Nazareth/Bethlehem Learning and Work Tour

Note: The 2024 trip has been cancelled. It is rescheduled for spring 2025.

About the trip:
Join an E³ Collective trip to Nazareth and Bethlehem! This trip offers you a unique, hands-on opportunity to encounter the land of Jesus’ earthly ministry and relive the stories of Jesus as the team meets, works, and prays together with Palestinian Christians. And the rhythm of your time together will be a daily rhythm of encounter, work, and prayer.

Encounter: Day by day, in the midst of our activities and during our times of relaxation, we will meet the Christians of Nazareth and Bethlehem “up close and personal.” And we will learn firsthand about their life and faith and the challenges they face as followers of Jesus within the troubled context of present-day Israel/Palestine.

Work: During our days in Nazareth and Bethlehem we will participate in work projects at sites sponsored by Palestinian Christians. Nazareth Village is an outdoor museum that recreates first century Nazareth and tells the story of Jesus to visitors in Jesus’ hometown. The International Center of Bethlehem is a ministry of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, the town of Jesus’ birth.

Prayer: Through it all we will join our voices in prayer. Daily services of Evening Prayers will provide the “still center” for us during days filled with activity and new
encounters. And Sunday worship with Palestinian Christians will nourish our spirits and enlarge our visions of the body of Christ.

The E³ Collective trip to Nazareth and Bethlehem offers you a special close-up lens through which to view the Holy Land, sense the heartbeat of its people, and “pray for the
peace of Jerusalem.”

Mission Statement: Our goals are the following:

1) To make personal contacts with Palestinian Christians and churches in Nazareth (Israel) and Bethlehem (Palestine) and to build Christian-to-Christian and church-to-church relationships with Palestinian brothers and sisters in Christ.

2) To provide North American Christians with a clearer perspective on the everyday life and faith of Palestinian Christians in Israel/Palestine and the ongoing challenges which they face day-by-day and year-by-year in their search to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

3) To provide practical, hands-on assistance with skilled or unskilled work projects at Nazareth Village, a Christian venture in the town of Nazareth, and at the International Center of
Bethlehem, a ministry of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem.

4) To provide eyes and ears that will bring the images and the stories of Christians of Nazareth and Bethlehem back to our home churches.

Contact Kierston Kreider to learn more about this assignment.