The Child Sponsorship Program for Christian Education in the Holy Land is beginning its first full academic year. As many of you know, the Child Sponsorship Program for Christian Education in the Holy Land was officially launched the week before Easter in a pilot program, which proved to be very effective and efficient. We are ready for an effort to enlist new sponsors and develop renewed solidarity between American Christians and the indigenous Christians of the Holy Land. The Child Sponsorship Program for Christian Education in the Holy Land is beginning its first full academic year. As many of you know, the Child Sponsorship Program for Christian Education in the Holy Land was officially launched the week before Easter in a pilot program, which proved to be very effective and efficient. We are ready for an effort to enlist new sponsors and develop renewed solidarity between American Christians and the indigenous Christians of the Holy Land. During his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope John Paul implored the Christians there of all denominations to not be afraid to live and express their faith in Our Lord, Jesus Christ. The Christians of the Holy Land are living in isolation from the rest of Christendom due to discriminatory educational, social and economic policies. The Child Sponsorship Program is designed to address this problem by assisting individual Americans to provide educational support for a child and his or her family. American sponsors will learn first hand the life, hope, and hardship of one child, and through that child, the family, church and community. With this program, Americans can reach out and break through the isolation felt by the Christians native to the Holy Land. The Child Sponsorship Program can be implemented in three ways: • Sponsorship by individuals provides an avenue for personal support • Sponsorship by a church group provides multiple scholarships and offers an opportunity for an entire congregation to understand the current living conditions of a neighborhood of Christians living in the Holy Land. • Beacons of Hope sponsorship by classrooms of American school children enables communication with their counterparts in the Holy Land. This program provides the opportunity for American children to become pen pals with Christian students in the Holy Land, thereby opening the gates of communication between children, the “building blocks” of both cultures. Remember our friends in the Holy Land. They are direct descendants of the first Christians who followed Our Lord 2000 years ago. Look past denominational differences and see our unity in Our Risen Christ. For more information, check our web site at www.hcef.org. You will find an interactive page with application forms for registration of new sponsors. If you wish to start a Beacons of Hope program in your school, contact Duane Burchick KHS, at 301-871-9222 or write to HCEF,P.O. Box 6687,Silver Spring, MD 20906.
The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c) (3) Organization founded in 1999 to preserve the Christian presence in the Holy Land and to build solidarity between American Christians and Palestinian Christians in order to improve the quality of life for Christians in the Holy Land. The Foundation may be contacted at Phone: 301-871-9222, or by FAX at 301-871-2277, by e-mail at news@hcef.org. The Foundation’s web site address is www.hcef.org.
