We are The Navigators—a Christian ministry that shares the gospel of Jesus and helps people grow in Christ through Life-to-Life® discipleship, creating spiritual generations of believers. Since our founding in 1933, we’ve remained committed to our calling: “To know Christ, make Him known, and help others do the same®.”
We believe discipleship happens person-by-person and by encouraging spiritual growth across all life stages. A disciple is someone who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, intentionally seeks to learn from Him, and desires to live more like Him. For us, discipleship accomplishes this by walking alongside others: praying together, studying God’s Word, sharing life, and equipping them to do the same with others. As spiritual generations multiply, we’ve seen God transform lives in powerful ways.
To reach and disciple all people in all places, The Navigators includes a wide variety of ministries and a broad family of missionaries, supporters and volunteers. We engage people where they live, work, worship, and play—on college campuses and military bases, in inner cities and workplaces, in churches and neighborhoods, and even in places where the gospel is hard to reach.
Through Life-to-Life relationships, we live out the vision of 2 Timothy 2:2: “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (NIV).
For more information on The Navigators, go to navigators.org.
Yes! We collaborate with multicultural leaders across ourNavigators Worldwide Partnership, advancing the gospel together into more than 125 countries. The U.S. Navigators and Navigators Worldwide Partnership headquarters are located in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Walking with God includes participating in His mission, which is to “go and make disciples of all nations.” That’s reason enough to go, but other reasons may compel you. Many people experience God and trust Him in new ways while on overseas trips because the assignments take them out of their comfort zones. In addition, some explore if serving overseas is their special contribution to the Great Commission. Further, our receivers in the Navigators Worldwide Partnership are asking for help from Americans to expand relational networks, foster community, and share the good news of Jesus.
Absolutely! We are invested in helping you prepare to go overseas. As soon as you are accepted, online training helps you walk through the pre-trip steps, including fundraising. You can plan on getting more help from your team leader. In addition, many will prepare for trips through in-person weekend orientations. A short-term orientation focuses on team dynamics, conflict resolution, and cross-cultural living and ministry.
Every Navigator ministry worldwide has a focus on making disciples who in turn make more disciples. Some of our trips help with that process on a college campus, while others work through business-as-mission, community outreach, or educational platforms. Each short-term team joins a local receiving team seeking to fit into the local team’s ministry model. Sometimes the short-term team’s role is encouragement and training, while other times it’s outreach to new people through evangelism or clubs.
In addition, expect to experience a new culture and learn from the receiving Navigators how they walk with God as local leaders or as missionaries in their setting.
You’ll be led by an experienced adult, often a Navigator staff member. For student trips, some teams may be mostly students from your campus. Often the teams are mixtures of students from different campuses.
Trip cost varies depending on length of trip and location. Typically our trips are in the range of $3,500 to $6,000. For more information, look at our trip listings here.
Fundraising does not include travel to the training orientation or any kind of souvenirs.
We strongly encourage you to raise financial support. Why? Raising support helps you trust God in a new way and gives your friends and family the opportunity to financially participate in the mission of the Kingdom of God.
God has entrusted to us in Navigators World Missions our greatest assets, His workers that we send as missionaries around the world. We prioritize the care and safety of our short-term mission teams. While we recognize that no one can guarantee the complete safety of anyone, we take abundant precautions to increase the safety of our teams.
Our commitment to safety starts long before teams depart. We maintain safety and security standards internationally, overseen by, among others, our World Missions home team, trip leaders, trip receivers, and our International Security Administrator.
Before choosing overseas destinations, we evaluate their history, stability, and political situation. We constantly update our knowledge of conditions, including watching for U.S. State Department travel advisories. We also factor in the capacity of those receiving the teams and their ability to monitor situations on the ground.
Before each trip departs, our World Missions team orients all trip members in safety policies and precautions. Our trip orientations include lessons on responding to unforeseen events, resources available to U.S. citizens and Navigators, and situational awareness (street smarts on foreign streets).
We monitor each international location before our mission trip teams depart and while they are in-country. If necessary due to security or health concerns, The Navigators can cancel a trip or bring a team home early (a rare situation).
