As interfaith groups emerge spontaneously across the continent, one cannot help but be surprised and appreciative of the extraordinary gifts that are being brought to the table of interfaith relationship. Making friends with people from different backgrounds, all by itself, becomes an exchange of gifts. The workshops below barely scratch the surface.

WORKSHOPS

• Appreciative Inquiry in Inter- and Intra-faith Contexts
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  Appreciative Inquiry is an approach to community that focuses on generating vitality and action around what we most value as an alternative to fixing what we don’t like or is broken. Organizationally, AI has influenced grassroots interfaith work around the world. And what has been learned generating appreciative interfaith activity is now being used in generating healthy, vital intrafaith relationships. Along with an overview, the workshop will allow participants to experience the process and excitement that it brings to a community.

  Kay Lindahl & Paul Chaffee

• ASSEMBLY 2 - Profiling Eight Exemplary Interfaith Projects
  Plenary Session - All Attending

  One of the ways we decided to explore the ‘gifts’ within the interfaith community was to seek out exemplary interfaith groups successfully approaching bridge-building in new ways. We could have had twice as many equally interesting groups had we the time. The projects we heard about and chose are all exciting. At this assembly, we will hear from each briefly; most of them will offer special workshops. Click on this workshop title to see a list of the profiled groups and links to their websites.

• Christian-Wiccan Dialogue: A 20-Year interfaith Friendship
  Twenty-two years ago, Don Frew, a Wiccan priest and international spokesperson for indigenous and Neo-Pagan communities, started a dialogue with Brooks Alexander, a committed evangelical Christian who co-founded the Spiritual Counterfeits Project in Berkeley, known for its critique of and opposition to New Age spirituality and new religious movements. Their dialogue developed into a long-term friendship that they will share and talk about.

  Brooks Alexander and Don Frew

• Exploring the Indigenous Role in Interfaith Dialogue
  Indigenous spiritual traditions, much older than more established religions, have had a hard time with modernity and religious oppression from the dominant traditions. Over the last 15 years, considerable dialogue has finally opened up between the two different kinds of faith and practice. Our presenters have been active in that discussion, here and abroad. This workshop focuses on the requirements and benefits of good relationships between Earth-based spiritual traditions and established religions.

  Don Frew and Yoland Trevino

• How the San Francisco Foundation Connected with Congregations
  The San Francisco Foundation’s FAITHS Program, founded in 1993 as the FAITHS Initiative, serves as a bridge between the philanthropic community and the Bay Area’s religious communities. It enhances the work of faith-based organizations delivering services or advocating for their communities. Its programs focus on issues like affordable housing, disaster preparedness, inter-group relations, job training, senior services, and youth development., and leadership training. This workshop tells the story of the creation of FAITHS and what it works to achieve, followed by a discussion about the relationship between philanthropy and faith-based organizations.

  Michelle Myers Chambers and Michael Yoshi

• Interfaith Communication in the Digital Age
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  The digital age is changing everything around us, including religious communication. What required huge budgets and major industries is now available on our personal desktops, opening up unimagined new opportunities and skill-sets. In a time of globalization, how can the interfaith movement, local and global, best utilize these powerful tools? This workshop will feature a panel of experts sharing their stories and insights before opening up the conversation to all who attend.

  Brent Andrew
  Corbin Davis moderator
  Fred Fielding moderator
  Bettina Gray
  

• Interreligion at the United Nations - A New Day
  Learders from the Temple of Understanding, an international interfaith organization headquartered in New York City, will present the Proposal for a Decade of Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation for Peace initiated by forty interfaith and religious organizations. First they will unpack the proposal - its history and function, the response of Member States at the United Nations, and the timeline for its acceptance at the United Nations. Then they will address how to integrate interfaith work at the United Nations into your educational programming.

  Sister Joan Kirby and Alison Van Dyk

• Interreligious Higher Education – Surveying the Options
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  The Bay Area’s manifold educational opportunities include four very different opportunities for graduate and professional education in religion – California Institute for Integral Studies, Chaplaincy Institute for the Arts and Interfaith Ministries, Graduate Theological Union, and Sophia Center. They come from different religious traditions and make different assumptions. But all have a track record of training religious/spiritual teachers and leaders. Our presenters will begin by surveying their own institutions, assumptions, and priorities. Then they will share a conversation about what the 21st century needs from graduate and professional programs in religious studies.

