Olmsted Manor has activated The Perry Trust for Educational Travel to offer scholarships for clergy and their spouses to travel to Palestine and Israel from February 29-March 10, 2016 with students from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and laity from Westminster Presbyterian Church.
The trip is offered in cooperation with the seminary and the World Mission Initiative.
The trip will be led by Dr. Steven Tuell, the James A. Kelso Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at PTS and an elder in the Western PA Conference, and the Rev. Jim Gilchrist, minister at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh.
“For any believer, a trip to the Holy Land is a pilgrimage: the wonderful opportunity to walk where Jesus walked, to see and hear and smell and taste the land of the Bible,” but many Christians making this journey never have the opportunity to meet, worship, work with and support the Christians of Palestine.
“On this pilgrimage, we will not only visit the ancient sacred and historical sights of the region, but we will also meet those living stones, members of the struggling Christian communities determined to maintain their witness to our faith in the land of its birth. We will spend time living with, worshiping with, learning from and working alongside these Palestinian Christians,” he said.
There are 10 openings for travelers with scholarships through the Perry Trust. Successful applicants and/or their spouses would be eligible for funding in the amount of half the $3000 cost of the trip.
The Perry Trust was established: