Progressive Pilgrimage provides global travel opportunities that stimulate the intellect, enrich the spirit, and build relationships among people of different religions and cultures. Our vision is to inspire Christians to become more engaged citizens, more faithful disciples, and more thoughtful neighbors, shaping God’s peaceable kingdom on earth today.
Progressive Pilgrimage is a different kind of tour provider. We do not offer a list of tours from which you must select. Instead, we are committed to customized educational and spiritual journeys that meet the needs and priorities of your group.
- Education: We believe that a tour or pilgrimage is most meaningful when it is rooted in knowledge of the religious, cultural, and political history of the people and region. To that end, we provide a series of articles, an extended reading list, and a travel journal filled with relevant information for each destination. All group members do not have to make use of these resources; however, experience shows us that those who do have the most rewarding travel experience.
Learn more about our commitment to education. - Spirituality: A pilgrimage is, by definition, a spiritual trip. The pilgrim takes his or her faith (however large or small it may be) on the road to encounter the holy in the places where people have been encountering the holy for generations. All of our tours offer opportunities to pray, worship, meditate, and reflect. However, since each tour is built to your group’s needs, you determine how much time is offered for spiritual reflection. Your guide, Heather, is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and will offer spiritual leadership for the group.
Learn more about our commitment to spirituality. - Cultural Sensitivity: Traveling in the Holy Land means that pilgrims will interact with people of diverse languages, faiths, traditions, and political views. Progressive Pilgrimage strives to provide authentic encounters that honor the worldview of those whom we meet, without imposing our own views upon them.
Learn more about our commitment to provide meaningful cultural encounters. - Customization: Every one of our tours is built from the ground up for the groups with whom we work. Do you want a 10 day pilgrimage that offers plenty of time for prayer, worship, and reflection? We can build that for you. Do you want an adventurous trip that lets you walk where your religious fore-bearers walked? We can build that for you, too. Do you want to meet the local residents of the land and hear their stories? We know the locals and can help you get to know them, too. Do you want to do a little of each? Yes, that’s possible, too. We do not offer prearranged tours sold to individual travelers except when space permits in group tours.
The commitment to education, spirituality, and cultural sensitivity is primarily what makes us think of our pilgrimages as “progressive.” To travel with us means to be challenged, to learn, and to grow as you encounter new locales, meet new people, engage with new cultural and religious traditions.
