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Some of our story is told in ‘Chasing the Dragon’, ‘Law of Love’ and other documentaries, but simply put it began – it always does – with one person being caught up in the joy and surprise of being loved by Jesus. That was me, Jackie, in 1966. Through a dream, a picture-like vision, and a message in another language, I responded to the Lord’s insistent ‘GO’ and took a journey by ship – an adventure - sailing to wherever. Having landed in Hong Kong, then came the question:
NOW WHAT?
All I wanted to do – and still want – was to find those who were longing to know God’s love, whether they were aware of their longing or not. And so I walked the streets full of hungry old beggars and the homeless.
Overwhelmed by the multitudes and needs, I asked God to show me which bit was mine.
MY BIT – THE WALLED CITY
A famous place, known as ‘Darkness’, this was a lawless relic of a 19th century Sino-British agreement and was officially off limits to police. However, corruption was rampant, young girls were sold to brothels, triad gangs ruled and there were over 40 opium and heroin dens. One toilet for up to 100,000 people in 6 acres, outside which they piled the dead addicts at one time.
‘It would be worth my whole life if you would use me to save just one,’
I told the Lord after walking over the legs of men lying in the narrow streets, straddling the open sewers. I soon found that nobody was listening to my preaching, but they were watching my life, so I began to practise what I call, ‘ordinary gospel’, sharing rice with a hungry old lady, taking a gangster to hospital after a fight, queueing overnight to register a young girl for school, paying someone’s rent, going to court with a triad who claimed to be framed.
THE YOUTH CLUB
I started a Youth Club in a tiny room in Walled City to give a place for ping pong and darts. I ran outside camps and weekly excursions since most young people never saw the light of day and had had no opportunity to play at school, even if they could attend. No free education then and the HK $4 monthly fee too much for many. Lots of young teenagers had also joined gangs, which led to fighting, living off prostitution and drugs. I prayed,
‘Dear Lord, please give me something of your Spirit that will help me to make you real.’
One boy came to Jesus, then one more, then one more. I thought that was what evangelists did, look for one more and send the others to ‘church’. That did not work – the church was afraid of gangsters, their clothes, and their haircuts!
ADDICTS
When one addict came into the Youth Club and began praising God in tongues, he came off opium physically in 30 minutes. No withdrawal pains.
‘Good. All I have to do, is walk into drug dens, pray for the power of the Holy Spirit and they’ll be set free.’
That did not work. It turned out that the gangster/addict who had quit drugs was simultaneously living in an opium den! Not a good place to start a new life.
So, I invited him into my home.
THE DOOR KNOCKING STARTED…
One after another, more men arrived at my door. ‘If Ah Seun got off drugs through believing in Jesus – then I’ll believe in Jesus. And I’ll live in your house, too.’ They did and they did. Full house!
WORD OF MOUTH
That’s how our ‘houses’ started in the seventies and have continued in the same way, with the same wonderful miracle of painless withdrawal from drugs as we pray in the Spirit. We did not advertise but by word of mouth, one man in prison told another, ‘You can go to Jackie’s (Poon’s place) and start a new life.’ Hardly a street sleeper who had not heard, ‘There is a place you can go to.’
THE HOUSES GREW
More and more overseas helpers joined the adventure. Former addicts got jobs and helped in their spare time, some working full time with us. We started homes for teenagers, English speaking addicts, then women and girls. Over the years, we’ve borrowed or rented over 287 places to house the poor, recovering addicts and those with life-threatening problems. Some of these were given on a temporary basis by the Hong Kong Government and several in outlying areas.
HANG FOOK CAMP
In 1985 Hong Kong Government offered us Hang Fook Camp in urban Kowloon, a disused tin hut area (THA) where many people of all kinds, including the poor and elderly, gathered to worship and eat with us.
We began training all of them to heal the sick and share their food with the hungry. It became famous as a place for Christmas feasts, miracles and sodden, baking hot meetings!
PILLAR POINT
I had worked with the first boatloads of those who’d fled Vietnam and helped in several camps before, so knew the challenges, and loved the people. This had resulted in us opening a special house for Vietnamese-speaking addicts. After visiting Hang Fook Camp in 1994 U.N.H.C.R. officials invited St. Stephen’s Society to manage and run a Vietnamese Refugee Camp for them. It was the last remaining camp - only a few thousand people were left. We saw many drug-free and resettled before the refugee crisis was over and the U.N. withdrew from HK.
‘The alien living with you must be treated as your native born. Love him as yourself, for you yourselves were aliens.’
