Seamen's Christian Friend Society (SCFS)

Websites:

http://www.causes.com/scfs
http://www.scfs.org/
http://www.seasoulfood.blogspot.com/



Mission Overview:

Seamen's Christian Friend Society (SCFS)
exists to relate the love of God in word and deed to vast oceans of seafarers who daily visit our shores from all over the world. SCFS has port missionaries in the UK, Ireland, Europe and worldwide.

SCFS is an international, non-denominational seamen's mission. It was established in England in 1846 and has a solid reputation internationally in the care of seafarers.

We really value your prayers and support. Thank you for your interest in our unique missionfield. :-)
Our ministry is funded by people like you. Please contribute if you can, and please pray for us. We treasure your prayer support! :-)

We exist for the extension of God's Kingdom amongst seafarers. SCFS - World mission on our doorstep!
Ships visited range from warships to fishing boats; from car-carriers to oil tankers; from bulkers to research + from containers to cruise liners.

Please stand with us as we offer friendship, practical & spiritual help to these nomads of the sea, who are sometimes away from home for up to 3 years
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Seafarers are nomads of the watery deserts we call oceans!

Always on the move, working 10-15 hours daily, 7 days a week for 3 months to 3 years per contract! Many are completely isolated and some cannot leave their ships even when they're in port (some are not even allowed to have visitors on board due to security restrictions!)

It's little wonder that some describe themselves as prisoners.

Today around 2 million men and women live in the twilight world of big shipping. It's a lonely life. They roam the world's oceans in the majority of cases for up to 12 months at a time. They come from over 100 different nations, speak dozens of languages and have different religious backgrounds. Amazingly the majority (although coming from so many different countries) all speak English. This enables us to easily communicate and help them.

We care enough to visit them. Our team of SCFS workers spend their days boarding ship after ship. An SCFS Friend brings a welcome, an offer of friendship or a chance for a sympathetic talk and news of the Christian gospel.

Did you know that...

* seafaring is one of the most dangerous occupations?
* 95% of the world's trade is transported by sea?
*Without seafarers, many everyday essentials would not reach Irish and UK shores, as 95% of the world’s goods and commodities are transported by sea.
* seafarers spend months, and even years at a time at sea?
* loneliness is common amongst seafarers?

Through our network of Port Chaplains worldwide, we provide a 'home from home' for seafarers arriving in port unprepared or sometimes new to the country they are visiting.

SCFS exists to enhance and enrich seafarers' lives throughout the world and improve the quality of their wellbeing.

It is our vision to replace isolation with belonging for all the world's seafarers. We strive to do this through our operations in 12 countries and 40 ports providing vital services of communication, practical support, faith aid and welfare support.


Our mission Seamen's Christian Friend Society
http://www.scfs.org/
is a UK Registered Charity. It was Founded in 1846 and any donations are always welcome.

We are almost entirely dependent upon charitable donations and without them we could not function. As our annual expenditure on the provision of services for the international seafaring community has increased, in order to meet the demands of the years ahead the indications are that we will need more funds.

Reg. Charity No: 209133

If you would like to support us by regular giving (or a once off gift) you can set up a Standing Order from your bank account.

Here are the bank account details for the SCFS Euro and Sterling accounts:

Euro account
Sort Code: 93-63-83
Account Number: 47038130
Account Name: SCFS

Sterling account
Sort Code: 93-86-23
Account Number: 06295180
Account Name: SCFS

Giving to the SCFS

The work of the SCFS is maintained through the gifts of people like you.

Please send your gifts payable to 'Seamen's Christian Friend Society' or simply 'SCFS' to:

Seamen's Christian Friend Society
48 South Street
Alderley Edge
Cheshire
ENGLAND
SK9 7ES

Every gift will be acknowledged and, for taxpayers, we will gladly send you a Gift Aid form so that we can reclaim tax on your gift.

Registered Office:
48 South Street, Alderley Edge, Cheshire, SK9 7ES, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1625 590010
Fax: +44 (0)1625 585442
Email: headquarters@scfs.org


Also, please visit Colin Jenkins' (SCFS port missionary in Cork, Ireland) blog site

'Sea soul food - Spiritually hungry? Soul food for seafarers' at:
http://www.seasoulfood.blogspot.com/

"Reaching seafarers is strategic, but building a network of evangelisers, disciplers and even seafarer congregations in the world's ports could be even more so!"

Patrick Johnstone
(Author of 'Operation World')
Seamen's Christian Friend Society (SCFS)
exists to relate the love of God in word and deed to vast oceans of seafarers who daily visit our shores from all over the world. SCFS has port missionaries in the UK, Ireland, Europe and worldwide.

SCFS is an international, non-denominational seamen's mission. It was established in England in 1846 and has a solid reputation internationally in the care of seafarers.

