The Navigators is a worldwide

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

para-church organization based in

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. Its purpose is the discipling (training) of Christians with a particular emphasis on enabling them to share their

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...

with others. The organization's calling statement is "to advance the Gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom into the nations through spiritual generations of laborers living and discipling among the lost." The Navigators works alongside local churches by providing resources such as

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

study booklets and study aid materials, Scripture memory aids, and Christian-oriented books. These are produced through the organization's NavPress publishing group, which also offers ''The Message'' Bible paraphrase. On January 1, 2005, Michael W. Treneer succeeded Dr. Jerry White as The Navigators' international president. White had served in that capacity for the previous 18 years. On April 18, 2015, Mutua Mahiaini succeeded Michael Treneer as the fifth International President of The Navigators.

History

The Navigators was founded in 1933 by the evangelist Dawson Trotman, who mentored

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

sailor Lester Spencer aboard USS West Virginia. Due to those efforts, 135 additional sailors on Spencer's ship became Christians before it was sunk at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

. By the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, thousands of men on ships and bases around the world were learning through The Navigators. The collegiate ministry of The Navigators was founded in 1951 at the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. This ministry was established by a group of students in the

Sigma Nu Sigma Nu () is an undergraduate Fraternities and sororities in North America, college fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute on January 1, 1869. The fraternity was founded by James Frank Hopkins, Greenfield Quarles and James McIlva ...

fraternity house who, along with Trotman, decided to spread their outreach onto the college campus.

Move to Glen Eyrie

In 1953, The Navigators acquired its current headquarters location at Glen Eyrie through the

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) is a non-profit Christian outreach organization that promotes multimedia evangelism, conducts evangelistic crusades, and engages in disaster response. The BGEA operates the Billy Graham Trainin ...

's sale of the then-vacant property to Trotman's organization. As the result of a well-organized fundraising effort (despite an extremely tight deadline), friends and supporters of The Navigators provided the money needed to purchase the site. Today, The Navigators organizes and offers over 100 Christian

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

retreats The meaning of a spiritual retreat can be different for different religious communities. Spiritual retreats are an integral part of many Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian and Sufi communities. In Hinduism and Buddhism, meditative retreats are ...

, and programs each year at Glen Eyrie. The Navigators' administration headquarters building is located in the northeastern part of the Glen Eyrie property.

Controversy

The Navigators organization was cited in a lawsuit against the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...

(USAFA) by Michael L. "Mickey" Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) in 2005. The lawsuit alleged that Darren and Gina Lindblom, assigned to the USAFA through The Navigators, were favored by the Air Force to the exclusion of other religious groups in violation of the

Establishment Clause In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional text ...

of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...

. This lawsuit was dismissed. Additional lawsuits by the MRFF have named The Navigators in similar complaints of alleged

proselytizing Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries. Some draw distinctions between ''evangelism'' or '' Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as invol ...

in the military. In Korea, The Navigators sued six former members of the MRFF for

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

in 2011. The case was initially dismissed, and again dismissed on appeal.newsnjoy (2011

''NEWS N JOY''.

References

External links

NavPressGlen Eyrie Conference CenterNavigators Audio Messages
{{DEFAULTSORT:Navigators, The Evangelical parachurch organizations Religion in Colorado Springs, Colorado Non-profit organizations based in Colorado Evangelicalism in Colorado Christian organizations established in 1933 Organizations based in Colorado Springs, Colorado Christian organizations established in the 20th century 1933 establishments in the United States