Alan and Annette Hone

Background

Alan first heard about the difference that giving your life to God can make while a young teenager at Crusaders (a youth group, non-denominational leadership). He realised Jesus can deal with the things we’ve done wrong & felt the huge relief of a burden falling away as he made a commitment.  It was sometime later that he joined the lively young-peoples’ group at Christchurch, Lowestoft, and was encouraged by the other youngsters and leaders to start attending church regularly.  He first heard about MAF shortly afterward at a talk given by an MAF pilot – even at that age the mix of aviation and working for God combined his interests & enthusiasms and remained in his memory.

After university, where he was in the leadership team of the Christian Union, he began working as a civil engineer on projects ranging from motorway bridges and tunnels in Switzerland at one end to building a sewage treatment works near Croydon at the other.  He later became a contracts director for a large shopfitting contractor, responsible for creating department stores around the UK.

The experiences led him to start his own company, initially doing similar work, but developing into a business that specialised in the design and construction of advanced glazing schemes.  The time came, however, when he increasingly felt that he should be doing something more specifically in the Christian arena.  Productive use of “the time left to us” becomes a priority as we get older!

His involvement with MAF has grown over the years, from getting the prayer letter and generally taking an interest, through being an area representative and talking about MAF’s work in a variety of venues (school assemblies, rotary clubs, men’s breakfasts, ladies’ fellowships and so on), to now joining the team in PNG to help out in a more tangible fashion nearer the sharp end.

Annette first met committed Christians when she went to University in Reading, and again made a life commitment at that stage.  As she was studying Agricultural Botany, including tropical crops, working overseas seemed a natural progression, and she worked as a short-term volunteer for CMS in Kenya for a couple of years.  Returning to the UK she went on to work in an inner-city area at a church & community drop-in centre.  She then joined the Anglican parish team at St Mary, Southgate, Crawley for some time.  An MSc in Agricultural Extension and Rural Development at Reading University brought back an overseas and development perspective and she also worked on the estate team at Lee Abbey in Devon.  She joined UMN in a forestry project in Nepal, while studying at All Nations College.

After meeting up at Greyfriars church in Reading, they married some 25 years ago and Annette joined Alan in the family business, and also got involved in various things at church & in the local community – youth work and admin of various sorts.

Join the Hone’s support team

Alan and Annette rely on a team of partners who agree to pray for them and to provide the financial support which enables them to serve with MAF.

Would you prayerfully consider joining their support team?