Ecumenical & Interfaith

Why Ecumenism and Interfaith Dialogue?

Whenever as Christians we meet with people of different faiths and beliefs, we do so in the name and the strength of the one God who is Lord of all. Addressing the pagan Athenians, the apostle declares that this God is the One in whom all human beings live, move and have their being; he is the One of whom all can say: ‘He is not far from every one of us'. We cannot measure the infinity of God's greatness nor exhaust the mystery of his being; the religions of humanity deceive themselves when they fail to acknowledge the limits of their knowledge.

We believe that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth the One God has made known his triune reality as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The boundless life and perfect love which abide forever in the heart of the Trinity are sent out into the world in a mission of renewal and restoration in which we are called to share. As members of the Church of the Triune God, we are to abide among our neighbours of different faiths as signs of God's presence with them, and we are sent to engage with our neighbours as agents of God's mission to them. Thus, we seek to mirror the Father's generous love.

The God who has created our world is generous in grace and rejoices in diversity - ‘O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all!'  He has created all men and women in his image, and he wishes all to enjoy that fullness of life in his presence which we know as salvation. God cares for each person with a parental love; called to be perfect as our Father is perfect, we know that we must show that same love and respect to all.

Generous Love: the truth of the Gospel and the call to dialogue an Anglican theology of inter faith relations" 2008, a report from the Anglican Communion Network for Inter Faith Concerns   Click here for full document

Alabama Faith Council

 In 2003 several Christian leaders met, at the invitation of Bishop Henry Parsley, Episcopal Bishop of Alabama, and agreed to create a sustained partnership involving top leaders and laypeople from the Abrahamic faiths.  This united group would nurture ecumenical and interfaith relationships and be able to respond faithfully to social issues of our state, without having to build a new ad hoc organizational structure each time a need arises.

The AFC was established to facilitate relationship-building between the leaders of Alabama's many faith communities at a state, regional and local level.

The Alabama Faith Council held its first annual public forum at Southside Baptist Church in Birmingham. The meeting was presided over by the Rev. Henry Parsley, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama. In many ways Bishop Parsley was the catalyst for the formation of the AFC. After several faith groups banded together to call for tax reform in 2001, Parsley saw the possibilities for a different kind of voice speaking to faith concerns in our state.

The meeting over which Bishop Parsley presided was not composed entirely of Episcopalians, or even entirely of Christians. The AFC has as one of its core principles the desire to build community among all faiths in our state, beginning with the so-called 'Abrahamic' faiths - Jews, Muslims and Christians. And these were all there and well represented. The meeting also attracted participants from Alabama's Hindu and Buddhist communities.  So Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others, met for worship and prayer in a Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

Episcopal Ecumenical Interfaith Officer

The Rev. James E. Elliott, Jr. is the Ecumenical Interfaith Officer of the Diocese of Alabama.  The Ecumenical Officer is appointed by the Bishop of Alabama and seeks to do grassroots ecumenical and interfaith work in the Diocese of Alabama.  The Diocese of Alabama through the Ecumenical Officer is a member of the Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical Interfaith Officers.  The annual meeting of the EDEIO is at the National Workshop on Christian Unity. 

Ecumenical Relationships

The Episcopal Church is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, thirty-eight autonomous provinces in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.  In addition the Episcopal Church is in full communion with the Old Catholic Churches of Europe, the Philippine Independent Church, Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, India, Lutheran (ELCA), and through the merger of other Anglican Provinces resulting in other full communion partners.  Additional dialogues are ongoing aimed at fostering better and closer relationship with other Christian groups.