“The Well” is the theme of Nav20s in Christchurch this year. One of the most interesting interactions in the New Testament is Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at a well in John 4. She’s going to get water during the hottest part of the day when no one would be around, likely because she’s an outcast due to her sinful past and present. During the conversation Jesus says: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” We want Nav20s to be a place where people can come to “the well” and be poured into and see how that spring of water that lives in them wells up to eternal life. “The well” isn’t just a place to be poured into, but also a place to learn how to pour out to others. Isaiah 43 states that God makes streams in the wasteland, and my hope is that wherever God has placed this group of young professionals, they would allow God to use them at their workplace or in their flats, to dig for water and help others know Christ, trusting that He will make streams in the wasteland.
There are currently ten members of the Navigator 20s group in Christchurch. We meet up every three weeks on Saturday from 4 pm to 10 pm at Peter and Aislinn Molloy’s place who help lead the Nav20s group. What do we do during those six hours? Well, a lot of things. Our time starts with about 30 minutes of chatting and catching up over afternoon tea and then at around 4:30 pm we dive into God’s Word. We decided to go through the book of Acts this year because it seems relevant for the group. Acts tells the story of the growth of the Church and how the Holy Spirit works through the apostles and ordinary believers to be “witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Since Nav20s is restarting in Christchurch, and the graduates are learning how to grow in their walk with God in this new stage of life (with the help of the Holy Spirit), Acts seemed like the right fit.
After Bible study we have a lovely homemade meal made my Aislinn and Peter. We then do our “Table Talk” time over dessert and “Couch Chats” over a hot drink. Table Talk is a segment of the night where we invite people from the wider Navigators community to have a conversation with the young professionals about how they have grown in their walk with God through the seasons of life, and what has helped them make Christ the centre of their family and career. The 20s get to ask hard questions and engage with the guests in a way where they’re not being talked at but conversed with. The following segment, Couch Chats, is designed for someone to bring a hard question from a person they’re trying to reach, like a co-worker or a flatmate, and simply ask the question to the group so that we can discuss it and see what God’s Word has to say about it. Navigators 20s is off to a promising start, and I’m look forward to seeing how God uses this ministry to reach those outside the campus and in the workplace.
– Eric Baugh, who leads the Nav20s group in Christchurch with Peter and Aislinn Molloy