We have a dream and desire for Elida – this beautiful story of a God’s ark and of people encountering both God and one another – to continue for many years to come. This ministry has been in operation since 1963, and even though the ships and crews have changed over the years, the mission has remained the same: to be a sailing church, carrying the Good News of Jesus Christ!
For many years, we have also dreamed of one day crossing the Atlantic westward with Elida V. And now, as part of building a future for the next generation, we are planning to make that dream a reality.
This voyage has several purposes. One is to give people the opportunity to fulfill their dream of making “the journey of a lifetime” across the Atlantic. Not everyone has that opportunity on their own, but with Elida new possibilities open up. Furthermore, we hope that an initiative like this will enable us to pay off part of the debt that the vessel Elida still carries (that is something we do not want to pass on to the next generation). If you have contacts or suggestions for potential sponsors who might be interested in supporting this, we would be very grateful to hear from you.
We would also like to establish contacts for potential partnerships and explore future visions and opportunities with people and churches in the U.S.A.
Quite simply, we want to turn these 15 weeks, which are normally a somewhat quieter period in our schedule, into a great adventure, setting off at the beginning of March – an adventure of meeting new people, both on board and throughout the Caribbean, Florida and along the U.S. east coast toward New York. We want to connect people, dreams and visions for the future.
As part of this, we are also considering filming certain legs and events, documenting the journey and potentially using the material for a smaller or larger television production of some kind. It is therefore important that you are aware that filming may take place on board.
Since one of the purposes of the voyage is to strengthen Elida’s finances, the most popular legs are more expensive. However, compared with what a transatlantic crossing of this kind would normally cost, it is still very affordable!
More detailed information will be provided on an ongoing basis and in connection with your booking; for some of the legs, e.g., we don’t yet know exactly which port we will go to.
The minimum age is 18 (unless accompanied by a parent/guardian or other adult).
We hope you are just as excited about this as we are, and that many of you will want to join us on this adventure by sailing with us for one or more legs of the voyage!