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TechnoratiOccasionally, ships can be held up or arrested over shoddy paperwork or substandard conditions and at such times, it is not uncommon for crews to find themselves having to fight for their wages. The port chaplains are often called upon to negotiate with port authorities and trade unions to ensure the welfare of the seafarers takes first, not second, place.
In reality, most seafarers are supporting not only their own family, but also their extended family, including the families of their brothers and sisters, and their aging parents.
“The seafarers often feel they’ve got to go back to sea, because they have to pay for their children’s education and they want best for their children. Going to sea is seen as a way of delivering the best but the reality is that the seafarer often doesn’t get the best deal out of it,” says Potterton.
The greatest need of the seafarers, however, is spiritual. Long periods away from home mean that family breakdown is common, and while alcohol abuse may be a caricature, Potterton says it is still an issue.
“They may be men and they may appear to be very hard men but they have hearts too,” he says.
On a religious level, a Christian seafarer can find life at sea challenging if they are the only believer onboard, but the greatest difficulty lies in not being able to go to church for months at a time.
The chaplains are on hand to pray with seafarers, both onboard and in their well-equipped seafaring centers. They also run worship services and provide New Testaments (because they are lighter than a complete Bible) as well as daily Bible reading notes to help tide the seafarers over during the next few months at sea.
“It’s a challenge to live out your faith at the best of times but working in the international, multi-faith shipping industry can make it even harder,” says Huckett.
“You have to put your heart into it. You have to see them as your parishioners.”
Drysdale echoes his sentiments: “My church is the seafarers.”
Neither are seafarers under any illusions about their fragility when up against the power of nature’s raw elements.
“Seafarers are more religiously aware than the people working shore-side,” says Huckett. “Being out at sea most of the time, they have a different perspective and time to think things over.”
It is not unusual, therefore, for seafarers to ask chaplains to pray with or for them or to simply ask questions about their faith.
“We actually want to create a hunger for Christ and in meeting with us and receiving the care that we give creates a hunger,” says Potterton. “They may not eat a full meal the first time but in time…”
The key is to be sensitive, says Huckett.
“If they ask questions about my faith I tell them, but we are careful not to thrust it down anybody’s throats. It’s the quickest way to lose a person – if they think you’ve got an agenda.”
Instead, it is about allowing the seafarers to meet Jesus through first serving.
“There is a caricature about what a Christian is and what we believe, that we are just judgmental, bigoted. But we have no agenda and I think they appreciate that,” he said. “The joy for us is that we can show a side of Christ that people don’t really see.”
Referring to the scene in the Bible in which Jesus asks the blind Nicodemus what he would like the Lord to do for him, he adds, “It’s a Nicodemus moment. I would like you to tell me what I can do for you. That’s not the view of the church that most people have.”
