Mission, Vision, Values and Philosophy of Ministry
Our Calling
Navigator ministries have spread and deepened, around the world to 4,000 staff persons. With this has come an increased diversity with opportunities abounding. In the light of this our international, intercultural calling is:
Our Mission
To increase the number and strength of disciples in urban America
DISCIPLESHIP IS A STRATEGY OF MULTIPLYING BELIEVERS into disciplined and faithful followers of Christ. When Christ gave the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19, 20), he intended churches to be filled with generations of disciples (in 2 Timothy 2.2 four generations of disciples can be identified). The churches and individuals that desire to become intentional about making disciples must ask one supremely difficult question; "What am I doing to grow people into strong disciples for Christ?" When we bring people to Christ and grow them into disciples, then and only then are we accomplishing Christ's Great Commission.
For seventy years, Navigators, with its present worldwide staff of 4,000 have reached college students, military personnel, business people and churches. NavPress, the publishing arm of The Navigators, is known for producing quality books and practical materials to help grow believers in discipleship.
OVER THE PAST THREE DECADES, A FEW THOUSAND AFRICAN AMERICANS have been have been trained by The Navigators. They are in cities throughout the country serving as pastors, Bible teachers, leaders of Christian organizations and laypersons in churches.
One of our goals is to link trained and skilled Navigator staff with urban churches to assist them in growing strong disciples. We are committed to making the experience in discipleship training available to as many churches and ministries as possible. We want to literally saturate urban America with strong disciples of Christ.
Our Values
We have a mandate to develop disciples whose lives are characterized by:
1. Loving and serving Christ with a passion
We seek to exalt Christ in our lives and ministries. We also seek to stimulate a passion for loving and serving Christ among the people with whom we labor, both believers and nonbelievers (Phil. 3:10).
2. A strong commitment to the local church
We believe that we are strongest when we are in partnership with the local church. We are convinced that a major part of our efforts go toward strengthening God's work through his people in his church (Matt. 16.18).
3. Living by faith on the promises of God
We believe that God has given His people marvelous promises in His Word. We seek to claim the inheritance of these promises as we step out in faith and obedience, confident that He will do what He has said He would do (2 Pet. 1:4; Isa. 60:22).
4. Engaging in the spiritual disciplines
We often discover and enjoy the love and grace our Father lavishes upon us as we engage in the spiritual disciplines. Therefore, through His grace and strength, we joyfully walk in obedience to Him and commit ourselves to abiding in God's Word, cultivating a life of prayer, and living in community with our fellow believers (1 Tim. 4:7-8).
5. Treating one another with love, grace, dignity, and respect because of the wonder and worth of each individual.
Every individual is a wonderful and unique creation. Because of each person's worth to God, the kingdom, and one another, we are concerned about the care, development, and reputation of every person. We will treat one another with love, grace, dignity, and respect (Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:7, 14; Col. 3:12-13).
6. Sharing the Gospel by life and word in the power of the Holy Spirit
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we seek to be meaningfully involved with those who do not know Christ in ways that demonstrate and proclaim the Gospel of the kingdom of God (2 Cor. 5:20; Col. 1:28-29).
7. Ministering life-to-life
We seek to minister to one another out of personal relationships. Effective caring, nurturing, and equipping are most often done in the context of life-to-life relationships (1 Thess. 2:8).
Our History
THE MINISTRY OF THE NAVIGATORS BEGAN IN THE 1930'S in California through a layman named Dawson Trotman. He began to teach practical Christian living to high school students and to local Sunday school classes. In 1933, Trotman joined the Navy where he reached sailors.
Many hours were spent with individual sailors in Bible study, Scripture memorization and prayer with an emphasis on each teaching another what he had learned. By the end of World War II, thousands of men on ships and bases around the world were growing in Christ and learning the principles of spiritual multiplication.
Today, Navigators minister to military and students on college campuses with businessmen and women, among homemakers, ethnic groups, churches, international students, in countries around the world ... wherever there are people who need Christ.
The Navigators was incorporated in California in 1943. The national headquarters in Colorado Springs, maintains a conference center and NavPress, as well as the administrative offices.
Though The Navigators have always had a ministry among African Americans, Richard and Jane Berry started the first official work among African American ministering to students in 1970. In those early days Tuskegee Institute, Washington DC and Illinois were the centers for hundreds of young people being trained in discipleship. There are now scores of staff targeting ethnic peoples throughout the country. They minister on campuses, in communities among businessmen and the poor and in churches.
Strategic Directions
With God's help, we endeavor to:
1. Partner with additional urban churches in developing men's ministries, conducting leadership and discipleship workshops, couple's conferences and helping churches to become intentional in making disciples.
2. Expand the ministry of urban businessmen in Atlanta and other cities.
3. Provide care and additional training to existing staff persons around the country.
4. Continue to search for gifted and called staff that will minister on historically black colleges and universities.
5. Deploy a pool of trained young people from college campuses who will serve the body of Christ as Navigator staff, church planters, pastors, church lay leaders, Bible teachers and missionaries.
