Since the 1920’s, Greater Kansas City has fostered a community of interfaith relations that is quite distinctive from other cities. In fact, if it was ever necessary to designate one city in the United States as the heart of interfaith activity, a very compelling argument could be made for Kansas City. The Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council was formed in 1989, after the North American Assisi religious meeting in Wichita, KS in 1988, as a program of CRES, by the Reverend Vern Barnet, DMin.
The mission of the organization was to direct awareness towards the diversity of faiths within the community. The Council organized such notable events as the “Gifts of Pluralism” conference and the 9/11 Anniversary Observance. The first Interfaith Academies were held in Kansas City in 2007. The Council was incorporated under its present name, the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council (GKCIC), in 2005; a name which holds much recognition in the community today.
Following the reincorporation of the Council, a shift in interfaith awareness throughout the city inspired an abundance of new, and innovative, interfaith organizations. In the fall of 2005, the Kansas City Festival of Faiths emerged, with the goal to create an arts and cultural event that would appeal to people who weren’t exclusively interested in interfaith.
Guided by the slogan, “fostering interfaith experience,” the event was comprised of a two-week series of events, including a performance of the original play, The Hindu and the Cowboy, and the participation of more than seventy-five religious organizations. An oral history archive of the interviews which comprised the making of The Hindu and the Cowboy, inspired by the 2001 Gifts of Pluralism Conference, are now available on the KC Interfaith History Project website.
In June of 2018, Festival of Faiths was absorbed by Faith Always Wins Foundation, founded in the aftermath of the tragic shooting at the Jewish Community Campus in April of 2014. They launched a community-wide event known as SevenDays®, occurring each year on the anniversary of the tragedy, and ending with a peace walk. GKCIC members have continued to make ongoing contributions to interfaith efforts in Kansas City, particularly noting Cultural Crossroads, Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, the Raytown Community Inter-Faith Alliance (RCIFA), and The Interfaith Center for Religious Literacy.
Cultural Crossroads’ most visible, and significant, interfaith contribution is the development of “The Human Spirit” collection, which is permanently housed at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library. The Interfaith Center for Religious Literacy has been in conversation with the staff at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) about creating a Religious Literacy major. The women of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom meet once a month to dialogue and collaborate in acts of service in the community. RCIFA leads the Raytown MLK Celebration every January, the second largest of its kind in the Kansas City metro area.
The Council also continues to recognize other organizations who have contributed to shaping the culture of interfaith in Kansas City as Table of Faiths awardees, including the Dialogue Institute, Kansas City and the Crescent Peace Society. The Dialogue Institute is perhaps best known for its Annual Dialogue and Friendship Dinner and interfaith Iftars every year, while the Crescent Peace Society hosts ongoing Ramadan Iftar and Eid Dinners, Thanksgiving Turkey drive, Meet A Muslim and many other community organizing events.
The greater Kansas City interfaith community continues to make vibrant, growing contributions to interfaith work, guiding the way for leadership in decades to come.
by Geneva Blackmer