17th-23rd February 2025
2025 is a year of 80th anniversaries as the world remembers the end of the Second World War in 1945. Commemorations of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp took place in January and events will take place in May and August to mark the end of the war in Europe and Asia. As well as being a year of endings, 1945 was a year of new beginnings around the world with the formation of Missionary Aviation Fellowship (now Mission Aviation Fellowship/MAF).
“As fighting raged across Europe, Christian airmen and airwomen from Britain, the USA and Australia began to dream of peace. Peace that would bring hope, stability and a chance for aircraft to be used for good rather than for war.” (Above and Beyond: The Story of MAF)
I first heard about the work of MAF through reading Elisabeth Elliot’s books, “Through Gates of Splendour” and “Shadow of the Almighty”. They tell the story of her husband, Jim, Nate Saint (MAF pilot), Pete Fleming, Ed McCully and Roger Youderian whose attempts to evangelise the isolated Auca people (now known as Waorani) in Ecuador ended in their deaths. Elisabeth and Rachel Saint (Nate’s sister) returned to Ecuador for a time and were able to make contact with the Waorani. They even saw some come to faith and, in later years, Nate Saint’s children were baptised by the Waorani who had killed their father.
The books had a huge impact on me as a young Christian as they present an inspirational story of men and women who were totally committed to following wherever the Lord led them. Elisabeth also shared insights into Jim Elliot’s personal walk with God, illustrated by quotations from his diary, including the best known, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”, a statement possibly inspired by Philip Henry, a 17th century preacher. But what a statement of faith to be embraced by a young man in his twenties!
MAF is a unique organisation which I have supported for a long time and for which I have been a volunteer speaker for almost twenty years. This week I would like to share with you some of the reasons why.
Written by Valerie Brown
MONDAY
From small and very difficult beginnings in the 1940s, with just one aircraft operating in Sudan (then one country), the work relocated to countries such as Kenya, Chad and Tanzania each time Christian mission organisations had to leave Sudan because of the protracted civil war. MAF now reaches men, women and children in over 25 countries. The partition of Sudan in July 2011 means that MAF operates only in South Sudan from a base established in Juba.
A three-hour flight for one of our partners can save them a week’s journey overland in the dry season and a month in the wet season. In the face of overwhelming need, MAF flights enable partners to treat patients, assist refugees, spread the Gospel, disciple believers and provide education, healthcare, food, clean water and essential supplies, by flying them to their destination. MAF is also there to provide emergency evacuations when violence erupts.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for pioneering men and women in the past who kept going despite the many obstacles and difficulties they faced. Thank You that they stood firm, not in their own strength but in the strength which You provide. We thank You that this same strength is available to us in every situation we face in our lives. Enable us to stand firm we pray, in the mighty name of Jesus.
TUESDAY
In one year in South Sudan MAF served 10,322 passengers across 62 locations and worked with 232 partner organisations including AIM International, Christian Blind Mission (CBM), Tearfund, Campus Crusade/Agape . . . the list goes on. MAF pilots are not evangelists, doctors or engineers, but partnerships with these organisations enables MAF to transport these and other experts to wherever the need is, quickly and safely. Each flight brings practical help, spiritual hope and physical healing to thousands of isolated people in remote communities for whom flying is a lifeline not a luxury.
Heavenly Father, we thank You that the gospel is the common goal which cements the partnerships which MAF has with many other organisations. We pray that together they may impact even more people with the hope of the gospel and provide the physical help they need. We thank You for Glenabbey’s mission families and partners who reach into many needy situations in our world and we ask for Your protection over each one in all they do in Your name.
WEDNESDAY
Almost 80% of Kenya’s land is classified as desert or semi-arid, leaving the country’s population dependent on the annual rain cycle and extremely vulnerable when the rains fail or, as in 2024, there are floods. Kenya’s refugee camps host a large population of people displaced within Kenya due to internal conflicts and are a key destination for refugees fleeing conflict in neighbouring Somalia and South Sudan.
One MAF pilot, who had flown disaster response staff, food and essentials supplies to Dadaab Refugee Camp in Eastern Kenya, recalls meeting a mother of six, all under ten years of age. She had pushed her eight-year-old paralysed daughter in a wheelbarrow to reach the camp. They had been walking for twenty days and she had lost two children on the way. MAF was one of the first organisations to respond with twice-weekly flights before the UN response began six months later. Ryan says he will never forget that lady’s heartbreaking story but he is thankful to God that MAF was there to help.
Heavenly Father, we cry out to You for the many millions of refugees in the world today. We thank You that You see each one and You know their individual stories. We pray for those who have found their way to Northern Ireland and thank you for those who come to Glenabbey each week. May we show them kindness and reflect Your deep love for each one of them. We long to see healing from the physical and mental trauma many have suffered and pray that, as they build a new life here, they will find abundant life in Christ.
