Following the Nile

There’s a forgotten art of flying, called pilotage. It combines knowing where you think you are on the map and matching it to the scenery below you. Modern satellite navigation systems have mostly made this skill obsolete, however, it can avert disaster at AIM AIR.  

A few years ago one of our Cessna 206 airplanes stopped producing electrical energy to charge the battery. The pilot, flying over the swamps of South Sudan, knew he was hours from the capital city and decided to power off as much equipment as he could, including the GPS. He flew most of the way back using his compass, watch, and pilotage. 

Fortunately, he could readily turn to and follow the  world’s longest river, the Nile. 

A view from an AIM AIR Cessna Caravan of the Nile flowing out of Lake Victoria

If a pilot becomes lost, they look for a major landmark on their map, such as the Nile River, and turn towards that. They can get their bearings from there they know where to turn to find their destination. Using this old technique, a single flight becomes a series of course corrections from point to point plotted on the map. 

As a missionary we want to follow God’s course. Sometimes we wake up and realize we don’t see anything familiar to what we had mapped out. God needs to be our reference point. Sometimes the river of where He is working  bends as it flows over this land. If we hope to land at our destination, we need to follow that reference point.  

I myself have been momentarily ”lost” while pursuing God’s call. On several occasions in the past four years, it seemed AIM AIR’s role in mission work may be winding down. Over 90% of our flying is for missionaries coming from the developed world. Yet we know that the center of gravity for missions is shifting. More and more missionaries are coming from the Global South.  

We became so focused on keeping the old model going that we began drifting off course. We became limited in what we would do; worried about protecting our little corner of missions.  

I noticed a clue we were off course 12 years ago. A seasoned American missionary asked the question that haunts me to this day. “Why are you driving with us all the way up here [into a remote region of South Sudan] to survey an airstrip? We won’t be putting any western missionaries in this location.” 

The river was bending. 

Course Correction in 2022: AIM AIR can serve our missionaries?

There seems to be a growing desire among influential churches here in Nairobi, Kenya to get involved in missions.  

I learned that middle class Kenyans and westerners have more in common than I thought. Time is precious to both groups and they both share deep seated concern about traveling into the unknown. Especially when the unknown is a harsh desert in the rural parts of Kenya or the undeveloped areas of South Sudan. The difference is most Westerners are aware of the role of the missions aviation ministry. Many of the Kenyan church leaders I’ve talked to had no idea we existed nor that we were here to serve their missionaries and missions initiatives. 

I asked several church leaders if they knew of a missions conference in Kenya that crossed denominations. In the US we have a massive event around New Year’s called Urbana. However here in Kenya none of the church leader could think of an equivalent. The wheels started spinning. 

AIM AIR had a hangar which could serve as a large space to meet. As a bonus, the airplanes on display could spark interest. Maybe church leaders and missions pastors would catch the missions vision. 

Course Correction 2023: Mabawa Ya Injili 

We invited 70 churches from a dozen denominations to attend our mini missions conference in the hangar last March. 35 churches sent representatives. 

The airplanes and a sightseeing flight may have drawn them in, but it was the joy of hearing Kenyan missionaries that fueled their enthusiasm. Many beamed! They had no idea that this kind of work was going on around them. 

We called the event: Mabawa Ya Injili – a swahili phrase which literally means Wings of the Gospel. The event sparked something, and it started growing.  

 A few months later, in February, a large church in Eldoret Kenya, called AIC Fellowship launched their inaugural missions conference. 

Course Correction 2024: Missions Mkononi / Mabawa Ya Injili 

AIC Fellowship was founded in the 1940s, and today has a congregation in the thousands attending every Sunday.  They extended an invitation to 400 churches in the Eldoret area. They invited an AIM Missionary to be one of the Keynote speakers. They also invited the AIM AIR Mabawa Ya Injili team to attend. 

The two-day missions conference culminated with several of us sitting under the stars.  

We sat enthralled as the missions chairman proposed a bold plan: to send 10 missionaries to the Silale region within the year. The region is known as a hotbed of violence. Youth from the area have attacked neighboring tribes and even the police forces.  

Civil servants admitted they knew this area was a problem. They also admitted that a government only solution would likely end in more bloodshed. Various stakeholders stepped up. Christian business leaders proposed ways they could share profits or come up with innovative strategies to care for the missionaries. They were united in believing that the good news of Jesus must go to Silale.  

I struggled to know what to say when it was my turn to speak, but the enthusiasm from those gathered was infectious. 

The chairman started saying a phrase after every speaker ended: “Missions mkononi, Mabawa ya Injili (missions in hand, wings of the gospel).” 

In addition, a number of members admitted that wasn’t enough to just send missionaries.  We needed to care for them too.  

I had witnessed Kenyan missionaries who had lost loved ones due to a treatable disease, but were unable to reach a hospital. Others shared how insecurity related stress and anxiety affected them. They shared how they felt  being so far from home.  

If the community would build an airstrip, we would make every effort to be there if their lives (or their children’s lives) were in danger.