Inside Story
Myths About Missions
Navigators Around the World
by Mike Smith
Sixty-two years after sending their first missionary overseas, The Navigators remains one of the leading foreign mission agencies with more than 350 long-term missions staff living and making disciples around the globe.Today’s world, however, is a very different place than it was when Navigator Roy Robertson entered China in 1949. Despite an ever-increasing world population, there’s a sense that our world is smaller today. And with the proliferation of printed materials, mass media, and the World Wide Web, some question whether the concept of missions is even valid in today’s world.
In early 1949, Roy Robertson was sent as the first Navigator representative overseas to parts of China.
“That,” says NavMissions Director, Bill Sparks, “is one of the great myths about missions today. There’s a misconception that somehow the job is completed—that everyone who wants to hear the Gospel has had the opportunity to do so.” Bill argues that this is far from the truth. “In 2010, according to Joshua Project,” he says, “there were roughly 2 billion people who had never had an opportunity to respond to the Gospel.”
That means the job is far from over for NavMissions, one of the seven key U.S. Navigator field ministries, focusing on advancing the Gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom into the nations. NavMissions staff members from the States serve alongside Navigator laborers representing 70 nationalities, living and discipling among the nations in 48 countries.
Bill believes there is another myth about missions that needs to be exposed. “Some believers have the impression,” he says, “that American influence is unwelcome and ineffectual. That’s simply not the case. As one of our non-American, international regional leaders put it, ‘The day of American missionaries bringing their expertise to my part of the world is over. But the day of American missionaries partnering with us to accomplish our calling has just begun.’” Bill continually receives requests from international field leaders for additional American staff.
The need for missions remains great, but the way Navigators are involved in the process has changed. “We talk about being next door to everywhere,” Bill says. “We believe that’s the face of modern missions. We need to train and send people who are authentic and credible—people who add value to the societies among which they live.”
NavMissions Director, Bill Sparks, is aware that the task of the Great Commission is far from over.
In today’s world, it’s increasingly difficult to come into a society as an outsider with a message. Living and discipling among the lost takes a different approach. “The only way to reach someone in another country who is, for instance, a research scientist, is if we have credibility with them,” says Bill. “The same thing is true if we’re trying to reach a professional musician or a business person. We’re sending people who can become a part of the fabric of the local culture and make a positive contribution,” he says.
Not all Navigator missionaries blend in completely. “American missionaries will never be accepted as ‘insiders’ in Japan, for instance,” Bill, maintains. “But they can work with a few key Japanese who are already insiders. These disciples then become the foundation of future generations of Japanese laborers.
Navigators Bryan and Renee Gibbs in Japan are prime examples. After nearly three years of reading the Bible with the Navigator team in Japan, “Emi” joyfully announced to her discussion group her decision to follow Christ. As she shared, another young man in the group began to smile. “Joe” then made his own announcement: “I made that same decision to trust Jesus this afternoon.” Later that week, Bryan and Renee learned that a third student in the Navigator ministry had come to faith.
“Sometimes ministry in Japan seems slow with little concrete progress to show for our work,” Bryan says. “But when the people we have invested in come to faith and begin walking with Jesus, we are reminded what a great privilege it is to serve in this country.”
“Sending missionaries is as critical today as it was 62 years ago,” says Bill. “And establishing spiritual generations of laborers who can live and disciple among their peers has never been more important,” he adds. “That’s what Navigators do!”
Cover photo by Duncan Walker. Bill Sparks photo by Paul Hensley.
