26/10/2026
JACKIE PULLINGER: THE MISSIONARY WHO BROUGHT THE LOVE OF GOD INTO A WALLED CITY OF HE**IN AND GANGSTERS
In 1966, a 22-year-old British woman named Jackie Pullinger boarded a ship bound for the Far East without knowing exactly where she would end up. She had studied music at London's prestigious Royal College of Music and could have pursued a professional career as an oboist, but she believed God had called her to become a missionary. The missionary organizations she approached were unwilling to send her. She was young, unmarried, inexperienced, and lacked the qualifications they expected. One organization informed her that she needed to be at least 25 years old before they would consider her application.
Jackie was determined to obey God's calling, so she sought advice from a minister who suggested something extraordinary. He encouraged her to purchase a ticket on a ship traveling east and pray for God to show her where to disembark. Jackie followed his advice, and in 1966 she set sail without a confirmed destination or missionary assignment. When the ship reached Hong Kong, she believed the Holy Spirit was telling her to remain there. With very little money, no established financial support, and virtually no contacts, she stepped ashore and began looking for opportunities to serve.
Jackie eventually found work teaching music at a school in Hong Kong and began visiting Kowloon Walled City, one of the most notorious settlements in Asia. Originally a Chinese military outpost, the Walled City had become entangled in a complicated jurisdictional dispute between Britain and China. For decades, effective government oversight was limited, and powerful criminal organizations known as the Triads had established control over much of its illegal activity. Gambling, prostitution, extortion, drug trafficking, and violent crime flourished within its crowded streets.
The Walled City occupied approximately six acres, but its buildings had been constructed so closely together that they formed an enormous maze of interconnected concrete structures. Narrow passageways twisted between buildings, often receiving almost no sunlight. Electrical wires hung overhead, sewage flowed through open drains, and families lived in cramped apartments surrounded by workshops, gambling establishments, brothels, and drug dens. At its peak, tens of thousands of people occupied the settlement, making it one of the most densely populated places on earth.
Jackie later recalled that more than forty o***m and he**in dens operated within the Walled City. Young girls were sold into prostitution, teenage boys were recruited into gangs, and addicts spent their days searching for money to purchase narcotics. Men sometimes lay unconscious in the passageways, their bodies weakened by years of addiction. The settlement had earned the name City of Darkness, and its reputation for criminal activity made it a place that many outsiders were afraid to enter.
Jackie began walking through the narrow streets, meeting residents and telling them about Jesus. She encountered elderly beggars, homeless families, prostitutes, gang members, and children who had never attended school. Initially, few people showed much interest in her preaching. The young men were particularly resistant, often mocking her attempts to speak about Christianity. Jackie eventually realized that although they were not listening to her sermons, they were carefully watching how she lived.
She began helping people with the difficulties they faced every day. She shared food with hungry families, paid rent for people who were struggling, accompanied injured gang members to hospitals, and helped children gain access to education. She even appeared in court to support young men who believed they had been falsely accused. Eventually, she opened a small youth club where teenagers could play table tennis and darts. She also organized outings and camps for children who rarely had opportunities to leave the overcrowded settlement.
Many of the boys attending her club belonged to Triad gangs, and some were already involved in prostitution, drug trafficking, and violent crime. Jackie continued telling them about Jesus, but they frequently ignored her. When she began preaching, some would leave the room to smoke and whistle, returning only after she finished speaking. Nevertheless, she continued working among them, gradually developing relationships with young men who had learned to distrust nearly everyone outside their gangs.
The hostility sometimes became personal. On one occasion, Jackie arrived at her youth club to discover that vandals had smashed the furniture, destroyed the equipment, and smeared human waste across the walls. Devastated, she considered abandoning the work, but instead continued praying for the young men she was trying to reach. Remarkably, a Triad leader later assigned one of his gang members to protect the club from further attacks. That young man, himself addicted to o***m, eventually became a Christian and experienced deliverance from addiction.
Over time, Jackie's determination began changing the attitude of the gangs toward her. One Triad leader eventually explained that they had been watching her for years, trying to determine whether she genuinely cared about their people. Her willingness to remain among them, help their families, and continue visiting despite threats and difficulties had convinced them that she was sincere. Some gang leaders began allowing their members to leave the organization when they became Christians, something that would previously have been extremely difficult.
Meanwhile, Jackie had experienced something that would profoundly change her ministry. She had encountered Christians who taught about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. During a time of prayer, she began speaking in a language she had never learned. Surprisingly, the experience initially disappointed her because she had expected an overwhelming spiritual sensation. Instead, she felt awkward and embarrassed, and for a time she rarely exercised the gift.
Later, an American Christian couple challenged her understanding of praying in tongues. They explained that Scripture taught that speaking in tongues edified the believer, regardless of whether the person experienced particular emotions. They encouraged Jackie to pray in tongues regularly, even when she felt nothing unusual. She began setting aside approximately thirty minutes every day to pray in the Holy Spirit, frequently interceding for the people she was trying to reach in the Walled City.
After approximately six weeks, Jackie noticed a remarkable change. Gang members who previously ignored her message began responding to the Gospel. Young men started surrendering their lives to Christ, and people who had seemed completely resistant to Christianity became interested in what she was saying. Jackie initially wondered whether her Chinese language skills had improved, but she realized that she was preaching essentially the same message. She became convinced that the difference was the power of the Holy Spirit operating through her ministry.
