HCEF invites you to travel with us on a Christian pilgrimage to see the holy sites and meet with the living Christian communities in the Holy Land.
Pilgrimage Dates: September 6-18, 2002
Cost: $2,250, Includes round trip airfare from anywhere in the U.S.
The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF) invites you to travel with us on a Christian pilgrimage to see the holy sites and meet with the living Christian communities in the Holy Land. Our pilgrimage will be led by Donald Kruse, Executive Vice President of HCEF. He is retired from the American Foreign Service and has led many pilgrimages to the Holy Land since he finished his post as deputy Consul General at the American Consulate in Jerusalem in 1979.
After two thousand years, Christian families are still living and worshiping in the land where Jesus was born, preached was crucified and rose again. These Christians are not immigrants. They are not converts from Judaism or Islam. They are the descendents of those who first believed in Jesus Christ. They live in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and other places in the Occupied Territories and Israel. They are Arab Palestinian Christians – Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant, the living stones. Together, they comprise the Mother Church of Christianity. They are calling for us to come and visit them and to be in Christian solidarity with them.
The pilgrimage will visit Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Ramallah and other Christian towns and villages in the West Bank. The group will meet religious leaders and lay Christians living in the Holy Land who have had first hand experience during the military invasions, violence, occupation, curfews and closures. Learn about these Christians as they describe the impact that the current conditions have on Christians living in the Holy Land.
The goal of the pilgrimage is to inform Christians about the plight of the Christians in the Holy Land. The program is intended to orient Christians on ways and means to organize the Holy Land Christian Support Network to provide help for Christian Churches and related activities in the Holy Land. The Support Network in other areas of the country have developed Church-to-Church partnerships, Child Sponsorship Programs for Christian Education Support, the Holy Land Gifts Program, Emergency Relief Fund Raising activities, and sponsorship of pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Contact HCEF toll free at (866)-871-HCEF or visit our website at www.hcef.org for more information and to register for the upcoming pilgrimage.
The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation was founded by American Christians to inform Americans about the Christians of the Holy Land. The annual International Conference on the Christians of the Holy Land held in Washington, DC is one effort in pursuit of its mission. A speaker’s bureau provides knowledgeable individuals who speak to Christian congregations to inform them about the plight of Christians living in the Holy Land. HCEF also provides spiritual and material support for Holy Land Christians through a variety of programs. The Child Sponsorship Program provides scholarship funds to assure that children will remain in school despite parents’ inability to afford school tuition. The Christian Pilgrimage Program encourages pilgrimage to the Christian towns and villages in the Holy Land. The Olive Wood Handicrafts Program seeks to find markets for olive wood handicrafts in the United States. HCEF also encourages Christian partnerships between church congregations and schools in the United States and Christian congregations in the Holy Land. During the recent Israeli incursions into Palestinian territory, HCEF has provided emergency relief funds that have been used for community development projects.
