Biography

Cara Holden’s journey with The Navigators began in 2005, when she joined the Navigators student ministry while studying nursing at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. In 2009, as part of a Navigators internship, Cara travelled to Angola to learn firsthand from the ministry of Jim and Janet Holden and to experience how relational discipleship was being lived out in the Angolan context. Following Jim’s passing in 2010, Cara sensed a growing commitment to the continuing work of The Navigators in Angola and moved there in 2012 to serve more fully.

In 2015, Cara married Jonathan Holden, Jim and Janet’s son, and together they continued investing in the ministry and in the lives of Angolans. After the birth of their third child, Cara stepped away from formal Navigators staff responsibilities to focus on their growing family. Following the birth of their fourth child and a season away from staff ministry, she has now returned to serve with The Navigators as Associate Staff. Her story reflects nearly two decades of connection with The Navigators—from being discipled as a university student in Canada to investing her own life in discipleship and ministry in Angola.