Then came the extraordinary encounters with drug addicts that would eventually make her ministry internationally known. He**in and o***m addiction were deeply entrenched in the Walled City, and many of the young men had repeatedly attempted to stop using drugs without success. Withdrawal could involve terrible physical suffering, and the prospect of enduring it discouraged many addicts from seeking freedom. Jackie began praying with these men, encouraging them to surrender their lives to Jesus and receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
One young man addicted to o***m surrendered his life to Jesus and began speaking in tongues. According to Jackie's testimony, he was delivered from his addiction in approximately thirty minutes without experiencing the agonizing withdrawal symptoms normally associated with stopping the drug. Another young he**in addict attended a Christian camp, committed his life to Christ, and began praying in tongues. That night, he dreamed that Jesus entered the hut where he was sleeping and placed His hands upon his head. When the young man awoke, he testified that the pain of withdrawal had disappeared.
Jackie was astonished by what she was witnessing. These were men whose bodies had become dependent upon powerful narcotics, often after years of addiction. Yet she was seeing them experience remarkable freedom as they surrendered their lives to Christ and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. She began encouraging more addicts to pray in tongues while she and other Christians prayed alongside them. Sometimes they prayed for hours, and in some cases for days, as men struggled through the process of withdrawal. Jackie testified that numerous addicts experienced extraordinary relief from withdrawal symptoms through the power of the Holy Spirit.
However, she soon discovered that getting someone off drugs was only the beginning. One young man who had experienced deliverance was still living inside an o***m den, surrounded by the same dealers and addicts who had dominated his former life. Although he no longer wanted drugs, he had nowhere else to live. Jackie invited him into her own home, providing food, friendship, prayer, and Christian discipleship. Before long, another addict needed help, followed by another. Soon her home was filled with men who had escaped addiction but needed somewhere to begin new lives.
Jackie began renting additional apartments where former addicts could live together, pray, worship, study Scripture, and learn to support themselves. These homes developed into Christian communities where residents helped one another remain free from addiction. Many of the men had spent years in gangs or prisons, and some had committed serious crimes. Yet they were now learning to live differently, and former addicts eventually became some of Jackie's most effective helpers. Men who had once sold he**in began helping others escape it, while former gang members became Christian workers and leaders.
As word spread throughout Hong Kong, more people sought assistance. Gang members brought addicted friends to Jackie, families pleaded with her to help their sons, and men who had exhausted other possibilities arrived hoping to experience the same deliverance they had heard about. Her ministry became known for combining persistent prayer, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the practical care necessary to help people establish new lives.
The growing work eventually became known as St. Stephen's Society, which was formally registered as a charitable organization in 1981. By then, Jackie had spent fifteen years working among Hong Kong's poorest and most vulnerable residents. The organization continued establishing residential rehabilitation homes, eventually receiving land from the Hong Kong government for larger facilities. Over the following decades, thousands of people received help through the ministry, including drug addicts, former gang members, prostitutes, and individuals struggling with other destructive circumstances.
Jackie's personal life also became closely connected with the people she served. In 1992, she married John To, a Chinese Christian and former drug addict who had experienced transformation through the ministry. Their marriage lasted seven years before his death in 1999. Jackie continued serving the people of Hong Kong, remaining committed to the work that had begun when she first entered the Walled City.
Meanwhile, the notorious settlement itself was approaching the end of its existence. In 1987, Hong Kong authorities announced plans to demolish Kowloon Walled City, and the remaining residents were eventually relocated. Demolition was completed in 1994, bringing an end to the extraordinary network of overcrowded buildings and narrow passageways that had housed generations of Hong Kong residents. The following year, Kowloon Walled City Park opened on the former site. Today, landscaped gardens, traditional Chinese architecture, ponds, and historical exhibits occupy the ground where drug dens, gambling establishments, and gang-controlled businesses once operated. The restored Yamen building and remains of the original South Gate preserve reminders of the settlement's complicated history.
Although the Walled City disappeared, Jackie's ministry continued expanding. St. Stephen's Society developed rehabilitation communities throughout Hong Kong, providing residential care, Christian discipleship, vocational training, and practical assistance for people recovering from addiction. Former residents became staff members and leaders, helping others through the same struggles they had experienced. The organization also established work in Macau and other locations, extending the ministry beyond Hong Kong.
Now in her eighties, Jackie Pullinger remains involved with the work she began sixty years ago. In October 2026, her ministry was highlighted through an exhibition in Hong Kong featuring artwork created by people connected with St. Stephen's Society, including individuals recovering from addiction and young people who had struggled in school. The organization continues helping people overcome substance dependency while providing Christian community, practical training, and opportunities to rebuild their lives.
Jackie's remarkable experiences are recorded in her book Chasing the Dragon, first published in 1980. The title refers to a method of smoking he**in in which users inhale fumes produced by heating the drug. Written with Andrew Quicke, the book recounts her arrival in Hong Kong, her encounters with Triad gangsters, her experience with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the extraordinary testimonies of addicts who found freedom through Jesus Christ. It has become one of the best-known missionary accounts of the modern Pentecostal and charismatic movements.
For those who want to read Jackie's firsthand account of the Triad gangs, the drug dens, and the supernatural deliverance of addicts, her book Chasing the Dragon is an extraordinary testimony. A link to the book is in the comments.
Revival Press