We really value your prayers and support. Thank you for your interest in our unique... (read more)

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WHAT DO SHIPS HAVE TO DO WITH ME?

According to current estimates there are about 2 million seafarers in the world.

Maritime transport is of fundamental importance to Europe and the rest of the world. To put this in perspective, over 90% of European Union external trade goes by sea and more than 3.7 billion tonnes of freight a year are loaded and unloaded in EU ports.

This means that shipping is the most important mode of transport in terms of volume. Furthermore, as a result of its geography, its history and the effects of globalisation, maritime transport will continue to be the most important transport mode in developing EU trade for the foreseeable future.

Another thing to note is that the worldwide language of shipping is English!

These are just a few reasons why ships are so important for us. However because they tend to be 'out of sight' they, and those working on them sadly tend to remain 'out of mind'.

Please remember seafarers and those seeking to help them by praying :)

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COME ON A SHIP VISIT WITH ME IN YOUR MIND…



The ship in front of us was a hive of activity:
Dockers with forklifts, truckers and cranes working busily. Who was on board? We hesitantly made our way to the gangway feeling inadequate and out of place. Grain was blowing all over us. Once inside we were welcomed like long-lost friends and fed tea and cake. The crew were Buddhists from Myanmar.
Another ship had broken down at sea…Smoke was pouring from the engine room. The cargo was jet fuel – highly explosive! The ship with Danish and Polish crew was stranded in Cork for 1 week-waiting to be towed back home (1000 nautical miles away).
On board a 230m long bulk carrier we met Chinese crew in distress…they were being badly treated by officers and not being paid properly. Great friendships were made when we visited a Greek and Filipino ship. 3 men came with us to church to play badminton, pool and table-tennis. We brought them shopping and let them use our telephone.


July 2009

An Indian seaman (Giri was a Hindu) who I was able to bring home with me said that this was the first time he’s been able to enjoy home cooking in 10 years as a seaman! His ship – an oil tanker made great use of me as a taxi driver for 2 days. Without my help they said they wouldn’t have been able to go ashore. After 10 months on their ship without any chance of shopping they certainly splashed out during the few hours I was with them. Together they spend perhaps €200 on chocolates from Tesco (these will be presents for their families when they go home), bought 4 mobile phones (€120 each) and one man who was a Christian (Methodist) bought a large amount of perfume for his fiancé! I’m still in touch with him via email and Facebook. Meeting local Christians on board Logos hope was also very special and I made a number of new contacts, including a lady who is involved with a Christian Filipino fellowship in Cork. I made some flyers this month to leave on ships giving useful information including different church locations and service times, as well as advertising the Games Night I run in our own church. It will be great if I can bring Filipinos to the Filipino fellowship!

August 2009

An exciting development this month was a new meeting for Filipino believers in Cork. I was privileged to be able to bring 2 Filipinos from their tanker (was in the dockyard for repairs) to the first meeting – about 14 of us in total. The seamen hadn’t been off their ship in 6 months, so to land in a church might not be everyone’s first choice. However they really enjoyed the study on the rich young man and later sent text messages to thank me again. On another container ship I met a friend Donald who used to work on a different ship. On his last ship I had prayed that his wife could have a baby. When he saw me coming on board he ran to hug me and tell me the good news that his wife is expecting! A bulk carrier with Chinese crew was in port and the 2nd officer told me “We need people like you to visit us”. They had been 40 days at sea – last port was in Malaysia. A Filipino bulker with 19 Filipinos was another memorable ship. They loved the gifts I brought and insisted I share lunch with them. Many thanks to friends in N.Ireland, especially the Revival Movement Association/Every Home Crusade (http://www.revivalmovement.org/) for sending me Christian calendars for 2010, bookmarks, tracts, posters, gospels, Russian Bibles etc.


Sept – Oct 2009

The cruise liner I visited has been my friend Ramon’s “second home” for the last 18 years. Ramon leads the Christian fellowship for the crew on board. He told me that in December the ship will be sold, crew will go home and then hope to join other cruise vessels within the same company for their next contract. The fellowship has around 20 believers in attendance, and a further 20 join them for singing Christian ‘Songs of Praise’ to the passengers! Please pray that each member of this fellowship will be able to either start or build up a ship fellowship during their next contract. This is an example of a ‘church transplant’. Please pray for Ramon and his friends over the next 6 months. I was able to visit another luxury liner a few times and it was a great joy to meet another Ship Church leader there on my last visit. We are now in touch through email, Skype and Facebook. The tanker which I was able to bring 2 friends with me to visit the last time has been back and I had a wonderful time again being their taxi-man for 2 days. The cargo on one of the tankers I visited was worth $38M! It is amazing to be able to meet the people bringing us black gold.