Surrey Neighbouring Faiths Program Mid-June 2012 Newsletter

Greetings, Whenever Im discussing religious diversity in our community, I often find myself emphasizing the importance of visiting houses of worship and building relationships with people from different faith traditions. This is not to say that an intellectual understanding of the beliefs and practices of different religions is not important, but it is the experiences and relationships that will actually make a difference. The Surrey Doors Open event taking place this weekend is a great opportunity to do both! This Saturday, June 23 from 11 am 4pm over 30 venues from City Centre to Newton will be open to the public. This is a unique opportunity to explore architecture, historic sites, parks, art exhibits, universities, recreation centres and places of worship. A number of local faith communities are opening their doors for this event and I encourage you to visit and support them! You can learn more about this event at the website and via the posters attached below. You will notice that this is one of the shortest newsletters in the past few years! Things are winding down from a busy spring as we ease into the lazy days of summer. I am currently focusing my energy towards the NAIN Connect 2012 event in July, and then will be taking some time off from some of my interfaith work over the summer. That means that this newsletter will be sporadic at best! If you have any interfaith events that you would like to promote during that time, please feel free to use our Facebook group to do so. Happy solstice to you all, and best wishes for a healthy and enjoyable summer.

Upcoming Events
June 23 Surrey Doors Open Event The City of Surrey will be launching the first ever Surrey Doors Open event on June 23, 2012 from 11am-4pm. Over 30 venues from City Centre to Newton will be open to the public with free admission for the day. Doors Open will provide a unique opportunity to explore architecture, historic sites, parks, places of worship, art exhibits, universities, and recreation centres. Venues will offer many activities including guided tours, presentations, childrens activities, entertainment and food samples. A number of you are supporting this event by opening your houses of worship for the day! Please get out and support one another! See attached poster for details. July 8 Interfaith Sermon at Crossroads United Church On July 8 I will be delivering a sermon at Crossroads United Church in North Delta on the topic of children and the interfaith movement. All are welcome! July 15-18 North American Interfaith Network Connect 2012 I will be presenting a workshop at the upcoming annual convention of the North America Interfaith Network in Atlanta, Georgia July 15-18. Here is a description of the workshop: Interfaith activists in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada developed a children first approach to making their city more interfaith friendly. This approach regards the ways in which we address the needs of young children as key to building more humane and sustainable communities. How might this innovative approach contribute to making your

city more interfaith friendly? What might a children first perspective add to the global interfaith movement? Join David Dalley, Founder and Program Coordinator of the Surrey Neighbouring Faith Program, for an interactive session to explore some of these questions. Please visit this website if you are interested in helping to sponsor this workshop.

Keep in touch...

What to learn more about the Surrey Neighbouring Faiths Program? Visit our website, watch our documentary, or look through past editions of this newsletter. Want to stay connected? Sign up to receive this monthly newsletter or join our Facebook group. This newsletter contains links to other events and resources in the community. Unless you are receiving this newsletter directly, some of the links may be disabled. To receive this newsletter directly, sign up at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/surreyneighbouringfaiths/. Our Mission Statement is: The Surrey Neighbouring Faiths Program builds community capacity for multifaith learning and dialogue with a focus on children and families. If you have any programming or project ideas that relate to this mission statement, please let me know. We are always open to new ideas! In peace, David Dalley (604) 502-8661 davidanderin@dalley.ca Comforted by how much we share, were able to delight in our differences. - Raffi, from A Covenant for Honouring Children