Heritage Tours

SOLD OUT

On this classic Anabaptist heritage tour in Europe, visit significant sites that will bring to life the stories of Menno Simons, Jacob Hutter, Pilgram Marpeck, Dirk Willems, Jakob Amman, and other important Anabaptist leaders. See the historic Dutch village of Zaanse Schans, take a cable car up Stockhorn mountain, reflect in a cave where Anabaptists worshipped in secret, and stay in the homes of generous, hospitable locals in the town of Berlikum. Also explore art and culture in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Austria. Experienced tour leader and former Hesston College Professor John Sharp will guide you on this journey of discovery and fellowship.

This delightful tour combines sight-seeing in Eastern Europe with investigating the history of Mennonites in Poland. During a few days in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, marvel at colourful baroque buildings, Gothic churches, and the city’s famous Old Town Square. Also visit important sites in Krakow and Warsaw in Poland. Guided by Mennonite historian, John Sharp, learn more about the country that sheltered Dutch and German Mennonites beginning as early as the 1530’s right up to the Second World War. Some families stayed in the Vistula Delta of Poland for generations, later migrating to South Russia, Ukraine, and the American Midwest.

This European heritage tour traces the Anabaptist/Mennonite story through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands. Visits to significant sites will bring to life the stories of Jakob Amman, Martin Luther, Michael Sattler, Pilgram Marpeck, and many other Reformation and Anabaptist leaders. Other tour highlights include: an afternoon cruise on the Rhine River, a visit to the Rijksmuseum, standing in caves where Anabaptists worshipped in secret, visiting Trachselwald Castle, riding a cable-car up a mountain, and visiting the Weierhof, a semi-communal Mennonite village. Experienced tour storyteller Ayold Fanoy will share insights as you travel in these beautiful countries that were so important to our Anabaptist ancestors.

In 1880-1881, five wagon trains of Mennonites left European Russia and headed east to Central Asia along the famous Silk Road. Seeking freedom from conscription and new economic opportunities, this group went east instead of west to North America as 18,000 did a decade earlier. In the last decade, new details of the Great Trek have emerged in the remarkable Silk Road cities of Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara. Amidst the splendour of the Islamic architecture and often mountainous landscape, the Mennonite Great Trek story will emerge through journals and letters of trekkers, archival documents, and current reflections. Tour leader John Sharp is a retired college history and Bible professor whose passion for and knowledge of the Mennonite Great Trek along the Silk Road will give you valuable insight into this chapter of Mennonite history. John has led several tours to Central Asia and has developed relationships with locals who will give you insight into Uzbek life and culture.

A sneak peek at future tours for next year