“Experience Your Neighbor’s Faith, Deepen Your Own”

Mission

We are an experiential inter-religious community that comes together to deepen our personal and communal journeys, share ritual life and devotional space, and foster a commitment to social justice and healing the world.

Vision
In order to achieve this mission, we are growing five aspects of our local community in New York City:

1. Living Room Gatherings
Twice a month, Faith House hosts Living Room gatherings where we share holy days, learn new spiritual practices, and address current cultural and social issues. Each gathering has a specific theme and hands-on, participatory elements.

2. Religious Spaces NYC
Once a month we step out of our comfort zones and enter new sacred spaces in New York City. In the safety of community, on pre-arranged “field trips,” we visit diverse religious services as well as lectures, rituals, concerts and other events.

3. Serving Together
In synergy with other faith-based and interfaith organizations, Faith House provides opportunities to spread awareness and work together to fight poverty, increase environmental justice and sustainability, and promote peacemaking in New York City and around the world.

4. Nurture Relationships between Local Faith Communities
Faith House welcomes other faith communities to plan Living Room Gatherings, as well as host Faith House “field trips” at their regular places of worship, collaborating to serve together and form relationships across boundaries.

5. Islamic Involvement
At this historical moment, we place a special emphasis on the value of leadership and participation of diverse local Muslims in all aspects of the life of Faith House.  In years to come, other groups may hold this place of focused involvement.

Principles
To guide our relationships and the life of our community, these principles of inter-dependence describe not what we hold as sacred or central but how we hold it:

COMMON JOURNEY, DIFFERENT PATHS:  We are sojourners who gratefully acknowledge that every faith has its own mystery.

RE-INTERPRETATION: We continually seek deeper levels of understanding by interpreting and re-interpreting our texts, traditions, and practices.

GRACIOUS COMMUNICATION:  We do not insist that others have to change their language or categories in order for us to hear them, while we strive to translate our concepts to those outside our traditions.

GIVING THROUGH RECEIVING: We strive to learn more than to teach as we are called to receive, discern, and treasure what others have to give.

FREEDOM FROM FORCE AND FREEDOM TO CHANGE: We do not believe in proselytizing; we do believe in personal choice and transformation.

POST-CYNICISM:  We believe a new kind of community is possible.

 

Updated September 2009 – Please send comments, questions, or suggestions here.