While real world concerns bear consideration, we want to encourage both senders and short-term trip members to live not in fear or foolishness, but in a place of faith.
We have a plan for this! If something were to occur, you would tell your team leader. You’ll also call the phone number that we will give you ahead of time and follow the instructions, notifying our International Security Administrator’s team. As a short-term “goer,” you are covered through an international travel insurance plan with TripArmor. TripArmor provides emergency evacuation, medical referrals, and advice for people around the world. Your trip leader and local receiving team will be equipped to help you as well.
iEDGE stands for International, Evangelism, Discipleship, Growth and Experience. It is a partnership between the Navigators Collegiate and Navigators World Missions ministries committed to developing young leaders by teaming them with international staff teams to serve and support the long term ministry strategy in various countries.
iEDGE teams of 4-6 will reach out with the love of Christ to students who are spiritually hungry and looking for answers to life's questions. The specifics of the iEDGE team’s job description are unique to the country in which they will serve and is set by that country’s Navigators leadership.
These recent college graduates set aside two years of their lives to be meaningfully involved in the lives of students around the world. In return, working with seasoned Navigator leaders both in the U.S. and internationally, they receive training and experience that will impact them and others for a lifetime.
College is a critical time, and this generation of students faces more moral, ethical and spiritual decisions than any generation before it. This is equally true of university students around the world. As they wrestle with family breakdown, hopelessness and moral drift, students are in the midst of making major life decisions. Through iEDGE young men and women have the opportunity to influence future leaders around the world and make a difference in their world.
In addition, iEDGE is an opportunity for recent graduates to put themselves in a position that will challenge and develop them spiritually, in character and leadership. It is an opportunity that will not only influence their world but will also prepare them for their own future.
Our primary responsibility is to serve the international staff team in any way necessary to further their long-term country strategy as they carry out our Navigator calling: To advance the gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom, into the Nations, through spiritual generations of laborers living and discipling among those who don’t yet know Jesus.
iEDGE teams are assigned to an international location based on the strategic needs of each country. Every effort is made to match iEDGE candidates with an international team that best compliments their talents, experience, personality and spiritual gifts. However iEDGE cannot promise a specific location assignment.
iEDGE Staff spend their first summer on staff fund raising. You must have 100% of your total budget either pledged or raised before you can be approved for departure. Since iEDGE is a team focused ministry every team member must have 100% of their funding goal pledge before the team can be approved for departure. We expect iEDGE teams to arrive in their assigned countries between Nov 1- Jan 1.
iEDGE is a two-year staff assignment from your arrival date in the country (with an option of a third year). There is an additional 6-8 months of training before leaving for the field. Many go on to begin a career with The Navigators after their time on iEDGE, but this is in no way an expectation.
iEDGE has four training summits throughout the course of your commitment. Each Summit consists of workshops led by veteran Navigator staff as well as Bible Studies and discussion times. The main thrust of the iEDGE training comes through experiential learning on the field during your time in country.
The four summits are each focused on a specific training objective:
The application process takes about two months (so start early!) from application submission, review, interview, and acceptance. Once accepted, you will attend a June Summit in Colorado Springs to meet your team and to learn principles for effectively funding your ministry. Summer months are spent in intensive fund raising. Teams will attend a Cross-Cultural Training Summit in September also in Colorado Springs before departing for their ministry assignment in the Fall. A Mid-Term Summit at your one-year mark is designed to encourage you and evaluate your experiences. You will attend a fourth and final Debriefing Summit with your team upon your return to the U.S.
The application process is an important part of the iEDGE experience. Throughout the process we spend much time in prayer, asking God that He would lead both us and you regarding your future. We are concerned not only about discerning if God has called you to iEDGE but also about helping you, in any way that we can, discern what God's plan for your future may be.
To apply, click here to request an application, reference forms, and a background history questionnaire. Fill it out electronically and email it back to applications.iedge@navigators.org. Application deadline is Feb 15.
The application deadline is Feb 15. To apply, click here to request an application, reference forms, and a background history questionnaire. Fill it out electronically and email it back to applications.iedge@navigators.org.
