Jackie Pullinger MBE (born 1944) is a British Protestant Christian charismatic missionary to Hong Kong and founder of the St Stephen's Society. She has been ministering in Hong Kong since 1966. Her work has resulted in at least 500 drug addicts being saved from their drug addictions.[1] The early years of her Hong Kong ministry are chronicled in the book Chasing the Dragon.
History
At the age of 21 [citation needed] Pullinger graduated from the Royal College of Music having specialized in the oboe. She wanted to be a missionary, so she wrote to various missionary organizations. Unable to find support from missionary organizations, she sought advice from Richard Thompson, a minister in Shoreditch, who told her that she should buy a ticket for a boat going as far as she could get and to pray to know when to get off the boat. At first she wanted to go to Africa, but then she had a dream that impressed upon her the idea of going to Hong Kong.[2] She followed vicar's advice and went to Hong Kong by boat in 1966. However, when she arrived she knew no one there and had only HK$100 on hand.[3] The only reason the immigration officers allowed her in was because her mother's godson was a police officer there.[4] She found work as a primary school teacher in the Kowloon Walled City, which in the 1960s was not policed and consequently had become one of the world's largest opium producing centres ran by Chinese criminal Triad gangs.[5] She established a youth club to help drug addicts and street sleepers.
St Stephen's Society
In 1981, she started a charity called the St Stephen's Society which provides rehabilitation homes for recovering drug addicts, prostitutes, and gang members. By December 2007 it had grown and was providing homes for 200 people.[6] The charity's work has been recognized by the Hong Kong government who donated the land for the rehabilitation homes.[7] The intervention process that the drug addicts go through is very intensive. Instead of giving them medications they are put into a room for 10 days, and prayed over and cared for by a group of ex-addicts. [7]
Published works
- Jackie Pullinger; Andrew Quicke (1 Sep 1980). Chasing the Dragon. Hodder & Stoughton Religious. ISBN 978-0-340-25760-9.
- Jackie Pullinger; Nick Danziger (1 May 1989). Crack in the Wall. Hodder & Stoughton Religious. ISBN 978-0-340-49067-9.
References
- ↑ Booth, Martin. Opium: A History. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998) p.100
- ↑ Jackie Pullinger; Andrew Quickie (1 Sep 1980). Chasing the Dragon. Hodder & Stoughton Religious. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-340-25760-9.
- ↑ Jackie Pullinger; Andrew Quickie (1 Sep 1980). Chasing the Dragon. Hodder & Stoughton Religious. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-340-25760-9.
- ↑ Jackie Pullinger; Andrew Quickie (1 Sep 1980). Chasing the Dragon. Hodder & Stoughton Religious. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-340-25760-9.
- ↑ Booth, Martin pp.99-100
- ↑ Baynham, Jacob Hong Kong missionary uses intensive prayer to help heroin addicts San Francisco Chronicle. 17 December 2007. Retrieved August 14, 2008
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Jackie Pullinger; Andrew Quickie (1 Sep 1980). Chasing the Dragon. Hodder & Stoughton Religious. ISBN 978-0-340-25760-9.
External links
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| Name |
Pullinger, Jackie |
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| Date of birth |
1944 |
| Place of birth |
London, England |
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