How you can reach future generations with Christ’s love through MAF

Pull back the curtains of time; before Nate Saint; before the missionary movements of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries; before William Carey, Hudson Taylor, and Adoniram Judson; even before the Apostle Paul’s missionary journeys; and you will find an empty tomb in a remote corner of the Roman Empire—out of which inexplicably rose an obscure wood-working rabbi.

Before the Risen Christ ascended into heaven, He spoke to his small band of followers and left them with a mandate: Go out and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them. Show them the Way I have taught you. And I will be with you always—even until the end.

And so His followers went out—empowered by the Holy Spirit—to the entire world with a message that would change everything. They have been going for over two thousand years.

And they are still going.

A Plentiful Harvest

Today, the Gospel has been carried to much of the world. But there are still people who have never heard. And some places have become politically or religiously closed—ensuring that current and future generations are just as unreached by the hope of Jesus as those living in isolation.

In some ways, not much has changed. There are still corners of the world, like parts of the highlands of Papua, Indonesia, where people wake up and go about their days just like they have for thousands of years—living in fear of tribal warfare, malevolent spirits, and often without the ability to meet their basic needs. But in other ways the world today is a vastly different place than when MAF first took to the skies.

MAF stands at a unique point in history. As the world seems to be increasingly at odds with the Gospel message, MAF is not only being allowed to operate in many places “closed” to the Gospel but is often being invited in by the local governments because of the valuable services we provide. This presents a unique opportunity for future generations of isolated people to be transformed by the power of Christ’s love.

“If MAF is going to reach future generations of people living in spiritual darkness, we cannot continue with business as usual. We must accelerate our ministry to bring the Gospel to a changing world.” —John Boyd, President and CEO of MAF

Looking to the Future

MAF launched the Future Generations campaign this year so the organization can be in a position to share the transforming love of Jesus with isolated people for many years to come! This campaign seeks to revitalize an aging fleet of airplanes, expand the global headquarters to accommodate and train more missionaries, and allow MAF to launch new ministries in places untouched by the Gospel.

The legacy in which MAF missionaries walk goes back further than 1945. These missionaries follow in the footsteps of the early apostles, of brave missionaries setting sail for foreign lands, of those who have given their lives so that even people in the hardest-to-reach places would know about the Savior from Galilee. MAF missionaries, and you when you support them, heed the same mandate that Jesus gave to His followers: Go and make disciples.

Article appeared in FlightWatch vol. 1, 2017

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