A seafarers story

The Seafarers’ Centre hosted by Invergordon Church of Scotland welcomes sailors from around the world, providing tea and home-bakes, pastoral care, internet access and Christian friendship to men and women who may be separated from their families for months on end.
It also offers Bibles and New Testaments in various languages, supplied by Blythswood and by others. Given the warmth of the welcome, it’s no surprise that the same faces reappear from time to time. Mary who is a local volunteer tells of one seafarer who came back:
“Eight years ago, we had a visit from a crew member who was leading a Christian Fellowship on board a cruise ship. He was so pleased to be given Bibles for their group. This year he was back in Invergordon, on another ship in the same line. This one did not have a Christian fellowship but he felt that the Lord was guiding him to start one.

Although these big cruise ships can have a crew of more than 1,000, he had met only two Christians on board and neither had a Bible with them as their only copies were at home with their families.
He was overjoyed to receive Bibles, New Testaments and a Study Bible to help him start an onboard Fellowship. He excused himself for becoming emotional and said they were tears of joy. ‘I praise and thank my Heavenly Father who guided me here today,’ he said.
“What he didn’t know at that point was that 40 crew members had accepted a Bible or New Testament during a visit by volunteers from the Seafarers’ Centre to his ship that day.”

Mary’s story

Since the day when Jonah told the seamen of Tarshish to throw him overboard, ships at sea have long been places where the reality of God breaks through. The ship which carried the apostle Paul towards Rome had 266 people – sailors, soldiers and prisoners – when it was wrecked at Malta. The cruise ships which call at Invergordon can carry as many as 4,000 people, both passengers and crew. And, yes, these ships too can be places where people hear about God and pray.

The Seafarers’ Centre, hosted by Invergordon Parish Church, offers a Bible to crew members in their own language. This year, Blythswood provided Bibles and New Testaments in 22 languages for this purpose. Mary who has been a volunteer there for many years recognised a crew member from a previous visit.

“Two years ago she and another crew member had been overjoyed to receive a quantity of Bibles to help them disciple young Christians aboard their ship,” Mary says. “There had been more than enough to go around, and ten left over had been placed in the ship’s library.
“Now working on another boat, she checked her emails on our internet, and called me over to share her news. She had just learned from her former shipmate that more crew members on that ship have been reading those library Bibles. There have been conversions every week and baptism services every month.

“’God’s Word is powerful”, she reminded me. ‘Sharper than a two-edged sword!”

Seamen’s stories

A seaman from Indonesia told volunteers at Invergordon Seafarers’ Centre that he was missing his family and his home church very much. At home, every morning and evening, his family read from the one copy of the Bible which they have in their own language. “He was so pleased when we offered him a Bible for himself,” says port chaplain Drew Anderson. “We were able to tell him that there was a Christian fellowship on board his vessel. Later he met the fellowship leader and they left the church together, taking more Bibles for the group.”

Around 130 cruise ships visited the Cromarty Firth in 2023, some of the bigger vessels having crew of 1,000 or more. On ships of such a size, crew members are not all known to each other and may be unaware of colleagues who share their faith. The Seafarers’ Centre can play a vital role in putting visitors in touch with other Christian believers on the same boat.

Hosted by Invergordon Parish Church, the Centre is just six miles from Blythswood’s headquarters at Highland Deephaven. This year Blythswood Care has provided the Centre with Scriptures – complete Bibles and copies of the New Testament – in no fewer than 18 languages, reaching crew members from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. “A young man from Zimbabwe came to the church and told us they were starting an onboard fellowship that week,” Drew says. “We offered him the last NIV Study Bible which we had and he was overjoyed. Through tears he told us that he had prayed daily for three years for that Bible. He was praising and thanking the Lord for providing this the very week he was to start leading a group.”