the story of azalea.

something had to be done.

On the residential street where the Azalea story begins, it was the noise at night that you’d notice first. This was not a suburban idyll, not with the women “on the beat” opposite with their screams of high pitched laughter and their shouting obscenities or their punters’ car engines revving, rumbling, idling, doors slamming continuously. The small House Group from a local church were meeting as they usually did to catch up with each other, read, study and discuss some Bible passages and pray together. It was clear that the impact of the men and women outside were causing more than a little frustration with the owner of the house, and this was something that the group chose to pray about, because something had to change, something needed to be done. It has been said, that God answers prayers in a number of ways. He might say, “yes”, “wait”, “no” or “you do it”. But He always answers. Just sometimes in unexpected ways, or ways that differ from the way we would like.

you do it.

The hope was that God would somehow take the problem away, and that peace would be restored to the home where the House Group was being held and the surrounding neighbourhood. But, the injustice of sex trafficking is highly complex, and there was to be no quick fix. There was however, in response to that time of prayer, much conversation about what could be done to try and reach out to the women across the street and others like them. A group of compassionate and inspired individuals came together, leaving behind more comfortable ways to use their time and resources, and made a decision to offer respite to the women for a few hours a week at a local church, in the form of a cup of tea, some cake, a conversation and a comfortable armchair to sit in. The volunteers also decided they would offer to pray for the women, based on the shared belief in a God who loves each one of us without condition or limit.

they prayed for 6 months.

But, for the first 6 months. No one came. So, the group prayed. For 6 months.

And then one evening, with one of the older volunteers waiting outside at the gates of the church, dedicated to inviting the women in as they passed, the first woman came to Drop-in. The women were reluctant, suspicious of the offer of a warm, safe place to sit, sure that no one gives away something for nothing. But in a short-time, once more women had come in and were met with a warm welcome, and the word got round, the space at the church wasn’t big enough and Azalea began to grow and moved to a more permanent location in High Town funded and equipped by individual supporters and churches from nearby. Azalea now occupies a central location in Upper George Street in Luton, and continues to flourish.

prayer is everything.

Prayer was foundational to Azalea’s beginning, and is integral to the work with the men and women who we encounter and support. It is always offered, and is almost always accepted. Each day the staff team gather to pray together, and we have a strong and faithful Prayer Net who support us in prayer receiving weekly email updates. In addition, we hold a Prayer Evening every other month.