A Church of Scotland minister is moving to Israel for five-years, despite having never set foot in the country before.
The Rev George Shand, 60, admitted he is approaching the move with trepidation given the recent hostilities in Gaza, but felt that it was the only way to properly experience preaching in the Holy Land.
“If I went over for a week, it would not allow me to get a proper feel for the place, so I’m taking the plunge and going for five years," he said.
“I want to listen and to learn, it will be a journey of exploration. I see my role as helping maintain hope and peace in the whole community.”
In April he will become minister of St Andrew’s Church in Jerusalem, his second full-time charge working for the Kirk, having previously been the minister of St Thomas’ Junction Road in Leith for five years.
Mr Shand left New College with a divinity degree in 1980, 23 years before he took his first parish in Leith.
After graduating, he founded the One World shop at St John’s Church on the west end of Princes Street, before working for the Community Enterprise organisation for several years, a project which helped people with learning disabilities find employment.
Justice and social inclusion have run throughout his professional career and his ministry, and this is something Mr Shand hopes to continue in Israel:
“It is the people there who are important, especially the Arab Christian community.”
His aim is to help people work and live alongside each other, and said the Holy Land is not some sort of “Christian Disneyland” for pilgrims.
Symbolic of new life, his commissioning service takes place on Palm Sunday (5 April) at St Thomas’ Junction Road in Leith, and he takes his first service in Jerusalem on Easter Sunday (12 April).
