I was asked to give the address at a Sea Sunday service as the Montrose Trinity churches were interested to know more about the work of Montrose Port Mission. My theme was Malachi 4 with an emphasis upon Malachi 4:6:

"His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers." (New Living Translation)

Malachi 4 being the last word in the Old Testament is an awesome message for us all pointing as it does to the return of Jesus. I observed that the focus of the Sea Sunday service was on supporting seafarers with verse 4:6. However the Holy Spirit might
challenge some to meditate upon the context, which was Malachi 4, as a personal Bible study. And that these four verses and expositions were on the reverse of their sheet. They might also meditate, I reminded them, that society in the time of Malachi was
divided very much as ours is today between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ and that the whole book of Malachi teaches how decadent and corrupt their society was, as is ours.

The Malachi 4:6 verse about fathers, their children, and repentance is the passage the Lord gave me for our ministry to the seafarers distanced for up to nine months from their families. This verse has been at the heart of the Montrose Mission’s project for five years as we try to help Filipino fathers maintain their focus upon their family.

Back in 2019 this had been my Christmas message to the crew of the anchor handler Pacific Dragon. As you can see, they all happily accepted the children’s story book Bibles as presents which accompanied the challenge that they prepare themselves to read the stories to their families on their return to the Philippines. We continue offering children’s Bibles to these absent fathers.

My Sea Sunday message focused upon the parenting needs of these absent fathers, with vignettes such as witnessing a dad happily chatting with his young son in the Philippines as they breakfasted together with the boy screened on his phone in front of him as he ate his breakfast cereal being a glimpse into lives of aching separation and hardship.

I shared about asking the question, “How do you raise a family when you are nine months at sea?" and that sometimes, the answer is through tearful eyes.

We pray the Holy Spirit turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and thereby the hearts of children to their fathers. Wifi conversations for these men can be limited by connectivity costs, therefore they appreciate the free Wifi we offer from the Seafarers’ Cabin.

As we listen during ship visits or time together in the nearby Seafarer’s Cabin we encourage them to speak about their family, offer to pray for them and suggest how they can give time to preparing for their return home by accepting a Children’s Bible and or storybook Bible according to the age/s of their children.

One crewman did tell me he was challenged by the message we had put on the children’s Bibles displayed in the Seafarer’s Cabin and had read it to his wife as they spoke together in the Seafarer’s cabin on the free Wifi. The message read as follows: ‘Read this book to your shipmates to help you talk together about your children and be better able to read and explain these Bible stories and truths to your children when you return home’. The crewman had promised to his wife that he would spend time whilst at sea preparing to lead family worship on his return, and he took the book.

Towards the close of my Sea Sunday message, I suggested they might take a copy of Martin Otto’s book The Seafarer’s Mind where they could learn more about the hardship of being so distanced for such a time from one’s family.

Finally, I reminded the congregation that as ship visitors and disciples of Jesus ……..the eyes of our hearts are upon where the people to whom we are talking are as individuals in the sight of God the Father, our questions and offered prayer being;

• “do they know Jesus as the only way to God?"
• “have they been born again”,
• “are they filled with the Holy Spirit free, as Malachi says leaping with joy
  like calves let out to pasture”.

Montrose Port Mission and Keith Oliver, the Ipswich Port Chaplain, invite you to say a prayer that seafarers will accept the challenge of spending time reading and preparing themselves as fathers ‘looking to Jesus’ both as individuals and with the help of other crew members.

Here's a video of one of the Filipino seamen reading to his child:

Mike Burleigh