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?

1. 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.
2. 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!
3. Postcards. The sale of postcards can be a tremendous fund-raiser, so send any postcards in to MAF’s Folkestone head office.
4. 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.

Mark spoke this morning about fountains of blessing available from God. Fountains generally involve water and are sometimes ornamental:

Sometimes they are coordinated with lights:

Sometimes children play in them:

Sometimes we even enjoy food fountains!

In the Bible, fountains were natural springs of water, essential for drinking and washing, and the positioning of these determined where people lived. Deut 8:5-10 talks of the good land God intended to give His people: ‘a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills‘ (Deut 8:7), representing His desire to bless people with all that is good for us. Nowadays, we have plumbed water into our homes, but we still need God’s blessing and He still has an endless supply of blessing to pour out on us.

Joel 3:18 says ‘In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house  and will water the valley of acacias.‘ Whilst this is clearly figurative language (mountains do not really drip wine or hills flow with milk!), it again demonstrates that God’s presence is the key to blessing. Is 41:17-20 reminds us that God can bring forth blessing even in inauspicious circumstances (when we’re found in the desert, when our lives are barren.) His powerful blessing transforms situations.

Ps 87:7 reminds us that all our springs and fountains are in God. God wants to be the fount of every blessing in our lives. He made us, knows us and is able to bless us abundantly.

The shocking and horrific events in Paris on Friday night and the loss of life caused by terrorists leave us floundering. Every new atrocity we witness strips us of any sense of safety we have, causing fear and confusion to rise up. For many of us, it’s hard to understand all the issues, hard to separate outrage and revulsion from fear, hard to work out how religious belief can lead to such violence, hard to know how we, as individuals, can have any positive effect, hard to know how to pray.

Rom 12:9 says ‘Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.’ Hating what is evil is not the same as hating people, however; Eph 6:12 reminds us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. It is important to keep this distinction in mind as we pray for justice and for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done, on earth as in heaven.

For many of us, hatred seems overpowering and it’s easy to feel helpless in the face of organised terror. Love as a weapon seems ineffectual; we only have to look at the cross to see evil and violence winning. But we only have to look at the cross to see that God’s ways are not the same as our ways and that victory is not achieved through might and power but by the Spirit of God (Zech 4:6). How this works out in daily living is not easy to discern, but we must hold on to the power of God’s love and God’s way of doing things at all times.

‘We believe Your love is the strongest way
You’re tearing down walls and You break our chains
Even in this darkness hope will rise again
When we lay down our weapons, we will let love win
Lord, we lay down our weapons and we let love win.’ (‘Let Love Win’, Carrollton)

People often say there’s nothing to do in our area, but on Friday 11th December from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. there will be a Christmas market on Market Street in Goldthorpe, and we’re getting involved!

At the market, there will be a variety of craft stalls (including one selling Christmas wreaths) and in the car park at the bottom of Market Street, there will be a variety of rides. So far, the following things have been booked:

• Rodeo reindeer
• Mega Jungle Christmas Trailer
• Coconut Shy
• Tin Can Alley
• Bungie Trampoline
• Six Bed Trampoline
• Mini Waltzer Ride
• Ball in the Bucket
• Santa’s Grotto

Inside the church building, we’ll be selling refreshments (to keep everybody nice and warm!) and we also hope to run some craft activities and sell some Christmas crafts, with money raised from this going to the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal (to buy presents for children of needy local families.) We’ll also be running a Christmas present wrapping service, a bargain at 10p per present, so if you’re one of the many people who hate wrapping Christmas presents, why not come along, buy some presents at the Christmas Market and then bring them along to the building to have them wrapped while you enjoy a cuppa?!

All the local churches will be involved with this, and at 6 p.m. we’ll host the ‘Churches Together’ carol service, singing carols outdoors in the car park so that everyone can enjoy the festive spirit!

How can you be involved?

1. Come along at some point between 4-8 p.m. to support the event!
2. Get involved in running a stall or looking after some of the activities (if you’re a crafty person, please offer ideas and suggestions as well as your expertise!)
3. Provide some craft items to sell
4. Make refreshments or wash up
5. Join us for the carol service at 6 p.m.

We’ll have a variety of Christmas literature available to give out and we hope this will be a great way of serving our community as well as enjoying all the festive activities ourselves.

Don’t forget the prayer meeting on Thursday (12th November) at 7.30 p.m. We need to pray and connect with God – come along if you can!

On Friday, there is a ‘Breath & Life’ network meeting at Stocksbridge (at The Hub church) for all involved in music worship. See Garry and Julie if you’d like to go.

On Sunday morning, we will be at Cherry Tree Court for the morning service, starting at 10.30 a.m. and in the evening at 6 p.m., Kevin Horseman from Mission Aviation Fellowship will be speaking about the work of this missionary organisation. I’m sure he’ll have plenty of exciting stories (and resources available!), so this will be a great evening of encouragement and vision.

Looking a little further ahead…

1. There is a fitness session for the over 50s at church on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. until 11 a.m. throughout November. This is a ‘gentle exercise class’ run by Be Well Barnsley and all are welcome!
2. In December, there will be a Christmas market on Friday 11th December on Market Street from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. We are hoping to be involved with this, along with other local churches, so watch this space for more details!
3. The church carol service will be on Sunday 20th December at 6 p.m.

This Sunday evening (15th November at 6 p.m.) we are having a guest speaker (Kevin Horseman) from the missionary society Mission Aviation Fellowship. This charity provides aviation, communications, and learning technology services to more than 1,000 Christian and humanitarian agencies, as well as thousands of isolated missionaries and indigenous villagers in the world’s most remote areas. It has three major operational centres, in the USA, UK and Australia, and these centres provide operational support in the Americas, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. In 2010, MAF served in more than  55 countries, flying 201,710 passengers with a fleet of some 130 aircraft.^[1]

This is an amazing charity, providing disaster relief services, air ambulance services and a whole host of practical help for missionaries and villagers in remote areas, focussing its mission work in the areas of evangelism and church nuture; medical assistance; disaster response; community development and training.

If you’re interested in aircraft and want to know more about what God is doing in other parts of the world, come along on Sunday to find out more! In the meantime, check out their website.