Join fellow Canada Covenanters in a 9-week video-based course for those who want clear Christian teaching about the Middle East that bypasses tribalism in pursuit of genuine peace. The cohort will be led by Pastors Eric Hedberg and Sally Carlson from the MENA Team.
From this curriculum, you learn how to engage these questions:
• What does the Bible say about the Holy Land?
• Is Biblical prophecy really a factor in the Middle East?
• As Christians, are we supposed to support Israel?
• How can I show love to both Israelis and Palestinians without offending someone?
• What is the best way to stand for peace?
For many Christians, a pilgrimage to the Holy Land would fulfill a dream. We want to walk where Jesus walked, recite Bible stories on location, worship in the Holy City where, as they say, prayer is a local call. We are drawn to the place where heaven touched earth.
But it is not just sacred places. The peoples of the Middle East summon us as well. The Bible comes alive when the people we meet become characters in the drama. That weathered bedouin holding his goat is Abraham. The hoary rabbi tutoring students is Nicodemus. The expectant maiden wending through the throng is Mary. We return home tied by threads—of time, place, and people—to a biblical world that we had previously only imagined.
As for the tensions and clashes that make today’s news—they give us pause. Which media voices should we trust? Did the Bible see it all coming? How might Christians from abroad, like us, have a constructive role to play? Does God want us to pick a side? Shall we embrace the Chosen Ones and celebrate the Jews’ safe return to the Promised Land? Shall we stand with Palestinians—Christian and Muslim—whose parents have lost homes and whose children have lost hope? Or should we step back, say a simple prayer, and wait for Jesus to sort it out on his return?
Is the Holy Land, for us, primarily a portal to the sacred past? Perhaps a bleak reminder of humanity’s brokenness? Ground Zero for today’s culture wars? Center stage for tomorrow’s End Times theater? Or . . . should we train our gaze upon the peoples of the Land, and humbly extend to them Jesus’ love of neighbor and of enemy?
*Ascent to Jerusalem curriculum is from Network of Evangelicals for the Middle East (of which our denomination is a part). You can learn more about NEME and the currculum here: https://www.neme.network/curriculum
Starting: Thursday, July 10.
Cohort will continue every Thursday evening until September 4
5:30 pm PT / 6:30 pm MT / 7:30 pm CT / 8:30 pm ET
Cost: $20 CAD
Registration form below is required to participate and access curriculum.