6. Offer advanced training, materials and support through our website, newsletters, church services, conferences and workshops.
Our Primary Activities
Ministry
The largest part of a Navigator staff's ministry is speaking, teaching, consulting with pastors, evangelism, and mentoring new believers. This takes place in one-to-one relationships, small groups, conferences and retreats.
Organizational Involvement
As a worldwide organization, The Navigators provide an excellent vehicle for accountability. Nav staff are responsible to set out a ministry plan and budget that must be approved by leadership. The Navigators have internal structures for financial and moral accountability.
Administration
Each Navigator staff administers his or her personal ministry and is responsible to function in a business like manner. This involves maintaining communication with the support team, connecting with other leaders and serving the broader Body of Christ.
Fund-Raising
Through a network of friends, churches, organizations and foundations Navigators develop and maintain an on going funding base for our ministry.
How Budgets are Structured
Navigators are expected to raise 100 % of their approved budgets. Just as in a small business or a church, a Navigator missionary budget is a package composed of two broad segments:
Personal Salary and Benefits (70-75%)
A staff member's salary is set by the Board of Directors of The Navigators and is comparable to that of the education profession. This portion of the budget is used to meet all personal living expenses and benefits such as health insurance, workers' compensation insurance, life insurance and Social Security.
Ministry Funds and Administration (20-25%)
These funds are used to carry out day-to-day ministry activities and include the cost of communications, fund-raising, travel, office expenses and professional development. Also included is a fee for accounting services from headquarters, legal services and services that each staff member receives from field supervisors and the headquarters.
Ways to Support
Prayer Support Team
If you are, or know someone who is involved in a prayer ministry, you can become the contact person to pass on requests of Navigator staff people and programs. You will receive phone calls and letters highlighting our needs at least six times per year.
Financial Support Team
You can help raise a staff person's budget by becoming a monthly, quarterly or annual financial supporter. All gifts are tax deductible, receipted, and accounted by The Navigators headquarters. The Navigator board of directors approves all staff budgets.
Volunteer Team Member
A layperson could become a volunteer staff for The Navigators ministry. Volunteers are considered a part of a discipleship network where receiving personal, phone and email consultations and opportunities to attend training conferences.
Navigator ministries have spread and deepened, around the world to 4,000 staff persons. With this has come an increased diversity with opportunities abounding. In the light of this our international, intercultural calling is:
To advance the gospel of Jesus and his kingdom
into the nations through spiritual generations
of laborers living and discipling among the lost.
into the nations through spiritual generations
of laborers living and discipling among the lost.
Our Mission
To increase the number and strength of disciples in urban America
DISCIPLESHIP IS A STRATEGY OF MULTIPLYING BELIEVERS into disciplined and faithful followers of Christ. When Christ gave the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19, 20), he intended churches to be filled with generations of disciples (in 2 Timothy 2.2 four generations of disciples can be identified). The churches and individuals that desire to become intentional about making disciples must ask one supremely difficult question; "What am I doing to grow people into strong disciples for Christ?" When we bring people to Christ and grow them into disciples, then and only then are we accomplishing Christ's Great Commission.
For seventy years, Navigators, with its present worldwide staff of 4,000 have reached college students, military personnel, business people and churches. NavPress, the publishing arm of The Navigators, is known for producing quality books and practical materials to help grow believers in discipleship.
OVER THE PAST THREE DECADES, A FEW THOUSAND AFRICAN AMERICANS have been have been trained by The Navigators. They are in cities throughout the country serving as pastors, Bible teachers, leaders of Christian organizations and laypersons in churches.
One of our goals is to link trained and skilled Navigator staff with urban churches to assist them in growing strong disciples. We are committed to making the experience in discipleship training available to as many churches and ministries as possible. We want to literally saturate urban America with strong disciples of Christ.
Our Values
We have a mandate to develop disciples whose lives are characterized by:
1. Loving and serving Christ with a passion
We seek to exalt Christ in our lives and ministries. We also seek to stimulate a passion for loving and serving Christ among the people with whom we labor, both believers and nonbelievers (Phil. 3:10).
2. A strong commitment to the local church
We believe that we are strongest when we are in partnership with the local church. We are convinced that a major part of our efforts go toward strengthening God's work through his people in his church (Matt. 16.18).
3. Living by faith on the promises of God
We believe that God has given His people marvelous promises in His Word. We seek to claim the inheritance of these promises as we step out in faith and obedience, confident that He will do what He has said He would do (2 Pet. 1:4; Isa. 60:22).
4. Engaging in the spiritual disciplines
We often discover and enjoy the love and grace our Father lavishes upon us as we engage in the spiritual disciplines. Therefore, through His grace and strength, we joyfully walk in obedience to Him and commit ourselves to abiding in God's Word, cultivating a life of prayer, and living in community with our fellow believers (1 Tim. 4:7-8).
5. Treating one another with love, grace, dignity, and respect because of the wonder and worth of each individual.
Every individual is a wonderful and unique creation. Because of each person's worth to God, the kingdom, and one another, we are concerned about the care, development, and reputation of every person. We will treat one another with love, grace, dignity, and respect (Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:7, 14; Col. 3:12-13).
6. Sharing the Gospel by life and word in the power of the Holy Spirit
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we seek to be meaningfully involved with those who do not know Christ in ways that demonstrate and proclaim the Gospel of the kingdom of God (2 Cor. 5:20; Col. 1:28-29).
7. Ministering life-to-life
We seek to minister to one another out of personal relationships. Effective caring, nurturing, and equipping are most often done in the context of life-to-life relationships (1 Thess. 2:8).
Our History
THE MINISTRY OF THE NAVIGATORS BEGAN IN THE 1930'S in California through a layman named Dawson Trotman. He began to teach practical Christian living to high school students and to local Sunday school classes. In 1933, Trotman joined the Navy where he reached sailors.
Many hours were spent with individual sailors in Bible study, Scripture memorization and prayer with an emphasis on each teaching another what he had learned. By the end of World War II, thousands of men on ships and bases around the world were growing in Christ and learning the principles of spiritual multiplication.
Today, Navigators minister to military and students on college campuses with businessmen and women, among homemakers, ethnic groups, churches, international students, in countries around the world ... wherever there are people who need Christ.
The Navigators was incorporated in California in 1943. The national headquarters in Colorado Springs, maintains a conference center and NavPress, as well as the administrative offices.
Though The Navigators have always had a ministry among African Americans, Richard and Jane Berry started the first official work among African American ministering to students in 1970. In those early days Tuskegee Institute, Washington DC and Illinois were the centers for hundreds of young people being trained in discipleship. There are now scores of staff targeting ethnic peoples throughout the country. They minister on campuses, in communities among businessmen and the poor and in churches.
Strategic Directions
With God's help, we endeavor to:
1. Partner with additional urban churches in developing men's ministries, conducting leadership and discipleship workshops, couple's conferences and helping churches to become intentional in making disciples.
2. Expand the ministry of urban businessmen in Atlanta and other cities.
3. Provide care and additional training to existing staff persons around the country.
4. Continue to search for gifted and called staff that will minister on historically black colleges and universities.
5. Deploy a pool of trained young people from college campuses who will serve the body of Christ as Navigator staff, church planters, pastors, church lay leaders, Bible teachers and missionaries.
6. Offer advanced training, materials and support through our website, newsletters, church services, conferences and workshops.
Our Primary Activities
Ministry
The largest part of a Navigator staff's ministry is speaking, teaching, consulting with pastors, evangelism, and mentoring new believers. This takes place in one-to-one relationships, small groups, conferences and retreats.
Organizational Involvement
As a worldwide organization, The Navigators provide an excellent vehicle for accountability. Nav staff are responsible to set out a ministry plan and budget that must be approved by leadership. The Navigators have internal structures for financial and moral accountability.
Administration
Each Navigator staff administers his or her personal ministry and is responsible to function in a business like manner. This involves maintaining communication with the support team, connecting with other leaders and serving the broader Body of Christ.
Fund-Raising
Through a network of friends, churches, organizations and foundations Navigators develop and maintain an on going funding base for our ministry.
How Budgets are Structured
Navigators are expected to raise 100 % of their approved budgets. Just as in a small business or a church, a Navigator missionary budget is a package composed of two broad segments:
Personal Salary and Benefits (70-75%)
A staff member's salary is set by the Board of Directors of The Navigators and is comparable to that of the education profession. This portion of the budget is used to meet all personal living expenses and benefits such as health insurance, workers' compensation insurance, life insurance and Social Security.
Ministry Funds and Administration (20-25%)
These funds are used to carry out day-to-day ministry activities and include the cost of communications, fund-raising, travel, office expenses and professional development. Also included is a fee for accounting services from headquarters, legal services and services that each staff member receives from field supervisors and the headquarters.
Ways to Support
Prayer Support Team
If you are, or know someone who is involved in a prayer ministry, you can become the contact person to pass on requests of Navigator staff people and programs. You will receive phone calls and letters highlighting our needs at least six times per year.
Financial Support Team
You can help raise a staff person's budget by becoming a monthly, quarterly or annual financial supporter. All gifts are tax deductible, receipted, and accounted by The Navigators headquarters. The Navigator board of directors approves all staff budgets.
Volunteer Team Member
A layperson could become a volunteer staff for The Navigators ministry. Volunteers are considered a part of a discipleship network where receiving personal, phone and email consultations and opportunities to attend training conferences.
