Action Ideas for Inter Faith Week

Work and Economics

Show interest in the businesses run by your neighbours of other faiths and how they are faring in the current economic climate.
Ask your work mates: whether they know about inter faith week; what might be done to understand better the different religions represented in the workforce; whether they would like to organise a shared meal among the staff during inter faith week.
Invite business people from different faith communities to talk about how faith impacts on business principles for the sake of justice and the common good.
Explore how faith communities consider the use of goods, the reality of poverty and helping people in need. Organise a fund raising event for those suffering from a recent natural disaster or families in need in your town.

Getting to Know You

Invite your neighbour for a cup of tea or suggest that everyone in your church / place of worship invite a neighbouring family of another faith to tea.
Stop to talk to the person you see every day on your way to work or the shops, or strike up a conversation with people you see regularly on public transport.
Make and distribute badges and suggest that anyone wearing a badge can be approached by anyone else wearing a badge for a chat.
Arrange an 'Open Doors' day when people can visit your church / place of worship or community centre to find out about your faith and what you are doing.
Arrange a pilgrimage of peace, visiting places of worship or community centres in your locality, taking with you people who have not done this before.

Prayer and Spirituality

Tell a friend or acquaintance of another faith that you will pray for their job search, their sick relative or other pressing concern.
Arrange an event where there is input and discussion on the meaning of spirituality and the importance of prayer in different traditions. End this with spiritual readings and shared silence, perhaps accompanied by the lighting of candles.

Health and the Environment

Listen to faith communities' approaches to wellness, illness, the value of old age. Arrange to visit home(s) for the elderly to brighten the residents' day with songs and dances from different traditions.
Make plans for a sports event in the summer that will bring not only competitors together but also their families.
Work on a 'clear up' project to tidy up your street, or to renew a park or area in your town that is spoilt by litter or graffiti, followed by a festive meal together.

Local History and shared identity

Explore localities in your town where different communities have lived over decades or more. See how much the built environment and stories related to places can build bridges among people and cultures. Different communities have shared that space and are "proud to be from here" and to contribute to its future.

Music, Arts and Culture

Arrange a cultural event with religious or cultural music from different traditions introduced with explanations as to how these came about and their meaning.
Gather together to talk about the importance of poetry or story telling / legends in different religious traditions and listen to some examples or act them out.
Invite speakers from the faith traditions to explain the concept of art and imagery in different religious traditions, how these came about, how they have changed over the centuries and the challenges faced today.

Media

Write out a personal or collective greetings card and send it to "another" place of worship as a sign of solidarity.
Visit your local or regional radio and television centre and local newspaper. Discuss with them the importance of the media creating understanding among faith communities.
Invite your local media contacts to cover some of the events you arrange.

Politics

Arrange to meet your MP, local Councillors, or the Mayor for example. Share your ideas about how to develop greater solidarity among all the communities in your town.

Celia Blackden

Executive Office for Inter Faith Relations