Besides great beauty and evidence of God’s creative hand, they are where the remote, often forgotten people of the world live. And they’re all geographical barriers to Bible translators who desire to reach those people with God’s Word.
Why is JAARS needed?
Much of today’s Bible translation takes place in remote, rural areas where paved roads and public transportation are nonexistent.
Other realities endanger translation work: washed out bridges, unreliable commercial boats with a history of capsizing, political strife that makes travel unsafe.
Translators working in these settings don’t have ready access to tools and travel solutions that can get them where they need to be—safely, securely, and able to work. Tools like aircraft, boats, motorbikes, or four-wheel-drive vehicles.
That’s where we come in: We help translation workers overcome transportation barriers that keep them from reaching communities hungry for the Word of the Lord so that the workers can focus on Bible translation. No single solution is right for every travel situation, so we collaborate with our partners—to do research, develop plans, and provide effective solutions that target the specific needs of each partner.
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What transportation projects are we currently supporting?
What is JAARS doing?
We work with our partner organizations to implement transportation solutions that target the specific challenges each partner faces.
Aviation
For almost 75 years, JAARS has been a leader in mission aviation—serving in the most remote and difficult places on earth. Training is a key component, which you can read more about below.
That’s just the beginning, though. We continue to fund and deploy aircraft to solve critical translation challenges around the world. We’re also beginning to collaborate with other mission aviation providers and national church organizations to explore alternative solutions. Our overriding goal: solve transportation needs as fast as possible; focus on locally appropriate, sustainable solutions that
represent thoughtful stewardship of the gifts that make it possible.
Interested in serving in mission aviation? Watch our videos to see what it’s like, and be sure to check out The Centerline, our e-newsletter packed with tips, stories, and more. You can also browse specific job descriptions. And we invite young adults to join us in Waxhaw, North Carolina, for weekly Vision Flights or our summer CrossVenture|Aero camp.
Land Transportation
Often some form of land transportation is the best solution for our translation and literacy partners in Africa and Papua New Guinea.
When they have no access to aviation service and public transportation is nonexistent or unreliable and overpriced, a motorbike or four-wheel-drive vehicle can be a critical resource.
Maritime
In some locations—typically island nations in the Pacific or dense rainforests with no air or ground transportation—boats are the only way translation teams can reach remote language communities.
Without JAARS, this might mean catching a crowded, dilapidated commercial ferry or using hazardous, poorly maintained local watercraft. So we work on solutions. In some cases, that might mean providing safety equipment and training, which you can read more about below. Other times, we might supply an appropriate, well-equipped boat to a mission partner overseas. Or instead, deploy a boat and crew and continue to support, operate, and maintain it for the partner.
We’re also developing the option of building partnerships with local organizations who can own and operate safe vessels while we assume responsibility for scheduling, safety protocols, fares, and program funding. In all cases, safety, sustainability, and stewardship are the critical factors.
Experience it for yourself! Join us on the North Carolina coast for CrossVenture|Coastal to learn how maritime and missions connect—through maritime-themed devotions, on-board training, and in-water survival simulations. These weekend or week-long events are open to individuals, families, and church or school groups.
Who benefits from our work?
With God’s blessing and provision, our efforts will enable translation workers to do their work more efficiently and safely.
Translators John and Marjo Brownie, for example, will have better, safer options than the small dinghy that sank as they traveled to a small island off the coast of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. Reliable aviation transport will aid mission workers, like the family whose eight-minute flight in Papua New Guinea saved them from a 12-hour trek over rugged, dangerous mountain terrain.
But the real beneficiaries of our work—always—are the families, communities, and people groups that can be reached safely and effectively to receive the Word of the Lord.
Transportation Solutions
How You Can Help
We invite you to come alongside us—in prayer, with advocacy, and as “gospel patrons” who can help fund this eternal work. Then, translation workers as an extension of the Church will be enabled to share the transformative power of the gospel with all who are hungry for God’s Word.