  Presenters - James Conlon, Kimberly Connor (moderator), Gina Rose Halpern, Arthur Holder, CIIS representative-BIO to come

• NAIN – Where We’ve Been & What We Hope For
  The leaders who have chaired NAIN since its inception in 1988 will revisit its original vision, share their sense of its accomplishments through the years, and reflect on what they hope for NAIN’s future. After the panel’s presentations, those attending will be invited to share their own best experiences of NAIN as well as their hopes for its future.

  Mike Goggin, Peter Laurence, Kay Lindahl, Don Mayne, and Charles White

• Parliament of the Worlds Religions & NAIN – the Opportunity
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  This workshop brings you into the planning for the December 2-9, 2009, Parliament of the World’s Religions to be held in Melbourne, Australia. Bill Lesher and Helen Spector have been active with the Parliament since the historic 1993 Parliament.

  The theme of the 2009 Parliament, Make a World of Difference: Hearing each other, Healing the earth, underscores the opportunity for religious and spiritual communities and all people of good will to act on environmental concerns and take responsibility for cultivating awareness of our global interconnectedness. The context of this Parliament provides a lens through which the world can focus on the struggles and spiritualities of indigenous peoples around the globe, particularly highlighting the Aboriginal communities of Australia.

  A new website -- http://www.parliamentofreligions.org -- includes all the information and registrtion possibilities for Melbourne.

  Bill Lesher and Helen Spector

• Peninsula Clergy Network
  Peninsula Clergy Network offers a new approach to interfaith dialogue by successfully drawing together a wide diversity of religious leaders, liberal and conservative, and giving the opportunities to become more involved in their own communities. It provides clergy with the opportunity to network with colleagues and convenes dialogues between these clergy and local civic leaders. Rabbi Jay Miller, who founded this rapidly growing network and its new kind of dialogue, will tell the story of its formation and how it can be extended in your own community.

  Jay Miller

• Sharing Spiritual Resources for Environmental Concerns
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  This workshop is an open discussion of Green Practice. How do our traditions and spiritual beliefs support and inspire us toward environmental responsibility? What do you draw from within your own faith and practice that supports your ecological conscience?

  Ralph Singh and Rachael Watcher

• The Golden & Green Rule Posters Projects
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  The Green and Golden Rule Posters The Scarboro Missions Interfaith Department is a Canadian Catholic outreach project. This workshop will focus on educational uses of Scarboro's Golden Rule poster which features the Golden Rule in 13 religions. Participants will learn how to use the poster's universal message in classrooms, workshops, meditation sessions, multifaith prayer services and youth groups. The poster has achieved international renown as a dynamic interfaith tool. The workshop will also focus on educational uses of the Green Rule poster which features ecological teachings in 14 religions.

  Paul McKenna

• United Religions Initiative & NAIN - Discovering New Ways to Cooperate for Mutual Benefit
  Leaders from NAIN's member organizations are concerned about many of the issues that engage members of United Religions Initiative's 400 Cooperation Circles in more than 60 countries. This workshop explores the terrain of actions in various interfaith organizations, offering ideas and opportunities for more intentional cooperation. This interactive workshop will include core ideas from URI's successes and engage participants in envisioning the unprecedented successes available if we increase mutually beneficial cooperation.

  Sally Mahé

• Using the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice
  Walking the labyrinth is an ancient tradition explored in numerous religious traditions. It endures as a powerful tool for personal spiritual practice, whatever your background. Lauren Artress began working with labyrinths as priest at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral and now finds herself inspiring an international community of people enriched through this approach to spirituality. The workshop will focus on labyrinths and spiritual practice.

  Jo Ann Mast and Anna C. Yang

• Women Transcending Boundaries
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  Two women, Christian and Muslim, found each other after 9/11, realized their common concerns and values far outweighed differences, and invited friends into conversation. Today more than 400 women of diverse faith and cultures are involved focusing on interfaith education and service. WTB has been reported in national and international media including CNN International, New York Times, Oprah Magazine, Family Circle, and are actively involved with the Harvard Pluralism Project: “Women’s Interfaith Initiatives Post-9/11.” Participants will leave with notebooks sharing how this grassroots interfaith group was born, uses “bubble-up” infrastructure, evolution ideas, and tips for starting your own interfaith group.

  Betsy Wiggins