Images of Navigator Work Around the World
In the ancient city of Segovia, Spain, a first-century aqueduct built by the Romans spans what is now a popular gathering point. The Sierra de Guadarrama, with its often snow-covered peaks, rises to nearly 8,000 feet in the southwest, making Segovia one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.
The aqueduct is a meaningful location for one Navigator, a mechanical engineer who has developed strong friendships with Spaniards where he lives in Madrid. He and a group of his friends frequently hop on mountain bikes and pedal 43 miles through the Sierra de Guadarrama from Madrid to Segovia. They arrive at the aqueduct and then head to a nearby restaurant to eat barbequed suckling pig, a Spanish delicacy.
Spanish culture, with thousands of years of history, as represented by the aqueduct, has been dominated by Romans, Arabs, and Catholics. Today, the nation is still culturally Catholic, but most people are agnostic and hesitant to be involved in organized religion.
Our Navigator friend says that his friends and colleagues are open to brief conversations about faith in Christ. They aren’t usually interested in Bible study at first, but they listen sincerely when he shares about how a passage of scripture has helped him, or about an experience with God. The key, he says, is to be personal. He compares this approach to how first-century Christians shared their faith—before anyone had Bibles.
He and his wife, who runs a private educational academy near Madrid, have seen the pandemic soften hearts. They know people who have nearly died of Covid-19, and they know many people whose relatives have died alone. Many Spaniards have lost their jobs, which has added financial anxiety. In this context, they frequently tell their friends that they are praying for them, or they share some scripture. “Suffering brings opportunity,” he said.
By relating well with people in culturally relevant ways—riding bikes to a Roman-era aqueduct and eating together, for example—all of our Navigators in Spain are finding beautiful ways to help people know more about Christ. We can all learn a lot from them.
