The story of flying mission

Malcolm J McArthur
Milton Contact Ltd 2011
£19 Pb 321 pp
ISBN 978 0 95626 496 1

What is the fastest way to get from one town in Botswana to another across miles and miles of uncharted desert? By plane (ka sefofane in the local language), of course. As a young missionary doctor, the author spent many uncomfortable and often anxious hours bumping along desert tracks in a 7-ton Bedford truck, to reach small clinics in remote areas of the country. On one such occasion, noticing the effortless, elegant flight of some vultures overhead, the idea of equipping the medical service with wings was born.

This is the story of how the Flying Mission was started and progressed to become a respected professional service to the people of Botswana, linking the provision of medical services with the spread of the gospel to every corner of the country. I was as challenged as I remember as a young teenager reading the stories of the great 19th century missionaries, going to unknown lands and peoples with the gospel, leaving behind the comforts of a professional life at home for the uncertainties and hard work of those remote and poor regions. Buy this book and see why those old missionary stories are still relevant.

Pablo Fernandez is CMF Head of Graduate Ministries.