Sunday, March 2nd, the St. John’s 2025 South Africa Pilgrims will be presenting about their upcoming pilgrimage to South Africa and Lesotho during the Community Forum at 9am. The forum will also include information about why St. John’s has a pilgrimage program as well as reliving some of the past pilgrimages. So, what is a St. John’s Pilgrimage?
- It is unique and rare opportunity for St. John’s students to begin in their 8th and 9th grade years and to travel in their 9th and 10th grade years. (The program has also been opened up to high schoolers of any age.)
- St. John’s tradition is for students to embark on a pilgrim journey of communal, spiritual and personal self-discovery BEFORE beginning confirmation, allowing each individual to bring their own self-knowledge and personality to their adult commitment to faith.
- Pilgrimage is the practice where our youth can build, create, find and shape their faith for themselves.
The 2025 Pilgrims began their journey in the fall of 2023 by completing visioning work, focusing on their spiritual gifts and discussing their values and beliefs. Based on this work, pilgrims are then given an opportunity to choose a focus to help guide them in selecting a pilgrimage location. The 2025 pilgrims choose the following goals:
- Focus – conflict resolution, racial healing, inequities based on the apartheid system and restorative justice.
- Spiritual Focus – Learn about Bishop Desmond Tutu and his work with restorative justice, forgiveness, and healing and how this helped with the nations peaceful transition of power from a white minority to the black majority. How can we learn from Tutu’s Christian actions and implement them in our own country?
This is St. John’s first pilgrimage to the African continent. The students narrowed their focus to learning about peaceful healing after conflict. Germany and South Africa were the two countries that the pilgrims were considering in their final vote. South Africa was chosen in a very close vote probably because of the option for seeing penguins at tip of the continent. However, the opportunity to study and visit the places where Bishop Desmond Tutu lived and worked was a close second! Bishop Tutu helped found the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, which provided a platform for peaceful conflict resolution and truth-telling in the wake of the horrific violence of apartheid.
Instead of following a traditional pilgrimage route, the 2025 pilgrims will journey through South Africa’s history by visiting the homes of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, two revolutionary leaders who helped end apartheid. Staying in Soweto, the heart of the anti-apartheid movement, they will take classes from locals, explore historic sites, and learn firsthand from those who lived through apartheid to see how they have adapted, coped and thrived. The journey includes a visit to Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years, guided by former political prisoners. They will also experience life in Lesotho, a small mountainous country, where they will stay in a village, connect with local youth, and visit Acacia’s orphanage. Through shared meals, dancing, sports, and conversation, they will forge lasting connections, returning home with new perspectives and a phone full of WhatsApp contacts.
Please come on Sunday and hear about St. John’s Pilgrimage Program! Please support the pilgrims through your prayers. If possible, please support their spring plant sale and Silent Auction. If you ever have questions about pilgrimage or would like to be considered as a leader for the 2027 Pilgrims who will begin their journey this fall, please connect with Heather Miller.
