This edition of Navigate marks seventy years of The Navigators work in New Zealand. A work that has expanded through everyday people and staff working together on campuses, amongst 20s30s, in families, neighbourhoods, workplaces, rural settings, with churches, amongst internationals, alongside marginalised people, and into the nations.
My involvement with The Navigators began in 1983. When I first read Matthew 4:19, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people,” God’s promise ignited my imagination. Soon after, Jesus’ commission in Matthew 28:19-20 inspired me to go and make disciples. As a new believer these promises expanded my vision and shaped my convictions about what is most important in life. The motto to know Christ, make Him known and help others do the same directed my life. I learned and applied these truths with like-minded friends in the Massey University Navigator student group.
I want to share a few of the many stories that illustrate Jesus’ commission to go and make disciples, which inspired the Calling and Vision of The Navigators. It encourages me to know people, further on in their faith journey, who continue to faithfully follow Jesus, share the gospel, and invest their lives into the lives of others. Well done and thank you for the example you give to me and others. It also encourages me as I see the faith and sacrificial commitment of the next generations as people ‘live and disciple among the lost’ of their generation.
The need to make disciples is as important today as it was seventy years ago. We continue to need people like Joe and Marie Simmons, who responded to God’s calling to come to New Zealand and they faithfully gave their lives for the sake of the Great Commission. We all stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us as we pass on to the next generation the things God has shown and done for us.
Thanks for labouring with us!
Yours,
Simon Cayzer
National Director
