Religious Diversity Training for Religious Organizations

Religious diversity is an inescapable reality of our modern world. Religious communities and organizations need knowledge and skills for establishing and maintaining working relationships across religious difference. Our workshops help religious leaders and practitioners develop concrete strategies and skills that will strengthen the capacity of their communities or organizations to engage, support, and leverage religious diversity in service of peace and justice. 

We design and deliver in-person and virtual trainings as two-, three-, four-, or six-hour workshops. Many topics are also available as one-hour “lunchtime learning” sessions. Workshops may be booked individually or as a series. 

Sample Trainings:

Peacebuilding: Knowledge and Skills for Religious Leaders. Peace is something most religious leaders are “for.” Yet, what is it, exactly? How do we facilitate it and sustain it? What strategies and skills do we need? This training considers brings a multifaith lens to topics such as measuring “peace;” religion and violence; handling of extreme differences; the intersection of politics, peacemaking, and power; interfaith just peacemaking norms; habits of agents of conflict transformation; and peacebuilding models and methods. 

Interfaith Hospitality: Setting the Table. Hospitality is one of the cornerstones of interfaith engagement, yet differences in beliefs and practices can pose significant challenges when we seek to create a welcoming space for those of other religious identities. This workshop provides participants with tools and resources to be truly welcoming hosts to guests from many religious traditions. 

Spiritual Friendship across Theological Differences. Friendship rooted in a shared search for ultimate meaning is an essential spiritual practice for many religious traditions and journeying with those of different religious beliefs and practices can be a profound source of insight and understanding. This workshop introduces teachings on spiritual friendship from a range of spiritual traditions as well as concrete practices for cultivating it with people whose beliefs and religious practices differ from our own.

Theological Foundations for Interreligious Dialogue. Religious leaders may wonder how to reconcile the exclusivist claims with the principles and dynamics of interreligious dialogue. This workshop will explore the theological foundations for dialogue across major religious traditions. 

Decolonizing Interfaith Engagement. Increasingly, interfaith leaders are being called to confront the dynamics of historical colonialism and racism. This workshop equips participants not only to identity and confront problematic systems and structures, but also to create more authentic engagement between people of diverse religious identities and practices.

Building the Beloved Community: Interfaith Partnership in the Work of Racial Justice: This workshop considers how religious communities have historically worked together to advance the work of racial justice in the United States, reflects on the intersection of religion and race in communities, and equips participants to engage in interfaith partnership-building and advocacy in the work of racial justice in the 21st century.

Spiritual Formation and the Multifaith Family: A rapidly growing reality for many religious communities is the presence of multifaith families. The resulting challenge for religious identity and belonging is a significant driver in current trends away from religious affiliation. This workshop helps participants understand these trends and provide strategies for spiritual formation and support for multifaith families. 

The Power of Many: Interfaith-Based Community Organizing. Partnerships between diverse religious communities have been at the forefront of many of the most significant social movements of the past two centuries. This workshop introduces community organizing strategies and frameworks with proven usefulness in mobilizing and empowering diverse communities to effect social change.

A Brief Introduction to a Religion in your Neighborhood. We offer a menu of workshops geared toward expanding multireligious literacy. Each offering provides an efficient survey of the beliefs and practices of a particular religion about which more knowledge and understanding is desired. Possibilities include: 

Introduction to Judaism for non-Jewish religious leaders

Introduction to Islam for non-Muslim religious leaders

Introduction to Christian diversity for non-Christian religious leaders

Introduction to Hinduism for non-Hindu religious leaders 

Other religions are available. Whichever religion we introduce, we strive both to avoid essentializing and to make clear the internal diversity of the religion being presented.

Request Info