The CMJ Pilgrim Fathers Tour

The Church’s Ministry amongJewish People

12 – 20 September 2020with Kesher Course extension to 24 September

Led by Chris & Jane Moxon

Tour cost: $1560 (£1245)*Extension:$626 (£500)*

Single supplement: $601 (£480)*

*Excluding flights

DAY 1 - 12th September

Pick up from Heathrow and near-by hotel. Buffet breakfast.

From Heathrow we drive to the birth place of the Pilgrim Fathers. Arriving at our hotel in North Nottinghamshire we check in before setting out to visit Epworth, the home of John & Charles Wesley. The home from where John was ‘snatched like a brand from the fire’ when their house, the rectory, burnt to the ground.

We take a walk around Wesley’s Epworth to explain its history and hear the words Wesley wrote in the precise places where he originally preached them. Though the Wesleys lived a century after the Pilgrim Fathers, they came from the same spiritual stable and we’ll hear more about this as we travel together.

After exploring the rectory and the village of Epworth we return to our hotel. After dinner we have a lecture, The Pilgrim Fathers by Adrian Gray M A (Cantab) and author at Pilgrims & Prophets, Christian Heritage Tours, based in Retford, North Nottinghamshire.

Overnight: Ye Olde Bell, Barnby Moor, Retford, North Nottinghamshire DN22 8QS

DAY 2 - 13th September

Leaving Retford behind, we drive in our Pilgrim Fathers’ costumes to the village of Sturton - le - Steeple. Adrian Gray will explain the great importance of Sturton in the development of evangelical Christianity from the 1530s, and its links with the martyr John Lassells and then the puritan leaders John Smyth and John Robinson. First photo opportunity in costume outside the church (rebuilt since 1600s)

We drive to Babworth to attend the church service. Here, Rev Richard Clyfton had become the rector in 1586. We will hear excerpts from his sermons. After church we have another costume photo opportunity!

After church we consider Rev Clyfton’s contribution to the Separatist Movement and his subsequent dismissal from the Anglican Church.

We stop for lunch at the Pilgrim Fathers Pub in Scrooby and discover the village where William Brewster lived and worked as both the Postmaster and as a tutor, having left Cambridge University after just one year. We visit St James church and discuss Brewster, seeing the old parsonage house and the remains of the Manor where he lived. Brewster became an ardent follower of Clyfton’s, walking miles each week to join fellow Separatists in Babworth Church. William Bradford, Pilgrim Father and governor of Plymouth Colony was born in Austerfield. He was baptised in the 11th century church of St Helena, built in 1080.

A welcome cup of tea awaits us at Gainsborough Old Hall and home of a merchant, sympathetic to the Separatist cause, William Hickman and his mother Rose. We learn how a congregation formed in Gainsborough under John Smyth’s leadership and how the main Pilgrim group left by boat from here in 1608. Interestingly Wesley preached here!

The remarkable village of Glentworth and its wonderful family memorial matters to us, as the family who lived here were the principal supporters of ‘Godly religion’ across the East Midlands. This church is thus one of the most significant revival centres in our region. We take time to pause and pray for revival of Godly religion in the UK & USA.

Arriving in Lincoln we will walk the quaint streets. Enjoy an evening in historic Lincoln, have a meal and view the amazing west front at night – the best time. We hear about the early Jewish community here . See if you can find the Jews House, home to the richest man in England! Anti-Semitism seems never far away and here we learn about Little Hugh of Lincoln and the Blood Libel.

Overnight: The Lincoln Hotel, Eastgate, Lincoln, Lincolnshire LN2 1PN

DAY 3 - 14th September

Boston is our next port of call and here we learn about the plight of the Pilgrim Fathers’ first attempt to leave ‘Babylon’ and be separate. We walk across the river to St Botolph’s and the ‘Boston Stump,’ an extraordinarily tall tower, 266 feet and 9 inches tall and famous in the past as a landmark for sailors. Continuing our walk we visit Boston Guildhall where the Pilgrims were briefly imprisoned in 1607-8. We pass the home of John Foxe, famous author of the Book of Martyrs, now the Stump and Candle pub - and a good place to stop for coffee! We journey on to Cambridge where we book into Christ’s College before a walking tour of the Cambridge to see the colleges the Pilgrim Fathers attended. We also visit Holy Trinity Church where Rev Charles Simeon was vicar for 50 years first as Vice-President and then as President of CMJ. This tireless man travelled the country speaking at meetings about the work of CMJ and its Biblical mandate. Simeon’s brief case and umbrella still grace the vestry in the church. There’s always an excitement seeing artefacts from another age, they create a bridge over which we may enter their world.

We will enjoy a private formal dinner at Christ’s College.

