This Pastor Appreciation Month, The Navigators Offer Local Churches Free Disciplemaking Tools — No Strings Attached

Navigators Church Ministries equips pastors nationwide with field-tested resources for building a culture of disciplemaking within their own congregations.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., (October 13, 2026) — The Navigators, a worldwide disciplemaking ministry since 1933, is marking Pastor Appreciation Month by highlighting its library of free resources for pastors and churches nationwide. Navigators Church Ministries, a team of more than 100 Navigator Representatives who serve alongside local congregations, built these tools to help churches grow Life-to-Life^® disciplemaking from a program for a few into a culture for the whole congregation. Pastors and ministry leaders can download them with no requirement to affiliate, register, or join.

Navigators Church Ministries traces its roots to 1970, when Navigator leaders began asking how the ministry’s approach to disciplemaking, developed on college campuses and military bases, could serve the local church. That question led to the 2:7 Series^®, a discipleship Bible study now used by more than two million people worldwide, and later to the Growing intentional Disciplemaking Cultures (GiDC) process, which helps church leadership teams embed disciplemaking into their congregations’ DNA rather than run it as a program on the side.

“Cultures move disciplemaking from the margins to the mainstream. Over time, the ministry of a few disciplemakers becomes the ministry of the many — and that is exactly what we want for every pastor who downloads these tools this October.”

— Vicki Gatchell, Navigators Church Ministries

Beyond this October, the toolkit gives churches year-round access to:

• The Church Culture Assessment, a free download that helps a leadership team see where disciplemaking is (and isn’t yet) part of church culture
• The P.R.I.S.M. Tool, a free framework for identifying and developing potential disciplemakers already in the congregation
• The Growing intentional Disciplemaking Cultures (GiDC) framework, the process Navigators Church Ministries uses to help churches build disciplemaking into their DNA
• The 2:7 Series, the ministry’s flagship discipleship Bible study, used by more than two million people worldwide

Pastors and ministry leaders can explore the toolkit at navigatorschurchministries.org/resources, or contact Navigators Church Ministries at ncm@navigators.org.

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About The U.S. Navigators

The Navigators is a ministry that shares the gospel of Jesus and helps people grow in their relationship with Him through Life-to-Life discipleship, creating spiritual generations of believers. Since its founding in 1933, The Navigators has upheld the mission “To know Christ, make Him known, and help others do the same^®.” Our Worldwide Partnership includes around 6,000 staff of 85 nationalities, serving in 123 countries. Navigators encourage spiritual growth across life stages, serving wherever people work, live, worship, and play: on college campuses and military bases as well as in urban neighborhoods, workplaces, churches, local communities, and hard-to-reach places. To learn more, visit www.navigators.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13^th, 2026
Contact: Angela Northamer, U.S Public Relations Lead,
719-594-2181, angela.northamer@navigators.org