Kevin Horseman spoke at church last night, informing us about the work of the Christian charity ‘Mission Aviation Fellowship’, founded 70 years ago by ex-RAF pilots and engineers who wanted to see aircraft used to bring ‘help, hope and healing in Christ’s name.’ Stuart King, Jack Hemmings and Murray Kendon were pioneers who had the vision to see that aircraft could bring the gospel into remote areas, thus fulfilling the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) in new ways. That first flight from Croydon to Kenya took 27 days; now the charity has 130 aircraft serving in in 38 countries, travelling to more destinations than any other airline (3000!)
Using aircraft such as the Cessna 182 and the Cessna 208 floatplane, MAF runs both a chartered service and acts as a taxi air service, particularly in emergency evacuations following natural disasters such as earthquakes:
The floatplane is especially useful because it can reach areas which have lots of water such as Bangladesh.
MAF works to support aid agencies such as TearFund, Christian Aid and Oxfam and is involved in getting food supplies to areas of famine (flying in ‘Plumpy Nuts’, a nutritional food bar which can help relieve famine):
It is also involved in medical evacuations, helping to get people to hospitals quickly when the journey by road would take days. It flies to Africa, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, South America and Mongolia, acting like the donkey in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, enabling others to work in different areas, bringing hope and healing to areas that are too remote to be reached in any other way.
How Can We Help?
- Pray. MAF provide a regular magazine called ‘Flying For Life’ which details the work they are doing and includes a prayer diary to help us pray for the organisation.
- People. MAF needs people to work for them in a range of jobs (pilots, engineers, administrative support staff.) This is a faith-based mission, a calling, not just a job!
- Postcards. The sale of postcards can be a tremendous fund-raiser, so send any postcards in to MAF’s Folkestone head office.
- Pounds. Running aircraft is an expensive business, with people on the ground often only able to pay one-third of the actual cost of a flight. Here in the UK, we can give financially to help the charity and can also be involved in fund-raising.