The history of the Navigators Tanzania goes back to 1946 when a Navigators missionary couple, Dick and Joyce Hightower moved from New York city in the US to Tanganyika, to serve among the Sukuma people in the lakezone. This couple was sent by the Navigators and served through the Africa Inland Missions (AIM) agency that started its operations in Tanganyika, since 1909.

Above are photos of Dick and Joyce Hightower with their family

Dawson Trotman, the founder of the Navigators ministry visited this couple in Tanganyika, in April 1952, and went on a game hunting trip with Dick Hightower.

Above are photos of Dawson Trotman and Dick Hightower in 1952 in Tanzania

Dawson prayed over Isaiah 45:14 and 43:1-8 for the country.

According to Betty Skinner, Dawson wrote these words in reflecting upon his trip to Tanganyika:

I've really come to love this great country. It's indeed fabulous; it's made a lifelong impression upon me. When I see how much there is to learn, how little I know after 46 years, it frightens me a little when I think of the kind of men we need. Oh for a large band of spiritual Calebs, men like Moses and Paul and David. 'Who is sufficient for these things?' He is!

32 years later, in 1984, Scott and Ruth Spragg moved from the US to Tanzania, to work among students and the local church in Singida, until 1995, as Navigators Associates.

For the next 35 years, from 1984 to 2019, different pioneering missionaries from UK, US, Singapore, Ethiopia and Kenya moved to Tanzania and labored in collaborative efforts to establish a foundational generation of disciples among the nationals.

In 2019, the last pioneering missionaries in the country, Adams and Sarah Mutonga from Kenya handed over the work to Tanzania nationals under the leadership of Robert Mrawa. Since then, the ministry has continued to make steady growth through its investment in developing the next generation of laborers and leaders to establish a sustainable workforce, and expand its reach to a vast Tanzania, with 31 unreached people groups, representing about 6mil people.