Aviation Ministries

An excerpt from...

Aviation Ministries

Partnerships for the repairs of missionary aircraft
By Jim Newman, Airplane Maintenance, Ohio
January-March 2014

As you walk through the hangar door, the first things you may notice are several aircraft in various stages of disassembly and a group of mechanics dressed in similar uniforms. As you take a closer look at the airplanes, you will see the registration numbers indicate that they are from various countries around the world. As you begin to listen to the conversations of the mechanics, you realize they are also from different regions of the world. If you look and listen closely, you may realize that a World Gospel Mission missionary mechanic is training an apprentice mechanic for Missionary Flights International on an aircraft owned by Mission Aviation Fellowship in the facilities of Missionary Maintenance Service. Some people may be amazed that there are four missions groups represented on a single project, but at Missionary Maintenance Service, this is more the norm than the exception.

Many missionaries rely on aircraft to provide transportation and supplies. By flying over dangerous terrain or hostile situations, they can reach more people for Christ. These aircraft require highly skilled and properly trained mechanics to maintain them in rugged environments.

MMS has been meeting this critical need since 1975 and has served over 100 different Christian ministries. Through the blending of an aviation apprenticeship with actual modification and repair of missionary aircraft, we return aircraft to field service and provide hands-on experience to each apprentice mechanic. All MMS personnel are faith-supported, allowing us to provide our services labor-free to Christian ministries, saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

WGM’s aviation ministry Wings of Peace in Bolivia was blessed by this relationship many times since 1985. As a former Wings of Peace family, my wife, Mary, and I have been on special assignment with MMS as part of the training staff since the closing of WOP.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:14-20: “For the body is not one member, but many.… But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body” (NASB).

An airplane is made up of thousands of parts, each one necessary to make it airworthy. We and the different missions groups we serve are all parts, each with unique gifts and talents, but it’s only when we work together that we form the Body.

PRAY: How many times do you notice those shiny birds overhead? The next time you do, take a moment to pray for Jim and Mary and those with whom they work for the cause of missions. Ask God to use this partnership to further His kingdom.