THURSDAY
In 2022 mobile eye clinics were re-established in remote parts of Kenya. Marsabit County, 340 miles north of Nairobi, is situated on an isolated extinct volcano in the middle of the desert. MAF’s shuttle service to and from Marsabit, which has been running for over 30 years, takes less than two hours as opposed eight hours by road. Compared to Nairobi, healthcare in Marsabit is extremely limited and eye health in the region is particularly poor. According to CBM, 80% of blindness in Kenya is preventable and curable and thousands of people are needlessly blind because they cannot access simple surgery or treatment that could save their sight. We read many stories in the gospels of the Lord Jesus healing blindness but not only restoring their sight – restoring them to their families and communities and enabling them to work again. In Luke 18: 35-43 the whole village is aware of this man’s healing and the same still happens in many places. People want to know why strangers are coming to help them and, when they are told of a loving God who sent His Son to die for them, many come to faith!
Heavenly Father, we thank You for godly men and women who use the gifts and abilities You have given them to serve the poor and marginalised people of this world. Help us to encourage and support them in prayer. And help us to recognise the gifts and abilities You have given to each one of us and to use them in the service of others, relying on Your strength.
FRIDAY
Linguist Mark Ortman heads up ‘Association pour le Développement et la Paix’ (Association of Peace & Development/ADP) based in Bardai in the far north of Chad, the furthest destination that MAF flies to from the capital N’Djamena. Enabled by MAF, he has spent the last 30 years working with the Teda people to develop an alphabet and publish the language.
Without MAF (a six-hour flight) it would take ADP up to five days to reach Bardai crossing the Sahara Desert. Only 124 miles of the 1,056-mile route is paved, before it turns into sand. Once in the mountainous Tibesti region, the bumpy drive over hardened lava and dunes can be just as slow as walking. Vehicles often break down, which means searching for parts while others wait or sleep on the sand. There is no accommodation nearby. It once took Mark nineteen days to reach Bardai when his car broke down in the desert.
The Teda people speak the Teda language from the Tebu Saharan language family, but before Mark arrived it had never been written down and there was much opposition to it being written down. According to UNESCO, Chad has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world – 94% of children still cannot read or write by the age of 10. Chadian Arabic is spoken in mosques and French is taught in schools but not the languages of the Teda.
It took many years of painstaking work but today the Teda written language is part of the national curriculum. Mark explained that, ”Once the Teda have the ability to read and write in their own language rather than a language they don’t speak, like French or Arabic, all of a sudden something happens and they embrace it.” As for the Teda’s relationship with MAF, after 30 years of service, they see the aircraft as their own!
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the privilege of having Your word in our own language and for the ability to read or listen to it at any time. May we never take this for granted. We pray today for every child and young person who will take part in the Friday night activities and ask that as Your word is taught they would not only learn about You but would come to know the Living Word. Draw them to Yourself and build them up in their faith. We ask for stamina and patience for the leaders and protection for each one.
SATURDAY
I had the joy of meeting Stuart King, one of the co-founders of MAF, in 2008. He, along with Jack Hemmings, had flown the inaugural flight from Croydon to Sudan in a wooden plane! He was a genuine English gentleman and was more interested in talking about the work of MAF than his career as an RAF Flight Lieutenant whose service included the D-Day landings. He was called home in 2020 at the age of 98 having worked for and represented MAF for 75 years. Jack, a former RAF Squadron Leader, also represented MAF with great passion. On his 102nd birthday he made headline news by becoming the oldest British pilot to take the controls of a Spitfire during a short flight. He passed away just a few weeks ago, leaving a wonderful testimony of God’s protection and provision over the last 80 years.
Give thanks today for godly men and women who have been an influence on you.
SUNDAY
MAF partner ‘Brass for Africa’ (BfA) supports vulnerable people across Uganda, Rwanda and Liberia including refugees at Bidibidi in Yumbe, northern Uganda, Africa’s largest refugee settlement. Created in 2016, Bidibidi Settlement is ‘home’ to at least 270,000 mostly South Sudanese refugees.
Before BfA arrived, there was hostility between the host community and refugees. Some locals refused to share their wells, firewood and land. In response, the BfA team invited the locals to participate in music classes and now both groups live together more peacefully. Life for refugees only meant sleeping and waking up, now they have music, they are achieving a vibrant community. Lessons aren’t for individuals – they are taught in a group.
Another problem refugees face when they leave their home country is their loss of culture. This project helps them to connect and cherish their culture. They can have their music and keep their culture while away from their home country.
According to BfA, when they started delivering their engaging music programmes in 2020, suicide rates in Bidibidi were higher than they are now. In 2021, there were over 160 suicides, but in 2023 this dropped to 40. This is greatly attributed to their programmes like ‘Music for Healthcare Inclusion’, where refugees learn how to play brass instruments for relaxation as well as gaining a skill, which could help them earn a living. Playing in a band also fosters community and hope.
Heavenly Father, we give You thanks for the many gifted musicians in Glenabbey who lead us in praise and worship Sunday by Sunday. As we raise our voices in praise may You be honoured and glorified. We thank you for those who teach Your word, for the time and effort taken to prepare – help us to listen well and to apply what we learn in our daily lives. And for all those working in the background to make our services possible and to make them widely available, be their encouragement. We thank you for the technology which allows Your word to be heard throughout the world and pray that you would speak just as clearly to those listening or watching online, wherever they are.