Tag: Diversity

Bringing Religions Together at the YMCA

One of the long-standing gifts of the YMCA in a community is bringing people of different religions and faith traditions together – in the gym, in the sauna, in the locker room, in the board room, in the playground, in the hallways.

Let’s keep embracing this opportunity, this responsibility, this calling to strengthen our religiously diverse association, to be the welcoming heart and hands of Christ in this global community.

I applaud the efforts of Christians in the YMCA to study and collaborate and suggest ways we could deepen our interfaith work and enrich our religious inclusivity.

It is necessary and crucial to us living out our Christian principles, it’s a way to stay faithful to the Paris Basis, our Mission, and our Constitutional Purpose.

Here is a helpful document that YUSA published in 2017 regarding an overview of diverse faiths of members and ideas on inclusive practices:

But: it assumes that someone else is nurturing an inclusive Christian personality and an inclusive Christian society that is ready to do interfaith work in a welcoming, gracious, in imitation of Jesus.

As a Christian Emphasis Director, it seems to me that an obstacle to more Christians participating in interfaith dialogue and events is their neglect of interdenominational and interconfessional participation. 

If we are disregarding religious folks that believe some key things different than us, but still regard Jesus Christ as their God and Saviour, then it will be very difficult to take seriously the need to be understanding and empathetic to neighbors of other religions.

What can the YMCA do to encourage, nurture, even challenge its Christian members to embody the prayer of Jesus in John 17?

More Christians writing and working out practical ways we can embody The Beatitudes of Jesus, The Golden Rule, The Great Commandment, The Great Commission, with inclusive, gracious, hospitality will be helpful.

Jesus makes it clear in the Gospel According to Matthew that loving people that are like you, who can pay you back generously, is good – but doesn’t go far enough if you are going to love like God loves you; we must love our neighbors who won’t or can’t pay us back, we must love strangers, even our enemies – that is what God-like compassion, mercy and kindness looks like.

One of the long-standing gifts of the YMCA in a community is bringing people of different religions and faith traditions together – in the gym, in the sauna, in the locker room, in the board room, in the playground, in the hallways.

Let’s keep embracing this opportunity, this responsibility, this calling to strengthen our religiously diverse association, to be the welcoming heart and hands of Christ in this global community.

YMCA, Hospitality & Religious Diversity

For Christians in the YMCA, we are called to love one another, our neighbor, strangers and our enemies; they may be of the same faith or not – but we have a responsibility to respect and care in imitation of Christ. This is the heart of Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21, of inclusion and equity. “Welcome is the will of God” – to quote my college theology professor Dr. Paul Fetters.

John R. Mott, a legendary YMCA leader, inspiring evangelical Christian missionary, and father of the Christian ecumenical movement, was also an instigator of the multi-faith dialogue – an epitome (though not perfect) of diverse and inclusive Christian mission up until his death in 1955.

Since then the YMCA has sought to embody the Christian faith and loyalty to Jesus in its open membership, community-based programs, and leadership development amidst very tumultuous times – there was nothing easy about navigating the societal upheavals of the 60’s and 70’s, the political and economic swings of the 80’s and 90’s, and the stumbling striving for justice in the first two decades of this second millennium.

In all honesty, diversity and inclusion between different kinds of Christians is not easy, and requires gracious hospitality – this is the heart of Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21.

Those same skills are what make interfaith dialogue and mutual understanding possible.

It is obvious that the country has become more diverse in almost every way culturally and religiously.

The YMCA is in the middle of it: so, how do we graciously and generously move forward, especially regarding interfaith relationships, including those members who do not consider themselves religious?

Below is a document produced in 2015 that the Y crafted in seeking to understand it’s membership in this regard. 

Here is an excerpt that introduces it: 

The YMCA of the USA recognizes that in a diverse world, we are stronger when we are inclusive and our doors are open for all.

Interfaith engagement provides an opportunity for the Y to foster empathy, understanding, and awareness.

This document is a summary of a collaborative project on interfaith engagement conducted by the Aspen Institute Justice & Society Program (JSP) and the YMCA of the USA (Y-USA).

Religious Diversity of the Y

And: 

The YMCA of the USA, one of the nation’s leading youth development organizations, has participated in IAP (Inclusive America Project) from its inception.

Neil Nicoll, President and CEO of Y-USA, attended both panel meetings and contributed an essay to the Principled Pluralism report.

As an outgrowth of Mr. Nicoll’s involvement in the Inclusive America Project, the Aspen Institute and Y-USA worked together to examine how religious diversity affects Ys across the nation and explore potential strategies for further engagement.

2015, aspeninstitute.org/publications/religious-diversity-y/
Click here or on pic to access PDF document

I appreciate the practical spirit of this document, crafted by YMCA leaders seeking to put Christian principles into practice.

It seems to me that every generation of the YMCA has to do some contextual digging, discerning what are the forces that have been shaping the times they are living and leading in, and then discern how to be wise, creative, and just in moving forward.

For Christians in the YMCA, we are called to love one another, our neighbor, strangers and our enemies; they may be of the same faith or not – but we have a responsibility to respect and care in imitation of Christ.

That is the heart of John 17:21, of religious diversity and inclusion, of hospitality, of the kingdom of God.