Regardless of whether you are considering iEDGE or EDGE Corps and whether your parents are believers or not, involving them in your process is crucial. Here are a few pointers to help you think about this crucial conversation with your parents.
Yes, because The Navigators is a non-profit organization all iEDGE staff are responsible for raising their annual budgets through the donations of friends, churches and businesses. iEDGE budgets include salary, benefits (life and health insurance), ministry and training expenses.
The Navigators provides thorough and practical training in fundraising, and we are committed to helping each staff raise the finances necessary. Because of the initiative needed and responsibility taken, the skills learned in fundraising are some of the most helpful for the future.
If need be, iEDGE staff can take a partial salary once you reach 85% of the total goal. The total budget amount (including salary) is based on current personal debt, cost of living in the area of placement, travel and training costs. A typical 2 year iEDGE budget ranges from $80,000-$120,000 depending on the location.
All iEDGE Staff receive The Navigators insurance plan through United Health Care, which is one of the best in the industry. Health insurance starts after your first month of full salary.
The Navigators is a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, an organization which exists to ensure the financial integrity of Christian ministries. Audited financial statements are available upon request.
iEDGE Staff receive valuable leadership training. The program involves, in part, taking initiative, creative thinking, problem solving, teamwork, navigating new experiences as well as considerable people skills. Employers typically seek these skills.
Long-term missions can be anything longer than three years, depending on your stage of life. We have Navigator missionaries on the field who have been overseas for more than 20 years.
Navigators are all over the world in more than 100 countries, many of which could provide a place for you to serve. Please note, however, that you would need to be invited by one of the teams in that country before we would send you there. Sending missionaries to willing receivers reflects our desire for each person we send to serve as part of a team and to be received by a local team.
Generally, no. We have found it best in most cases to learn the language in the country where you’re serving and not in a classroom. Therefore, learning on the field is adequate!
You can find our process here. We walk with candidates from initial fit determination all the way through launching onto the field.
At the Navigators, we believe in being deep in God’s Word. We do not require seminary background for the missionaries we launch overseas, but we do look for depth in the Bible and the love of Christ in all those we send. Although many people who serve as Navigator staff members have benefited from going through seminary, we don’t require it.
We require Navigator training, cross-cultural training, and several Bible studies. We also require that “goers” come to an in-person Launch summit for people to get to know us more and receive training that way. Furthermore, we have cross-cultural, in-person training through other organizations with whom we collaborate.
Generally, yes. Don’t let this steer you away — talk to us first! The Navigators have options that allow you to use your degree overseas, but even in those cases, you would most likely raise support for at least a portion of your income.
That depends on the country and situation where you would go. Again, let’s talk more about it!
Yes, we have a robust international healthcare plan that covers all employees overseas.
We have an overseas staff care team based in the U.S. that provides care for our global staff by connecting with them regularly and providing care where possible. Ultimately, the main source of care on the mission field must come from local sources, but we do provide supplemental care from our team here in the U.S. whenever appropriate.
Our overseas workers are our greatest assets, entrusted to us by God. In Navigators World Missions, we don’t take that lightly. We prioritize the care and safety of our Navigator staff members overseas. While we recognize that no one can guarantee the complete safety of anyone, we take abundant precautions to increase the safety of our people.
Our commitment to safety starts long before anyone lands overseas. Before launching a new missionary, we update each one on safety policies and precautions. We maintain safety and security standards internationally, overseen by, among others, our World Missions home team and our International Security Administrator. We constantly update our knowledge of conditions, including watching for U.S. State Department travel advisories.
While taking appropriate precautions regarding real world concerns, we strive to encourage our overseas workers to live not in fear or foolishness, but in faith.
Our goal is to raise up local laborers and leaders who can step into leading ministry efforts. This requires making disciples who will become the foundations of spiritual generations in their countries. For this reason, rather than operate on our own agenda, we defer to local leaders as much as possible in our approach to reaching the nations.
We are The Navigators – a Christian ministry that shares the gospel of Jesus and helps people grow in Christ through Life-to-Life discipleship, creating spiritual generations of believers.