Mission Statement
The Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee builds relationships among people of faith to promote greater understanding, dignity, and respect, and to advocate for the inclusion and acceptance of all.
Founded in 1970, the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee is a more than 50-year-old nonprofit organization through which the regional leaders and adherents of 22 member faiths and denominations:
- Dialogue to build personal relationships
- Conduct public programming to counter hate and fear while fostering interfaith, intercultural and interracial understanding, tolerance and friendship
- Work together on hunger, unemployment, environmental challenges and other social issues to create a better society for everyone
We also work closely with several nonmember faiths.
As the United States has become increasingly religiously diverse, we have been at the forefront of efforts to counter misunderstanding, fear, anxiety and hate while fostering interfaith, intercultural, and interracial understanding, tolerance and friendships across county and city-suburban lines.
Our various activities and programs include:
- A Committee for Interfaith Understanding that builds a better society amid growing diversity by conducting educational programs and bringing people together from a wide array of faith traditions to counter hate, fear, anxiety and bias by fostering understanding, tolerance and friendship.
- An Amazing Faiths Dinner Dialogue Program that brings people of different faiths, philosophies, races and cultures together in private homes or intimate institutional settings for a vegetarian meal and a moderated dialogue about their lived experience of faith/philosophy. Our appreciative listening process evokes deep sharing. People can come to just one dinner, or more, as guests, hosts or trained moderators.
- An Interfaith Earth Network of Southeastern Wisconsin (IEN) whose mission is to inspire and support people of all faiths and faith communities to care for Earth based on their sacred teachings. Through education advocacy, actions and networking, IEN is a catalyst for congregations and people of faith to live, work and worship in environmentally sustainable ways.
- A ONE Community Program that connects suburban and urban congregations to: examine structural causes of the area’s racial and economic segregation; bond through personal sharing; and get constituents motivated by faith to contact legislators.
- An annual Tuesdays-in-March Luncheon Lecture Series organized by our Peace & International Issues Committee that addresses compelling local, regional and international issues. .
- An Interfaith Restorative Practices Coalition that we convene and which provides a forum for sharing and collaboration by representatives of eight agencies and institutions that use principle-driven restorative practices to heal individuals and communities affected by crimes and other harmful acts. They also help congregations work through difficult internal issues.
- Co-sponsorship of a biennial People of Faith United for Justice advocacy day in Madison with the Wisconsin Council of Churches and other organizations that draws up to 1,000 people from across the state to focus on issues related to the proposed Wisconsin state budget and to meet with legislators.
- Representatives on 9 area boards and commissions
