TRAVEL:
Cross-Cultural Exposure to a Diverse World of Global Neighbors
Why not travel with us, see the world God made, and meet your future neighbors...this side of heaven?
In 1967, the first "Christian Witness Tour" visited Eastern Europe, to gain firsthand mission information from believers in their own locale. Successive CWT's have visited Africa, Asia, Europe, Mexico, the Middle East and South America.
Bitten by the travel bug: In 1962, Dick and Thea Van Halsema pulled their five children out of grade school and "took off" for five months. The family of seven lived in a 2-bedroom apartment in the North Sea town of Zandvoort while "Dr. Van" did graduate study; while "Mrs. Van" home-schooled the four eldest children; and where the five Van Halsema kids roamed the streets and dunes of this Dutch coastal town picking up a foreign language before they grew old enough to know language-learning can be a challenge!
Then came the road-trip: in a red 1962 Volkswagen bus, this family crew accomplished a driving and camping journey to Israel and back-and were forever "spoiled for the ordinary." IDEA Ministries' President, Clark Van Halsema, was 9 years old on that trip, and now counts sixty countries on his visited list.
Biblical Studies Interim
Visit Cappadocia, the Seven Churches of Asia (Revelation 1-3), and Istanbul. John R.W. Stott's What Christ Thinks of the Church is the textbook for the Seven Churches segment.
With Istanbul as a gateway city, this study tour visits central and western Turkey, with a day-trip to the Greek Island of Patmos (location of the Apostle John's exile).
Turkey
January
Christian Witness Tour: Holy Land Pilgrimage
A devotional Study Tour, incorporating lectio divina with visits to major traditional biblical and archaeological sites throughout the Holy Land.
CWTs have visited Africa, Asia, Europe, Mexico, the Middle East and South America.
Palestine/ Israel
May or June
2009
West Bank Study and Service Tour
Thorough involvement in mission service and archaeological exploration. One week living in Palestinian host homes while serving in Bethlehem-area community organizations; followed by one week of bus travel and vigorous hiking to archaeological sites with biblical narrative provided by Bart Den Boer.
Palestine/
Israel
June 2008
St. Paul and Seven Churches Study and Service Tour
Serve alongside workers in modern Turkey and then travel to sites of biblical and archaeological importance in the New Testament era.
Beginning in Antalya on the Mediterranean, this study and service tour visits sites connected to St. Paul, and concludes by visiting the Seven Churches of Asia (Revelation 1-3).
Turkey
June
