(Photo courtesy Mission Aviation Fellowship)
Indonesia (MNN) — East Kalimantan is considered the most industrially advanced province of Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Its population is less than two million, and the people are spread out among the dense forest that covers roughly 80% of the region. In this region, Mission Aviation Fellowship has come alongside pastors who are cultivating a rich spiritual heritage. Their pilots and crew provide vital aviation and radio communications services to Indonesian churches, Christian missions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) ministering in Kalimantan, Indonesia.
MAF pilot Tripp Flythe loves the role he gets to fill as a pilot/mechanic using the airplane to serve the church, its ministries, and the people of Kalimantan. “We kind of divide the majority of our flights into community service, church support, and we do a lot of compassion for Christ or a lot of Medevac flights, and so I would say the spiritual climate is definitely a growing Church.” MAF provides a much-needed service to the people living deep in the heart of Borneo. “They really look to MAF as a support, and so we do fly a lot of pastors in for quite a few church conferences and Bible schools, and things like that.”
(Photo courtesy Mission Aviation Fellowship)
Recently, Flythe shared a highlight when he noted the contents of a flight manifest. “I saw that we had something like five thousand kilos, which is well over 10,000 pounds of Bibles that we were flying in over the month of January. We were flying these into the Krayan Hulu region, or Long Bawan area of North Kalimantan.”
In describing the role of the pilots, Flythe said their team was an enthusiastic part of the distribution process. “It’s a big deal, and they’re excited to have new Bibles in their hands and to be able to read the Word of God. The people we do serve, they are, for the most part, very literate; they’re fairly educated.” Flythe noted the churches planned a big ceremony and then the evangelists would begin to distribute in villages. “I think there were two different types (kind of a larger study type and then a smaller one) that were going to be distributed all over the region.”
Aviation allows MAF to establish and develop relationships with a broad cross section of society. It’s especially strategic, Flythe adds, because “the mission-sending center of the world, in the future, is going to be shifting, I believe, from the U.S. It’s certainly shifted from Europe, and now it’s moving west. It’s going to be countries like China, Korea, countries like Indonesia, other big countries like Brazil…as we empower them and enable them to reach to the ends of the earth, you know, reaching every tribe, tongue, and nation…. I would just pray towards that.”
(Photo courtesy Mission Aviation Fellowship)
As evidenced by a massive Scripture distribution, hearts are open to the Gospel. People are eager, and Flythe regards his contribution as an investment in future kingdom building. “There are some really neat pastors and churches that we’re able to partner and serve alongside. That’s the stuff that gets me really excited. So just pray toward that, and pray that they would be used by God greatly in the decades to come.”
According to Flythe, this is all about advancing the kingdom of heaven, and it seems that the far flung regions of Indonesia might be leading the way. Click here for more details about MAF’s work in Indonesia.
