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Celebrating our 62nd Anniversary!
A Home Away From Home
In 1946, Rev. Thorbjorn Olsen left the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Oslo, Norway,
to establish with his wife, Tuppi, a “home away from home” for seafarers, particularly those from Scandinavia.
The mission was founded in San Francisco with help from the Bay Cities Baptist Union. Olsen himself had been a seafarer; he
knew the loneliness and problems of those who spent most of their time on ships, being home only briefly during a year. The
mission was established in the middle of San Francisco, an area heavily populated by Swedes at that time.
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| The Reverend Thorbjorn Olsen |
During most of the first fifty years, the Scandinavian mission societies provided the
chaplain and a couple of assistants. The costs of fixing and maintaining the mission building were mostly supported by local
American Baptist churches.
About ten years ago, significant changes happened.
First, with the fall of the iron curtain, the Scandinavian societies had the opportunity to minister in Eastern Europe and
moved most of their funding away from the Scandinavian Seamen’s Mission. The nature of shipping has changed enormously.
Whereas, ships used to be in port for two weeks or so, now ships, which are unloaded and loaded by massive container cranes,
stay in port for mere hours. So no longer do seafarers have time to go to a “home away from home”. Also, few seafarers
today are Scandinavian; most come from third world countries. Thus the mission was sold with the money put into investments
to help with the transition from Scandinavian funding to total funding by local churches and individuals. The ministry is
now centered in Oakland where the vast majority of ships dock. Recognizing to whom we were now ministering, the name was changed
to “Seafarers Ministry of the Golden Gate”. The last chaplain provided by the Scandinavian societies left about
five years ago. We now hire and pay for the chaplain to run the program and minister to the seafarers from a great many different
countries. We have a group of dedicated volunteers, some of whom are fluent in the languages of the seafarers, to help. The
ministry today is almost entirely aboard ships during their brief time in port. In the year 2000, 693 ships were visited.
The seafarers on these ships came from sixty different nations.
The seafarers to whom we minister are away from home for many months at a time. They
may go several months without setting foot on land. Since the event of 9/11/2001, it is now difficult, if not impossible,
for most mariners to leave their ships while in the US. For the most part, their pay is very low, and many times the shipping
companies refuse to pay them at all. Life is lonely and dangerous. (How many of you saw “the Perfect Storm"?).
Seafarers Ministry chaplains, staff and volunteers provide spiritual comfort, counseling, and occasionally intervention
where particularly onerous situations are uncovered.
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