Overnight: Christ’s College, Cambridge University, St Andrew's St, Cambridge CB2 3BU

DAY 4 - 15th September

We head for Plymouth stopping for lunch at Stansted Park on the Hampshire/East Sussex border. Stansted House was home to CMJ’s benefactor, Lewis Way. Not only did Lewis Way save the day for CMJ in 1815, he set up a training college in his house for the new Messianic Believers in Jesus. Lewis Way travelled the world, speaking on behalf of the Jewish people and of their need for their Messiah.

After lunch we will visit the original chapel in the grounds of the house. We hear about Lewis Way and his huge contribution to the work of CMJ before continuing our journey south.

We make a short stop in Southampton to see West Quay where both The Mayflower and The Speedwell set sail from and we hear about the difficulties they faced, the decision they took and of the Rev John Cotton and his family who followed the Pilgrim Fathers to America some years later.

We arrive in Plymouth, famous for being the place where the Pilgrim Fathers finally left for America. Their last footsteps on English soil were here on the harbour steps and we can walk those same steps tomorrow.

We will stop for dinner en-route to Plymouth.

Overnight: Plymouth.

DAY 5 - 16th September - Mayflower Celebration Day

Dressed in our Pilgrim Fathers’ costumes we explore Plymouth attending the Civic Ceremony to celebrate the sailing of the Mayflower according to the Gregorian Calendar 16th September 2020. We shall visit the Elizabethan house and walk the streets of the Barbican where the Pilgrim Fathers lodged before their momentous and dangerous journey to the New World. There may even be time for some souvenir shopping!

Here, in Plymouth CMJ’s Rabbi Michael Solomon Alexander lived as a Shochet and tutor. Here, a local minster wanting to learn Hebrew led Alexander to know his Messiah. We will hear about Bishop Michael Solomon Alexander and in London we will see the university where he was Professor of Hebrew before he left for Jerusalem in 1842.

Overnight Plymouth.

DAY 6 - 17th September

Before we say our good-byes to Devon, we travel to Dartmouth and the River Dart to find out about the connection to the Mayflower. As we travel up to London we hear about Joseph Frey and why CMJ began in 1809.

Arriving at our hotel we check in before visiting the Rotherhithe docks on the Thames to see where the Mayflower began and ended its life and consider the amazing accomplishments of the 17th century and touring the unspoilt and unique vil-lage of Rotherhithe before enjoying dinner at the Mayflower Pub in Rotherhithe.

Overnight: Greenwich, London.

DAY 7 - 18th September

This morning we visit Clapham where the famous Clapham Sect lived including William Wilberforce. We move on to Bethnal Green in the East End of London and site of Palestine Place. We see where CMJ’s Joseph Frey saw his fellow Jewish immigrants and felt God’s call to reach them. We visit Bethnal Green where Joseph Frey and his fellow workers bought five acres of land and built Palestine place, a new community for the new Jewish Believers in Jesus.

We will tour the east end of London from Brick Lane, where Jewish immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe flocked at the end of the 19th century, to see where Jewish owned shops, still visible by their signboards, once stood. We begin to understand why Joseph Frey was called at this time to reach his fellow Jewish people. Our tour includes a visit to Bevis Marks Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Britain and we finish at Christ Church, Spitalfields, where memorial plaques of CMJ’s founders now hang, having being taken from the Jews’ Chapel at Palestine Place. We see the original font used in Palestine Place to baptise the new Jewish Believers and their families.

We will then drive back to Greenwich where there may be time for a visit to the Greenwich Observatory and a walk down to the waters edge to see the Cutty Sark, a British tea clipper ship. Though built over two hundred years later, in some ways reminiscent of the Mayflower—maybe it’s just the sails!

After dinner we have the rest of the evening to relax.

Overnight: Greenwich, London.

DAY 8 - 19th September

This morning we travel from Greenwich by boat to Westminster Pier for a guided tour of Christian Heritage London. And follow with a visit to the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. The rest of the day until we board the return boat, is free. We will suggest ideas for places you might like to visit or you can shop till you drop or sit in a café and enjoy watching London go by.

After dinner we gather together for our final meeting.

Overnight: London.

DAY 9 - 20th September

We say goodbye to those of our group who have to take that same journey the Pilgrim Fathers did - only much quicker!

For those who are staying for the Residential Kesher Course, we will travel to our destination for four nights whilst engag-ing in this stimulating course. Each afternoon will be free for you to explore or rest and absorb the riches you have seen and heard on the tour and at the course.

CMJ UK is a working title of The Vincent Society, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England.

Company Number 256264 Registered Charity Number 1153457.

For Booking Form please contact Rev Mark Madeley of MIB Travel:

The New Rectory, 3, Old Church Road, Uphill, Weston-Super-Mare, BS23 4UH

Tel / Fax: 01934 620156 www.mibtravel.co.uk Email: mark@mibtravel.co.uk

MIB TRAVEL IS A RETAIL AGENT OF ATOL 2893