The group handed over a message of apology expressing regret for the bloodshed of the years of fighting for the Holy Land, during their Strasbourg stop on The Reconciliation Walk, which sees them retracing the steps of the Crusaders from Germany to Jerusalem.
The eight-strong team - passing through Croatia, late last month - is carrying a statement saying how the Crusades betrayed the true message of Christianity by corrupting "its true meaning of reconciliation, forgiveness and selfless love".
Organizers hope that over the next three years The Reconciliation Walk will
break down the barriers between Christians, and Muslims and Jews, thousands
of who were killed during the Crusades.
The walkers set out from Cologne, Germany in April on the 900th anniversary
of the start of the First Crusade, led by Peter the Hermit.
The team - five men and three women - has followed the Crusaders' route
through France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Slovenia, and is due to cross
Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Greece, before ending the first leg of the
walk in Istanbul, Turkey in September.
Hundreds more are expected to join the project next year, when teams will walk through Turkey with the message. The final leg of the walk is in 1999, when participants will reach Jerusalem, with a special prayer event planned to mark the 900th anniversary of the fall of the city in July 1099.
During their trek, the walkers - Youth With A Mission workers from six countries - are averaging 20 miles a day, camping out at night or being hosted by members of local churches they meet along the way. A second team sets out from Germany next month, following one of the other main Crusader routes - through Hungary and Bulgaria - before meeting up with their co-walkers in Istanbul.
During the course of the three-year project up to two million Muslims and Jews could personally receive a copy of the statement, according to Reconciliation Walk coordinator Lynn Green, YWAM's field director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
"That could make a significant contribution towards easing some of the major tensions in the world today, which are between Christians, and Muslims and Jews," he said.
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