MULTI-PURPOSE REHABILITATION HOMES
In 1997 Hong Kong Government made a plot of land available to us where we have built homes and premises to care for those with multiple addictions and apartments for those serving and living with them. We have a few rooms for the elderly, too.
The mixture of men and women, families, children, teenagers and the very old, is truly sweet and mutually beneficial. They help one another. Worship is central, training for work is offered and all up-keep, cleaning and cooking is shared by the residents, who also love…
SWIMMING, CYCLING AND CLIMBING
CLASSROOMS
We have housed a growing number of young boys and girls with multiple problems. In our eyes they are ‘Gogetters’. By law, they must be at school until the age of 15, so we have developed classrooms for them to make learning exciting and prepare them for life.
NEAR AND FAR
In 1987 some of us went to Macau, found the poor and the addicted and started similar ‘houses’. After that, several other countries, too. The teams we sent included those who’d been on drugs, partnering with others who’d learned and trained with us.
WHAT’S GOING ON NOW?
We’ve continued, just as I began, praying for our daily bread and sharing it with the hungry, too. Apart from our homes and ‘houses’, we have also grown many local fellowships. Former residents, their families and many other Hong Kongers meet regularly. They worship, eat and work out ways to deal with life’s problems, to see society begin to change. They love and serve one another. This is known as the Kingdom of God.
INITIATIVES
From time to time, new ventures such as GOKIDS, parenting courses, Arts in the Community, BARA and homework clubs have grown in response to the needs observed in our own people. We’ve then offered them to the public at large. We ran local and international conferences on serving the poor, healing etc., in order to equip many.
They were always free.
We shared what we’d learned.
We gave what we’d received.
These initiatives and projects were short or long term.
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GOKIDS
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BARA
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FARM
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ARTS IN THE COMMUNITY
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5.2 WORKOUT
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Why Stephen?
He was chosen, in the very early church, to be a table server. He was chosen because he was full of the Spirit. He ended up doing miracles and preaching an amazing sermon, which had him killed, one of the first people to die for Jesus. We believe that the minimum qualification for working in the kitchen is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We believe that all jobs in the community are equally important and expect all to serve quietly and humbly. We do not assign leadership to those with platform personalities or obvious giftings but watch to see who looks like Jesus and gets on with the job whilst developing character and performing miracles from time to time.
OUR PEOPLE AND THE FUTURE
Clearly, Jackie has been central to much of what has grown and emerged. However, there are now many, many in different areas of Hong Kong who do not know her, though possibly, her name. More importantly, they do know the name of Jesus and the many people who look after them in their own districts and fellowships. For this reason, we have not highlighted or pictured the growing number of those who lead and train in our homes or outreach locations. They are increasing and multiplying all the time!
LEGAL HISTORY
St. Stephen's Society – President: Jacqueline Pullinger
1981 - registered Hong Kong charity under the Societies Ordinance
1986 - member of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service
St. Stephen’s Society Limited – Chairman: Jacqueline Pullinger
1997 – registered limited company in Hong Kong with charitable status
Multi-Purpose Rehabilitation Homes
1999 - licensed by Social Welfare Department of HKSAR Government
Our legal entities were registered officially after growing organically. They grew out of a need to be accountable to Hong Kong Government and served what we were already doing. The board members meet almost daily and have practised our values in their lives over many years. You can meet them if you become involved. The Walled City Youth Club had various names until St. Stephen’s Society was registered as a charity.
St. Stephen’s Society Limited was formed in 1997 to facilitate the receiving of the land grant from Hong Kong Government and building of the Multi-Purpose Rehabilitation Homes. It is now fiscally responsible for the operational activities of our rehabilitation work and maintenance of the premises.
RESOURCES
Videos:
The Law of Love - Channel 4 Television Corporation
God’s Heart for the Poor - Danae Turner
Chasing the Dragon - Theatre production
Video interviews:
Cantonese Audio New Testament:
Jesus speaks Cantonese!
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. For years illiterate Grannies who met Jesus had no interest in the Bible because they could not understand the formality of the written word. People all over the world have written to say how thrilled they are to hear the words of Jesus in their heart language.
This recording is for the Cantonese-speaking world and free of charge. Go to the website www.hkbible.org or download the app here:
Books by Jackie Pullinger:
Chasing the Dragon - Hodder and Stoughton
Crack in the Wall - out of print
Chasing the Dragon (Manga) - Hodder and Stoughton
About the Walled City:
City of Darkness, Greg Girard - Watermark Publications (UK) Ltd.
