The Liberty Gazette
December 7, 2021
Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely
With another Thanksgiving celebrated, giving thanks for all we’ve been given, we enter again into the Giving Season. This time of year, people who celebrate Christmas and people who don’t find common ground in giving. During this time, we aim to create awareness and present opportunities for your heart to change lives around the world. We’ll start with the Christian mission organization, JAARS, sharing information from their website.
Seventy years ago, Cameron Townsend acted on his belief that all people should have God’s Word in their own language. His action was to create JAARS – Jungle Aviation and Radio Service, SIL International (a literacy organization), and Wycliff Bible Translators as Christian change agencies with a goal to permeate cultures without destroying them.
Through JAARS, Townsend set out to accomplish the Great Commission goal of providing Scripture to every people group on earth in a language and form they clearly understand. In his words, “Airplanes and radios don’t just make translation easier; they make it possible.”
He devoted his life to that vision, trusting that God would make the impossible possible. Reaching and working in minority language communities—sometimes in the most remote, dangerous corners of the world—had to be overcome with logistical support.
Today, JAARS is a multidisciplinary team of problem-solvers committed to the belief that people’s lives and communities are transformed as they experience God’s Word in their own language. Their commitment is to support their translation partners with locally appropriate and sustainable solutions until the Gospel has reached the whole world. These solutions come in transportation, technology, media, and training. And being there requires a strong ministry so that the translation projects underway or yet to begin in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas are not hindered by lack of support in the areas where God has blessed JAARS to serve.
Major transportation tools, like aircraft and boats, are critical for JAARS to overcome logistical barriers around the world. But these tools are becoming increasingly expensive and take longer to fund, even as translation plans begin to focus on the last, most remote language communities.
With the expansion of transportation systems and infrastructure globally, along with the pace of technology and communications innovation, it’s tempting to wonder whether any place, any longer, is truly “off the grid.” The reality is yes. Missionaries intently focused on translation efforts are increasingly challenged by the responsibility to manage mission-critical transportation operations. JAARS continues to help fill these gaps, but not without support from private donors.
At the JAARS Center in Waxhaw, North Carolina, missionaries and other volunteers depend on the research and development, training, manufacturing, repairs, medical services, housing, food service, childcare, and spiritual encouragement to help make Scripture translation possible. They depend on this support to have a sustainable impact when they are working in the field. Ultimately, the work is for the millions of people still eagerly waiting to hear and grasp the Gospel in the language they understand best.
ElyAirLines.blogspot.com
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