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The Groundwork for a Move of God

God is inviting us to prepare the soil for seeds of great blessing and impact. He has the seeds ready, but it is up to us to do the groundwork. The MAF Kagamuga Development in Papua New Guinea is our opportunity to partner with God for the next chapter of MAF in PNG. Would you consider giving today to prepare the groundwork for a move of God?Read more here...

When The Plane Doesnt Come

We love the stories along the lines of When the MAF Plane Comes. What is it like When the MAF Plane Doesn’t Come? When MAF is the only organisation making the difference between life and death?A heart-breaking plea for the urgent medevac of a sick little girl in the highlands of Papua New Guinea emphasised the importance of MAF planes being able to reach isolated communities. Without access to a MAF flight, the family set out on a long walk for treatment, but miraculously Julie’s condition i...

Closing the Loop

Closing the Loop is a new initiative in MAF Timor Leste to provide more help for medevac patients, than just a flight out to medical care. Country Director of Timor-Leste Nick Hitchins explained why MAF implemented this new project.“Closing the Loop is about taking care of people from the time that we pick them up in the districts when they’re sick, until the time that we take them home again when they’re well,” Nick said.“This project is designed to extend our care of those peopl...

Michael & Naomi Lindsey

Sent from AustraliaMichael and Naomi have always felt God’s call on their lives to serve Him. The Bible explicitly instructs all followers of Christ to reach out and help the marginalised and vulnerable and God has been working to prepare and enable them to do just that. As an aspiring second generation MAF pilot, Michael has always been fascinated by aviation and the ways in which it can be used to serve people in need. Growing up in Arnhem Land and Indonesia gave him an insight into the phy...

Give a gift that reflects the meaning of Christmas!

By purchasing a Jerrycan Christmas card, you are making it possible for MAF flights to continue. This means medical aid, education, essential resources and the Christmas message can get to those cut off by conflict, natural disasters and geography. We can quickly and efficiently fly church and relief and development teams to the areas of greatest need. And of course, we have flown hundreds of emergency evacuations to transport people in serious physical need for treatment. While many stories in ...

Abigail Vincent

Office AssistantAbigail was born in Hamilton as the youngest of five children. She was home-schooled for her entire primary and secondary school education. Her Year 13 studies were completed in June 2020 and she is currently studying a double bachelors in business and communications. When she was five her family moved to Mareeba, Australia and lived there for four years where her mum started working with MAF. Ever since then she has been helping out at events where needed and volunteering for va...

Amazing Stories!

An old proverb about making soup illustrates the importance of working together. Somebody brings a pot. Somebody else brings water, another wood, another matches, somebody else potatoes, carrots and salt. If just one person fails to bring what God has given him or her, no soup can be cooked. In the same way, without MAF Jonathan Kopf and his family couldn’t get in or out of the remote villages they live and work in. Without fuel our planes cannot fly. Without an airstrip, like the one painstak...

An Incredible Day!

Tod Aebischer, Programme Manager in PNG, said, “What an incredible day it was to welcome the Hon. Nanaia Mahuta (New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs) along with the High Commissioner, Hon. Phillip Taula, and entourage, to the PNG Programme!   Much preparation, by so many of our team members, went into making this a very special day. Decorating the facility, cleaning, arranging, setting up chairs, sound equipment, media, coordinating logistics, cooking food, cutting up fruit, shop...

One Last Push

None of us like to wait. But most of what we want to achieve in life does not happen instantly. It takes time and effort and often involves delays and setbacks. We talk about life being a “journey, not a destination” but in reality, we want to “arrive”. The Bible is full of stories of waiting. In Genesis 12:2-3 God made a promise to Abraham that continued far beyond his lifetime. This promise included the promise of fame, divine protection and that Abraham, through his descendants, ...

Closing the Loop

Closing the Loop is about walking alongside people, from the initial emergency evacuation, through the stressful stay among strangers in a hospital in an unfamiliar city to offering a fast, comfortable return home – in the same plane that flew them out. Closing the loop means being the Christ who walks through the valley of the shadow of death and out the other side. The reality for a number of our medevac patients is that they find themselves discharged from hospital onto the street, wit...

Derek Harding

I grew up in England where our local church supported MAF UK and we often had MAF missionaries come to speak. As time progressed I married and served in a parish in the South East of England, where I was licenced as a worship leader and lay-minister and in due course became a Deacon and Priest. In 2007 I came to New Zealand to work in Blenheim on a Missionary Visa. Once again I came into contact with aviation and MAF. In 2011 I was able to develop my own interest in aviation by earning my Privat...

Renee Brewer

I was born and raised in the beautiful Taranaki region in a Christian family with three siblings. I was fortunate to begin learning to fly at the age of 15. I loved the perspective from above, and I couldn’t help but be in awe of the beautiful world God created.I learned about MAF whilst still in school and deciding on what career path to take. As I learned about MAF’s mission, I was inspired. I was excited to learn of an organisation where I could fly and serve people in such a practical wa...

