A Pilgrimage Overview

Mission of The Pilgrimage

History / UNCL Award

We have hopes and dreams for Pilgrimage groups. We hope their relationship with God and Jesus Christ will change and mature in a way to embrace that “fear and fulfillment that go hand and hand,” as Rick Ufford-Chase, Moderator of PCUSA, puts it, that comes with embracing God’s call to transform the world.

We are intentional about our methods at the Pilgrimage. We offer experiential learning in all its forms: hands on service, interactive workshops, worship, and living and sharing meals together as a community.  

All of these things help groups reflect on their experiences. We want them to carry the faces of the poor with them wherever they go. Groups learn through common experiences, not as individuals but as a community—the one body, the body of Christ.

These are the things we value: prophetic faith, community, interactive learning, intentional reflection, fear and fulfillment, and witnessing homelessness for what it is.

Volunteers at the Breakfast Program

Through carefully planned, structured programs individuals and groups can have experiences which foster the growth of the human spirit through their fellowship, education, and participation in the City. They can have first-hand experience with people in need; they can become acquainted with an urban environment and its attempts to address pressing social issues; they can be introduced to public policy makers; they can feel a link with those who adhere to non-Christian faiths; they can gain a better understanding of ways of life that may be radically different from their own; and they can be challenged to deepen their religious and ethical convictions.

It is the hope of those connected with The Pilgrimage that all who experience its hospitality will learn to think globally and act locally byreturning to their homes and continuing to reflect on their calling to be God’s hand here on earth.

Volunteers assemble bags for Bread
for the Journey in The Pilgrimage hallway

 

History / UNCL Award / Top

History

The Pilgrimage Seminar Center was created as a mission of the Church of the Pilgrims in April of 1973, and received its first official visitors three months later. From the beginning, The Pilgrimage was a ministry to groups rather than to individual travelers, and the emphasis was always on program assistance rather than merely on housing.

In the 30 years since its founding, the vision and mission at The Pilgrimage haven’t changed; it continues to fulfill the vital need for a place to reflect on faith and justice. Guided by the scriptures, we are called to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God, and The Pilgrimage offers a place where that call is manifested through relationships with the poor and homeless. Visiting groups have a unique opportunity to learn about urban poverty and its connection to a developing and maturing Christian faith.

The Pilgrimage is busier than ever with almost 1,200 guests volunteering at service sites in 2004. Indeed, we give God thanks for the thousands and thousands of guests who have passed through our doors over the past 30 years.

With God’s grace, we pray for the time when Christ will come again, and with God’s reign, the homeless will have homes and the hungry will have food. Until that day comes, The Pilgrimage will be an open door, a sanctuary, a place of hospitality to welcome the stranger and to join a courageous journey with the poor, the hurting, and the hungry in our world.

Volunteers make sandwiches at Martha's Table

History / UNCL Award / Top

An Award-Winning Experience

The PHEWA staff and PACT Leadership Team were greatly impressed with the unique outreach ministry that Church of the Pilgrims has developed through The Pilgrimage program. The Pilgrimage received this award at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church held in Richmond, Virginia on June 29th, 2004.

At the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) held in Richmond, Virginia, in June 2004, The Church of the Pilgrims was recognized for its “unique outreach ministry” developed through The Pilgrimage program.

History / UNCL Award / Top