Ministering To Physical Needs - Jackie Pullinger

1944–

“Get on a boat and get off where God tells you” was the advice that Jackie Pullinger took when she was in her early twenties. A graduate of music college, where she studied the oboe, Jackie wanted to be a missionary. After many missions organizations turned her down, a vicar gave her the advice to just go. She did, starting her journey in Great Britain and getting off the boat in Hong Kong.

She got work as a music teacher in the Walled City, one of Hong Kong’s most dangerous slums. In the 1960s, the police had no jurisdiction in the Walled City, and criminals would go there to hide. Opium-producing gangs, drug addicts, and prostitutes made up a large portion of the population.

Jackie started a youth club for drug addicts, gang members, and others. At first she ministered to their physical needs. She fed them. She took boys who had been hurt in gang fights to the hospital. She visited those who ended up in prison. She spent time with them, and eventually they began to trust her, realizing that her concern for them was genuine.

It was awhile before they responded to her words about Jesus, but when they did, amazing things started to happen. She helped them to break their addictions cold turkey. Jackie recalls in her autobiography, Chasing the Dragon, that some of the addicts never experienced symptoms of withdrawal when they were being prayed over.

Through the contributions of other Christians and the government, she established St. Stephen’s Society, a series of rehabilitation homes for drug addicts, gang members, and prostitutes. She is still ministering in Hong Kong, and recently she added human trafficking to the societal problems she’s trying to solve.

Jackie’s example shows how important it is to first establish genuine relationships with the people we want to share Jesus with. Is there someone you’re trying to tell about Jesus who needs your help or your friendship first?

The King will say, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”

Matthew 25:40