Jackie Pullinger MBE

Jacqueline Bryony Lucy ‘Jackie’ Pullinger is a British Christian charismatic missionary to Hong Kong. She is th founder of the St. Stephen’s Society. She has been ministering in Hong Kong since 1966, over 50 years.

She was born in Croydon , London, England in 1944.

She graduated form the Royal College of Music (RCM) in London having specialized in the oboe.
Aged 22 she wanted to be a missionary. She wrote to various missionary organizations but was not offered any support.
Richard Thompson, a minister in Shoreditch, suggested she buy a boat ticket and pray she would know when to get off!
In 1966 she went by boat to Hong Kong.

When she arrived she had just $10 ‘on hand’. The only reason the immigration officer allowed her in was because her mother’s godson was a police officer there.
She found work as a primary school teacher in the Kowloon Walled City. In the 1960s it was not policed and had become one of the world’s largest opium producing centers run by Chinese criminal Triad gangs.
Despite the danger she helped the gang members to follow Jesus which gave them a purpose and reason for living without having to us drugs.

Later she established a youth center to help the drug addicts and street sleepers inside the walled city. She also taught music at St. Stephen’s Girls College.

In 1981 she started a charity called the St. Stephen’s Society. It exists to preach the gospel, reach he poor and see people set free through faith in Jesus Christ. Our heart is to go to the ends of the earth to make disciples.
(See note about St. Stephen’s Society)

The Society provided rehabilitation homes for recovering addicts, prostitutes and gang members. By December 2007 it housed 200 people. The Hong Kong government recognized the charity and donated land for the homes.

In May 2019 Justin Welby went to Hong Kong. He was there with his wife to attend the 17th Anglican Consultative Council.
Archbishop of Canterbury visits Jackie Pullinger to see discipleship in action
He went to see the Shing Mun Springs Multi-Purpose Rehabilitation home and Jackie Pullinge. (See picture and notes)

The early years of her ministry in Hong Kong are chronicled in the book Chasing the Dragon (2006) which has been translated into several languages
A photographic account of her work A Crack in the Wall: The Life and Death of Kowloon Wall City has also been published. (See ‘Amazon’ notes)

Sources used
Amazon
St Stephen’s Society - official website for Jackie Pullinger
Wikipedia