Pastor Roberts, Imam Magid, and Rabbi Saperstein have partnered to create the MFNN program, a multi-faith experience to begin multi-faith dialogue. “Our goal is to get at least ten Pastors, ten Imams, and ten Rabbis [to join us],” says Roberts. Clerics begin by breaking off into smaller groups to talk through these questions.
Pastor Roberts, Imam Magid, and Rabbi Saperstein have partnered to create the MFNN program, a multi-faith experience to begin multi-faith dialogue. “Our goal is to get at least ten Pastors, ten Imams, and ten Rabbis [to join us],” says Roberts. Clerics begin by breaking off into smaller groups to talk through these questions.
After the small groups, a larger group conversation is facilitated around the idea of “questions you’ve always wanted to ask, but have been too afraid to.”
MFNN encourages the multi-faith community to serve their city together, stand up for each other’s religious freedom, and respond to a crisis together.
Following the initial two-and-a-half-day MFNN retreat, conversation, community building, and partnership continues in the following ways:
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Sharing a Meal
Clerics open their homes to each other and break bread with one another. This allows a comfortable, familiar, and deeply personal space where these clerics can get to know each other.
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Socializing as a Multi-Faith Community
Moving from engaging clerics to building bridges between faith communities is critical. Clerics involved in the program will host “mixers” at their individual places of worship for the other religious community members to attend, fostering a dialogue of multi-faith understanding and acceptance. The entire reason is to engage through grassroots
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Participating in a Community Project Together
Instead of the typical approach of communication (head/heart/hand), we reverse that order and start with serving together, then the heart as it builds trust, and then ready for the head conversation. These shared experiences allow people of different faiths to work together toward a common good.
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Standing Up for Each Other During a Crisis
Many people talk about interfaith dialogue, but we aim to focus on multi-faith engagements. These shared experiences allow people of different faiths to work together toward a common good.
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Recruiting Additional Clerics to Join in this Commitment