The very lifeblood of our charity – ministering to merchant seafarers

At the core of our charity is the work that our Chaplains are called upon to do – Maritime ministry. It is about improving the lives of seafarers and their families. Whether it be visiting the crew on merchant ships, providing welfare support to their loved ones in times of difficulty, visiting seafarers stranded in hospital or prison, comforting the bereaved, conducting funeral services and scattering of ashes at sea.

The men and women who are our appointed Chaplains have many opportunities to minister into the lives of merchant seafarers. They unconditionally befriend seafarers and relieve their isolation. They provide welfare and pastoral and spiritual support to those who need it. They are asked to do this in some of the hardest conditions imaginable. They operate on windswept and dirty docksides, in remote and exposed areas of ports and at all hours of day and night – year round.

The continuing presence of our Chaplains is vital to the well-being of merchant seafarers. They provide many of the things personal to seafarers that their employers cannot or, in many cases, will not. They merit our unswerving gratitude and support.

We have additional expenses of communication and liaison with our Chaplains in their distant and remote locations around the world. We also have travel expenses for the Principal Chaplain (Chief of Chaplains) to visit our appointed chaplains to provide pastoral support to them at their place of work in their assigned port. So, any prayerful support and financial donation to sustain our Chaplains in their selfless work will be most gratefully received and appreciated. You can donate here.

Nowadays, ships crews are comprised of a wide variety of nationalities, men and women, strangers to each other at the beginning, living aboard together for months on end, often speaking different languages, with different habits and values and of several different religions or none.

Whatever their background, the crew members all have to respect each other’s differences and rapidly learn to rely upon one another to do their duty and to keep the ship and themselves safe throughout the voyage. Because of this disparate mix of people there is, of course, often a tension on board between the various cultures and traditions. Inevitably there has to be, but we realise that the ship owner or operator must make a commercial profit and run the ship at the lowest cost, so will recruit from the most economic labour supply.

So our Chaplains are always faced with that tension in their work, not knowing how the seafarers whom they meet in the brief time they are able to spend onboard at each visit will receive them. However, the faith and experience of our Chaplains equips them to respond to any situation and demonstrates God's love for them.

As a provider of ministry and mission to our beneficiaries – the seafarer – we spend a lot of time thinking through that issue and we have to all reason our own way through that dilemma.