’t really want to take part, but I wasn’t sure about it, and this has given me something positive to do.’
Not only that, but those who’ve taken part aren’t just from one age group. “We have a lady from our church who is 96. She’s been involved every year, and in past years other people from the church have helped her make her window.”
“It’s also been great to see students get involved, either in halls or student houses. Streets of Light is not just for families – whether we’re 19 or 90, we want the culture of our streets to be filled with love, light and the hope of Jesus.”
Streets of Light even adapted to share this same message during the pandemic. “In April 2020, when we first went into lockdown, we held a mini event, using the same words about hope and love. It was a really quick turnaround, not like what we do for October, but immediately, we got such a wonderful response.
We had lots of comments saying ‘thank you so much’ from people who were out on their daily walks.”
“And then in Autumn 2020, what we saw happen during the October Streets of Light was so many more churches getting involved. And this was without prompting: we were all juggling homeschooling, repeated isolations and live streaming services, so we hadn’t had time to reach out and contact these churches ourselves.”
“But God knew that these were the messages that people wanted and needed to see – messages of light, love and hope.”
You can enjoy the Streets of Light trail from 24-31 October 2022. For more information, visit: www.streetsoflight.co.uk
Editor’s note: Streets of Light is back for 2022 and there’s still time to sign up to decorate a window - head to the Streets of Light website by 5pm, Sunday 9 October to be included on the printed trail map for your area.
Images courtesy of Streets of Light and STC Sheffield