Now It’s Moving!

These words are from Margrit Kundig as she describes the momentum happening in Guinea as God provides step by step. From its earliest days MAF has been involved in bringing hope and healing to parts of the world in greatest need—and today pioneering efforts to start new programmes continue. Medevacs will transport those who are sick or injured quickly to the nearest hospital. MAF flights will greatly aid Bible translation as well as help the church in Guinea grow. Nearly 100,000 children ...

Jane Eddy

After nearly 40 years overseas, my husband David and I returned to New Zealand, serendipitously just before COVID-19 hit in 2020. We believe God has directed our course home, helped David find employment and provided me an opportunity to work in the wonderful family of dedicated talent called MAF. Every skill the Lord has blessed me with will now be used in His service to meet the needs of the families who cross my path.My background has been varied; from early days in advertising, sales an...

MAF launches new programme in Guinea

Like people everywhere, the eleven million living in the West African nation of Guinea have dreams and aspirations. But all too often their hopes are restricted by the lack of resources. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:19 A “new thing” is already taking place in Guinea. Through MAF, God is bringing a new “pathway”—in the air!—to...

Leigh & Inneke MacRae

Leigh was born in Napier and Inneke in South Africa, and they met in South Africa. Leigh is a qualified electrician and a refrigeration mechanic and has managed his own business for the past four years. Inneke is a physiotherapist, Mum and has helped with administration in the business. This experience has enabled them to work together as a strong team and overcome the challenges of finding practical solutions to unexpected situations. They have three children Cameron, Levi and Mikaela. They bot...

Phil & Tania Sproul

Phil grew up in the rural town of Wairoa, where he remembers a visiting missionary telling of the work of MAF bringing hope to isolated communities in Papua New Guinea. From then on he had the desire to be involved in mission, leading him to pursue a career in aviation. This culminated in more than thirty years of international airline engineering and maintenance experience with Air New Zealand and Air Pacific. Over the last four years he has been pastoring a local church. Tania w...

MAF—The Lifeline to Missionaries at Owena

”MAF is our main lifeline connection and continues to service the community through medevacs, bringing in medical supplies, taking out coffee, etc.” These are the words of Judy Young, a missionary, after her fourth return to Papua New Guinea to serve the people of Owena through a new missionary training school. Owena is a village situated around a steep airstrip on a mountain range in the Eastern Highlands of PNG with no road access. The people often walk between one and one and a half days ...

Andrew Pound

Relationship Manager As a twelve year old at a Ngaruawahia Easter Convention I responded to a challenge to consider full time service and from that time the sense of call to being a pastor was very strong. As a springboard into ministry I chose to teach in primary schools for five years before training at Carey College in 1983—1985. I spent five years as a sole charge pastor at Oamaru Baptist Church and fifteen years at Westgate Baptist Church working in a team of up to five pastors. My wi...

A Small Act of Kindness

Six year-old David came to see the MAF plane in Hamilton last year and he loved it. He was excited about the Christmas Jerrycan cards too. He liked how MAF helps people in other countries with the supplies they need. Over the summer David decided he wanted to raise some money for MAF. He used a refreshments stand he had built with some spare wood lying around and sold lemonade made with lemons from their tree. He added some pocket money he had been saving each month to total $57 and sent it to M...

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Working With MAF NZ

Benji and Jess have recently returned to New Zealand after serving in Papua New Guinea for two years with Mission Aviation Fellowship. Benji works with a team of engineers in PNG, making sure MAF's fleet is operational. Benji talked about his work with MAF and growing up with a love of aviation. He shared insights into living in a totally different culture and the adjustments he, along with his wife Jessica and young son Elliot, had to make. ...

The Flying for Life magazine is out!

We are excited to send you our next edition of Flying for Life magazine. Hear of the continued vision of MAF NZ from Mark Fox and how MAF internationally is continuing to navigate COVID-19. Read about MAF New Zealand’s hangar purchase and development and be challenged by our latest candidate’s journey to MAF. And, as always, there is much, much more. Hard copies of the magazine are available. If you would like to receive one, contact our office at: info@maf.org.nz...

Wearing Many Hats!

Often commercial pilots become jaded by the repetitive flying they do and begin to hanker after more challenging flying. Working for MAF often means learning to handle a variety of roles and developing the ability to “wear many hats”. It’s seldom boring! Since starting out in Tanzania as a pilot in 2005, Martin Zimmerman has worn a number of different MAF hats, including ground ops training, Flight Training (Crew Training Manager) and Chief Pilot. In 2014 he and his family moved to Uganda,...

Flying for Peace

We all know that sin and pride results in a world marked by division and “isms”; racism, consumerism, ethnocentrism, elitism, agnosticism, atheism, and many other “isms” that separate—and finally end in conflict. The Bible is quite clear about the root cause of conflict; “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel�...