In my travels, I have seen how people of other cultures are affected
by the movies and television that come from the West. They see
that most people here celebrate Christmas, and many observe Easter,
and therefore they conclude that all the movies and other media from
here are an accurate reflection of a “Christian” society. What a
challenging period of world history we live in as we send out
missionaries tasked with demonstrating what a true Christian is!
Because of your support, MAF is able to provide the air
transportation that enables hundreds of missions to reach isolated
people. Not only does MAF enable their ministry, we are their
lifeline for supplies, their route to safety in times of danger or
medical emergency, and a welcome technical support for their
communications gear and other equipment. They tell us that without
MAF, they would not be able to operate in many of the places they
now serve.
While we love to fly missionaries, Bible translators, and national
church pastors, our staff members also look forward to interacting
with non-Christians in the countries we serve. Where an area is not
being served by other missions, our pilots get involved in direct
evangelism by doing things like showing the JESUS film,
sometimes stringing up a bed sheet on poles and running their
projector off a battery pack in the aircraft.
Most of our pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, and support
staff have had Bible School training, as well as language training,
to be able to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those who
have had little exposure to true Christianity. Local people
look up to MAF staff and see a much different model of a Christian
than they perceived from their exposure to Western media.
Please pray that our staff members will continue to have God-given
opportunities to tell about the hope within them. And let us
be mindful that this is a task all of us here in Canada also have as
believers – to be ready always to give an answer to those who ask us
for the reason for the hope we have. (1 Peter 3:15)
