Trips to Biblical Lands Enrich Ministry

Christian Reformed pastors across Canada have been traveling to some of the lands of the Bible in order to better understand and share the story of salvation.

Through a generous grant from the DeVries Family Foundation, chaplains and lead pastors from Canadian classes (geographic regions) have received invitations to travel with their colleagues on a study trip. Each trip began in Egypt and then followed the exodus journey through the Sinai peninsula and Jordan and into Israel.

The trips are led by George DeJong of Under the Fig Tree, a ministry offering biblical study tours and video-based faith lessons. For pastors joining the trip, says DeJong, “This experience is much more than a ‘vacation.’ I believe our journey to the land of the Bible is God’s investment . . . to equip and grow us as passionate followers of our Messiah and Lord, Jesus.”

The DeVries family began offering the trip to pastors and their spouses after a friend returned from a tour of the biblical lands and told them, “If I had been able to go on a trip like this as a younger pastor, it would have changed my ministry.”

Since 2011, one classis has been invited each year. To date, pastors and their spouses in every classis or region except Eastern Canada have been invited to participate in the trip. Ministry leaders from Eastern Canada are scheduled to travel in the spring of 2020.

One goal of the trip is to help pastors get a sense of the geographical and cultural context of the Bible in order to enrich their understanding of the stories in the Old and New Testaments, and to better communicate the lessons of those stories in their ministries.

The trip includes visits to the pyramids at Giza and to various temples and sites of ancient Egypt, the world the Israelites inhabited before the exodus. It then moves through the Sinai peninsula and into Jordan, then to Israel, including Galilee, where Jesus spent much of his life and ministry, and noting cultural landmarks in and around Jerusalem.

Experiences -- including a few surprises -- along the way help participants to explore the Middle Eastern cultural context and the geographic realities that shape the biblical story.

Rev. Gareth Harker of Calvary CRC in Flamborough, Ont., traveled with the 2017 group. He noted that the Bible came alive to him in a new way as he journeyed the area, adding, “What struck me most was not so much the physical reality of being there, as understanding how the geography and culture have a significant impact on the meaning and richness of the text.”

Harker described, for example, how the desert helped him understand how precious water is and why it figures so prominently in the imagery used in the Bible. Learning the cultural and religious backdrop of ancient Egypt shaped his sense of the story of the exodus and the formation of a new people of God. “These [are] realities present in the world of the Bible that are assumed by the text but need some investigation on our part to uncover them.”

Rev. Tim De Jonge, a chaplain at Kingston (Ont.) General Hospital who joined the 2019 trip, agreed. He explained that he had known the stories of the Bible in his mind and heart, but “now I know in my body what the heat of the desert rocks and the cool water of the Nile River feel like. I know what it takes to climb a peak in the Sinai mountains and how long it takes to cross the Sea of Galilee by boat. I have walked on the road between Jericho and Jerusalem and can imagine Jesus doing the same.”

He said he pays more attention to geographic markers that he used to skim over without really noticing.

The trip is demanding, and pastors are asked to prepare for it with prayer and physical activity. Several pastors commented that the shared experiences and journey accomplished another goal of the trip, to build community and camaraderie among ministry leaders in each region and across Canada.

Another goal of the trip has been to equip and inspire pastors in their preaching and teaching. Rev. Ken Vander Horst of Smithers (B.C.) CRC said that his time in the lands of the Bible in 2018 has continued to inform and shape his ministry in a variety of ways. His experiences color the way he reads and shares the Bible, and he actively incorporates lessons and images from his travels into worship services. Other pastors also noted that their congregations have noticed a change in their preaching since they took the trip.

Canadian Ministries Director Rev. Darren Roorda joined this year’s trip, and has been excited to see the impact of the trips on ministries and regions throughout Canada.

He noted, “The shared journeys have provided a wonderful platform to participate in common priorities: understanding of the Word of God in a new fresh way, bringing fresh preaching and teaching that honors all dimensions of the biblical text and world into the pulpit, and bringing a heightened awareness to the laity of the church for the centrality of the Word in their own lives.”

The trip was an important part of Vander Horst’s journey as a follower of Christ and as a pastor, he said. “It’s been a huge gift, a huge blessing. It was the single best continuing education experience I’ve had.”