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1922 – 2020: MAF pioneer

It’s not often that the good-natured office comedian is the person who founded the organisation, but it says something about the humour and humility of Stuart King, pioneering founder of the world’s largest humanitarian airline, who ascended into glory on 29 August 2020.

Stuart, who died age 98 in the 75th year of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), combined a mischievous sense of humour which led him to make jokes at meetings and then ask the person leading to get on with it, with a deep desire to glorify God and serve the developing world through aviation and technology.

On 14 July 2020, our dear brother in Christ Peter Maiden met his Saviour face to face. With his passion for exegetical preaching and his shepherd’s heart, Peter leaves a legacy of sharing God’s truth with love and compassion that will live on within world missions.

As the International Director of OM from 2003 to 2013, Peter emphasised the spirituality of OM team members and the importance of God’s word permeating the entire life of Jesus followers. While leading a life of total surrender to Jesus, in both his public and personal life, he demonstrated a quiet steadiness coupled with a visionary passion for seeing the lives of people around the world changed by Christ. Under his leadership and guidance, new ministries developed as part of OM’s growing holistic approach to mission.

While Mary Gladstone’s name may not be widely known, the fruit of her labours is clearly evident.

As a new Christian at Cambridge, she and her friends befriended an unconverted fresher, Helen Roseveare, later to become one of the foremost missionaries of the 20th century.

Robin Dowling, a well-known former Grace Baptist pastor, missionary and theologian, departed to be with Christ on 31 July 2020.

He will be sorely missed as a much-loved husband, father and grandfather. He served his generation in the ministry of the gospel from the 1970s till fairly recently. Coming from Bristol, he was well known amongst churches there when he took on the pastorate at Salem Baptist Church in Kew, Richmond, Surrey in the late 1970s. He immersed himself in encouraging Grace Baptist Churches, serving the Association of Grace Baptist Churches (South East).

James Wood, who died on 11 March at the age of 88, had a wide and significant pastoral ministry over many years.

Born in Bolton in 1931, he was saved as a boy and sensed God’s call to ministry in his teens. He served for a while at Capernwray Hall with Major Ian Thomas, and intended to train for the Anglican ministry at Tyndale Hall in Bristol following national service (1950–52).