Solving the disciplemaking problem

Solving the disciplemaking problem

by Justin Gravitt Why don’t more Christians make disciples?   It’s a problem that church leaders have been trying to solve for decades, if not centuries. The problem is straightforward, but the solution is anything but. Despite the efforts of disciple makers a...

Who wants to live like a palm tree?

Who wants to live like a palm tree?

by Bill Mowry3 Principles to Age Well This isn’t a promotion for a time-share in Florida; the place where palm trees grow. A palm tree is a biblical picture for successful aging. The Psalmist describes how the godly in old age “will flourish like a palm tree . . ....

We Wish You an AWE-full Christmas!

We Wish You an AWE-full Christmas!

We Wish You an AWE-full Christmas! The promise of being filled with awe is present every Christmas. This holiday surrounds us with beauty —  festive lights, up-lifting music, and the art of the Christmas card. Even in an increasingly faith-less culture, Jesus is...

Discovering God in the Detour

Discovering God in the Detour

by Ron Bennett As we ponder a variety of landscapes that God takes us through in the Christian life, we consider the detour. Can you identify with hitting a detour in your spiritual journey? The dictionary defines a detour this way: to turn aside; a roundabout way, a...

Choose a new playing field of faith

Choose a new playing field of faith

by Bill Mowry Choosing the right playing field for a sport is a no-brainer. We don’t play basketball on a baseball diamond. However, when it comes to the playing field of faith, I think there are two fields we can play on but one field tends to dominate our playing...

An Artful Touch to Disciplemaking

An Artful Touch to Disciplemaking

by Bill Mowry A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away . . . I was an art student. In fact, I was once certified to teach art in grades K-12. Why didn’t I pursue this career? A deciding factor was a grade on a watercolor painting. The painting was a collection of...

What is disciple making, precisely?

What is disciple making, precisely?

by Justin Gravitt What is disciple making, precisely? It’s a question worth slowing down to answer. Because it takes time to be precise, and because the consequence of cloudy thinking is misunderstanding that leads to misnamed, or worse, misaimed ministry. So, what is...

Introverts Make Great Disciplemakers (Pt.2)

Introverts Make Great Disciplemakers (Pt.2)

by Bill Mowry Hooray for introverts! Discovering and naming my introverted side was a liberating moment for me. I now know my “sweet spot” preferences and can maximize them for the Great Commission. When I’m asked if introverted people can make disciples, I respond...

Introverts Make Great Disciplemakers (pt.1)

Introverts Make Great Disciplemakers (pt.1)

By Bill Mowry One question kept coming up in interview after interview when promoting my book Walk with Me. What was the question? “I’m an introvert. Can I be a disciplemaker?” The first time I heard this question I thought to myself, “Is introversion a kind of...

A Lost Disciplemaking Tool

A Lost Disciplemaking Tool

By Bill Mowry Masking tape was an important household expense when our children were growing up. Peggy and I watched in wonder as our boys created space guns and castles from masking tape, plastic liter bottles, and cardboard. Their imaginations had no limits on what...

Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic

These are unprecedented times in our lives, communities, cities, countries and all over the world. The spread of the coronavirus has caused many of the campuses we minister on to switch to online classes and encourage students to return home. Many churches have...

Psalms to Counteract Fear & Stress

Psalms to Counteract Fear & Stress

This article was originally written by Peter Trautmann, The Navigators' City Collegiate Director for NYC What can we do with our fears when we face a crisis? After reading many newsfeed articles that drain us, these verses from the Psalms can fill us up. They provide...

Spiritual Generations: One life to another

Spiritual Generations: One life to another

Jeff Driediger came to McMaster University to play volleyball and study civil engineering. On his first weekend in Hamilton he met Don Corry, a Navigator staff who was leading the Navigator campus ministry. Jeff and Don met weekly for five years. Jeff endured the ups...

University Isn’t a Waiting Period

University Isn’t a Waiting Period

"University isn't a waiting period for the rest of my life!" exclaimed Kaitlin one Friday morning. She and I have been meeting regularly to discuss apprenticeship to Jesus through our joint passions for social justice and missions. We've chosen to work through a Bible...

CRAE: It’s all about disagreeing well

CRAE: It’s all about disagreeing well

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]“This event is based on a controversial assumption: we can deeply disagree with someone and yet still respect them...we can see the world in profoundly different ways and yet still recognize the other as a fellow human who is...

Beauty is Redemption

Beauty is Redemption

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]My experience at Sanctuary was unlike any other I’ve had. On the weekend of March 26th, my friend Nic and I drove from Kingston to Toronto for an urban mission experience at Sanctuary Church as part of our involvement with The...

Searching for Isaac

Searching for Isaac

In the book of Genesis, God makes a promise to Abraham: “your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.” (Gen. 17:19, NIV) This promise has been a...

