By Ben Burnell
Our Navigator Leadership Team, comprised of 40 staff and leaders from across the country, met recently for a time of encouragement, development, and planning for the future.
Leadership Development
We continued our development using the Lead Develop Care (LDC) Shepherd model, diving into the skill of alignment, guided by Brian and Amy Wachter. This process ensures that tasks and efforts contribute towards agreed goals and direction. We were introduced to an audit tool that helps assess whether our thoughts, actions, resources, and people are aligned or misaligned with our goals.
Click here for more info on the LDC leadership model and our Navigator Calling, Vision and Values (Navigator Core).
Navigator 20s Ministry
Our Navigator 20s work—journeying with young adults as they move into the workforce and navigate a decision-heavy phase of life—was the focus area for this weekend. We help young adults put into practice what they’ve learnt about living a godly life, choosing to depend on God and trust Him in all areas of life, and to continue their growth and vision as disciples of Jesus.
We broke into smaller groups to tackle three specific goals: 1) nurturing the Navigator Core within the 20s; 2) helping 20s grow as labourers; and 3) staying better connected with 20s relationally and as a movement.
Using the ‘alignment audit’ tool, we identified many possible initiatives. Some are as simple as building awareness of this ministry, through to the unique contribution of Navigators alongside local church involvement, or centralising resources to make them widely available and to avoid reinventing the wheel.
A common theme that emerged was to ensure that we, as leaders, are living and modelling these initiatives/disciplines in our own lives before we seek to pass them on. Many convictions are better caught than taught, and they speak far more powerfully when lived out with passion!
We concluded this time with personal reflection and created a space for everyone present to listen to God as we considered how we could contribute to this ministry.
Encouragement
We concluded the weekend with a short teaching from Tim Simpson, taken from Mark 4:26-29, titled ‘a tough nut to crack’. The 20s ministry definitely fits this description. This parable reminds us that we must scatter seed faithfully and trust God to do what only He can do. Growth is gradual but should be expected and will lead to a time of harvest ahead.