Baptists and Inter Faith Week
 

Are you considering participating in Inter Faith Week? It's an opportunity to share who we are and learn about friends who also share faith perspectives on life, writes Andy Williams 

Alongside my wife Jo, a fellow Baptist minister, I attended the annual celebration event of Calderdale Inter Faith Council during Inter Faith Week last year. The warmth of the welcome from everyone to everyone made for a beautiful atmosphere in a local Church of England primary school in Halifax. 

The celebration included Sikh drummers, dance by a Hindu artist, the school choir, Quranic recitation, solo singing, a presentation by pupils on citizenship, and the local vicar spoke about why he loved being involved in such a diverse school community (scroll down for more photos). The event was closed by a presentation from Ingrid Roscoe, Lord Lieutenant for West Yorkshire.

In this variety of ways, insights about culture and the faiths practised in Halifax and Calderdale were shared and celebrated, followed by a time for participants to share a buffet meal and chat informally. It was such a fascinating and enriching time together.
 
You can read more stories from over 700 activities and events that took place for Inter Faith Week last year, at www.interfaithweek.org/uploads/Inter_Faith_Week_2017_report21.pdf .
 
The tenth Inter Faith Week will take place from 11-18 November, 2018. The week begins on Remembrance Sunday, which this year is Armistice Centenary Day, marking a century since the end of the First World War.  

You can find out about events being planned near you in lots of ways, but local inter faith groups and organisations are a good place to start and the Inter Faith Network receives details of events across the country, which it makes available on its website interfaithweek.org.

As Baptist Christians, let’s take the opportunity to make and renew friendships with those of other faiths in our local communities, sharing who we are and learning about friends who also share faith perspectives on life.

 

The 2018 Inter Faith Week takes place 11-18 November  

Jo and Andy Williams are joint ministers at Blackley Baptist Church in Yorkshire. Andy chairs the Baptists Together Inter Faith Working Group.