Training Up Disciplemakers

Training Up Disciplemakers

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Within The Navigators, leaders known as mobile alongsiders faithfully teach and help other leaders work more effectively in their home contexts. These alongsiders look to see what God is doing and how the local leaders are already...

10 Ways to Cultivate a Thankful Heart

10 Ways to Cultivate a Thankful Heart

No doubt most of us have moments when our hearts spring up with thanks for God’s goodness. But at times we may also find ourselves in wintry spiritual seasons when our sense of gratitude freezes over. During these seasons, gratefulness is a habit you can cultivate. As...

A Foundation of Gospel Workers

A Foundation of Gospel Workers

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Felix Koimburi and his wife Mercy are pioneering a Navigator ministry in Mozambique to establish a foundational group of disciplemakers who will advance a gospel movement into the rest of the country. Originally from Kenya, Felix...

Empowering leaders to break the cycle of dependency

Empowering leaders to break the cycle of dependency

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Tsigereda Yemane Mengistu, also known as Tsige, has dedicated her Navigator ministry to pursuing both her passion and the Lord’s calling on her life to work with people in need. From 2000-2011, Tsige was the national leader for the...

Twenty Transformative Minutes

Twenty Transformative Minutes

Last spring, I attended The Navigators’ Base Camp training program at the beautiful Snider Mountain Ranch in New Brunswick. When I arrived, I stepped into the main hall and instantly felt at home! There was a cozy, crackling fireplace, a James Taylor album playing...

Why ministry partners are gifts of blessing

Why ministry partners are gifts of blessing

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to the 11 disciples and gave them The Great Commission, where he tells them to go and make disciples. This mission of disciplemaking is for all followers of Christ, not only missionaries or...

Redeeming Discipleship

Redeeming Discipleship

Growing up in the church, Peter Reynolds* was expected to become a leader. His great-grandfather co-founded the church he and his family attended. His father succeeded his grandfather as the church’s senior pastor. His mother is a pastor’s daughter. With such a...

How God meets us in our mental health journeys

How God meets us in our mental health journeys

Ron Pagé has been a therapist for 25 years and currently serves with The Navigators as a staff-care and coaching specialist. Ron first encountered The Navigators as a university student. After graduation, he spent three years in France helping start a student ministry...

Bringing Mission Back – MI Ghana 2017

Bringing Mission Back – MI Ghana 2017

The Navigators’ Mission Immersion Project spanned 4 months and ended with an international trip to Ghana that gave our team a vast amount of learning, experience, and adventure. I want to take you on a deep and intimate journey of my experience on this trip. Future of...

Searching for Belonging and Connection – MI Ghana 2017

Searching for Belonging and Connection – MI Ghana 2017

Late on a Saturday evening in Accra, Ghana, kids who live on the street gather together for the night. At the same time, volunteers from an organization called Future of Africa (FOA) regularly go out to be with these kids, hand out dinner and attend to any cuts and...

Is it better in El Guasmo?

Is it better in El Guasmo?

This article was originally published on June 8 on Dan McIver's ministry blog It looked so innocent on the itinerary. Go to the farm to experience a day in the life of our hosts, Omar and Lucy. I’ve known them for five years, but this was my first introduction to...

Giving God a Try

Giving God a Try

When I asked J what he appreciates from our team chapels, he said “I like the fact that no matter what, there’s someone who’s got my back.” This is now my fourth year with the Saint Mary’s University basketball team as their team chaplain. Each year, I feel more and...

Root Camp 2016

Root Camp 2016

During the week of May 1-7, Navigator students from across Canada came together at Snider Mountain Ranch in New Brunswick to learn more about deepening their faith in Jesus. Throughout the week, the students heard from veteran Navigator staff on such topics as...

New leaders on campus

New leaders on campus

JD Sherman, a recent industrial design graduate from Carleton University, spent this past year interning with The Navigators at the University of Guelph. His assignment has been to re-open the campus ministry there and pioneer a new beginning. In the early 1960s the...

National Director Appointed

National Director Appointed

On September 1, 2014, The Navigators bid a fond farewell to Eric Stolte as our President and National Director. It was a joyous and emotional farewell, with many across the country having felt Eric’s impact on their lives at one time or another. In one smooth...

Missional Money

Missional Money

We are all familiar with the story of how Jesus selected his band of disciples, lived his life with them and invited them to discover their destiny. This life-on-life approach to ministry continues to this day and the Navigators are seeing generations of people...

Family Dinner

Family Dinner

In the hustle and bustle of life, it's easy to get caught up in activities. Sometimes we sacrifice spending time with others so we can tick off those last few boxes. In the post-secondary environment, where students face intense pressure to succeed, this is especially...

A light in the mine

A light in the mine

Josh Davis always knew he would end up in mining. His birthday, August 17, is the same day gold was first discovered in the Yukon. His passion continued to grow when his grandfather gave him a coin from the first gold poured when one of his mines went into production....