From the outset, I knew that the Mission of the Ecumenical Center for Pilgrims and Biblical Studies (ECPBS) was to seek The City of David, “Bethlehem”, through reviving the relationship with all Palestinians, particularly with the descendants of those from Bethlehem City who emigrated in the early parts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and through sharing our experience with them.

We wanted to do more than just bring people and pilgrims to the Holy Land. We wanted to give them an informed and vital insight into its traditions and history, and into the lives of its peoples, through talks delivered by first class university professors and through the services of professional and well-trained tour guides. The physical presence of Pilgrims in the Holy Land not only aids our work, but gives those same Pilgrims the opportunity to live the Bible and to meet the living stones of the Holy Land.

We offer Pilgrims the chance to ponder the scriptures in the Holy sites, letting the Bible come to life gradually for each of them. With an itinerary tailor-made for each of them, including meetings with the local people and the sharing of their remarkable and unique way of life, they will soon discover that they were gifted to live the Bible.

It is a wonderful blessing for the ECPBS that it is an ecumenical gathering place for Christians and a bridge between the Holy Land and the whole world. We constantly see the effect on participants of opening up the Bible they know, but now with the added opportunity to touch the earth and to smell the fragrances of the land they call Holy, to look upon the beauty of the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley. All this is part of our Goal; but, in truth, without you and your support this Goal is meaningless. We cannot achieve it alone, and so we call on our friends and supporters in all corners of the world to come and visit this sacred place, to live the life of our Christ, and then to witness to the good work we are doing.

You will learn more about us by visiting our pages (www.ECPBS.org), where any form of support, whether spiritual, intellectual or material, will be highly appreciated.

Issa J.A.Da’boub