(reposted from nigelpaul.tumblr.com)

Challenging Words from Jackie Pullinger

Jackie Pullinger, a pioneer to the broken and addicted in Hong Kong, is one of my heroes.

Born in Britain in 1944, Jackie wanted to go to the ends of the earth from a young age. After graduating from the Royal College of Music, she began to pursue missions opportunities.

After receiving visions and dreams, as well as advice from a mentor, Jackie bought a one-way boat ticket to Hong Kong in 1966. There, she moved into the Walled City of Kowloon and began ministering to drug addicts and gang members. Over the years, her ministry has been tremendously fruitful and resulted in the founding of the St. Stephen’s Society.

Below is a transcript from a talk Jackie gave about Jesus’ command to “Go”. Every time I listen to this message I’m reminded of Jesus’ call and am challenged to live in radical obedience. 

“The principle of the Gospel is this: the Gospel always brings life to the receiver, and death to the giver. If the Gospel brought [the ultimate sacrifice] to Jesus Christ, why would we think that in preaching the Gospel it would be any less for us?

“‘So go’, he says. ‘If anybody would be my disciple, he must take up his cross and follow me’.

“If it killed him to give life to us, and he invites us then to do the same, why would we expect that it would be any less? So the mixture of our message is life and death, and laughter and tears, and such it is. But for us, life is never ordinary… Life is never flat.

“And this is what Jesus said about his Father in John 17, ‘The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life, only to take it up again. No one takes it from me’. Jesus was not sentenced … by His Father; he was allowed to choose. ‘I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again’.

“God the Father had this extraordinary plan of winning you and me for eternity by having his Son [pay the ultimate price]. But his Son voluntarily responded. No, it’s not so easy for him to respond. In fact, he spent his whole life practicing. And even the night before, it was still difficult for Jesus. And he said, ‘God, is there another way? Is there another way?’

“And I know many, many people in the church say, ‘Is there is another way?’ And in our Hong Kong churches, it does look as if there is another way. Normal Christians live a normal Christian life, go to meetings, jump up and down on stages - while we are exhausted and die. And they say, ‘Aw, you’ve got a special ministry, Jackie’. And I say, ‘Well no, I think we’re all called, to give up our lives. Would you like to do this with us? We’d really like some help’.

“The poor people all over the earth, who have never heard of Jesus, they are the poorest people. They are desperate for food, they are desperate for blankets, they are desperate for medicine, they are desperate for water.

“The most number of people worldwide who have never heard about the love of our Lord Jesus Christ are desperately poor. And they are not going to come here to hear the Gospel. We have to go there.

“So, why haven’t [we] gone? Something to do with guarding our life, and living a normal life, so other people can go. But I say, No, why don’t you all go, if you’ve tasted such good things? Go to the ends of the earth, because those poor aren’t going to watch Jesus on TV; they haven’t got electricity. They’re not going to hear about him unless we go.

“So would you? I’m here with a plea for you. If you’ve known the love of God, if you’ve tasted of his sweetness at all, there’s no other way to serve him except giving up your life. And this is voluntary. This is not a sentence at all! We’re not sentenced to death, we’re just privileged to answer his call.”