Membership: The Opportunity, The Challenge, The Potential

InterFaith Leadership Council Interfaith Impact 2025: A Time to Belong
St. Mary’s Basilica, Livonia, Michigan
Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Over the years, I have had the opportunity, and sometimes challenge, to think about membership, what it means, what motivates individuals to become members, and what the potential of membership is. In my Christian tradition, there is this central image in one of the letters found written in our sacred text about the organization of the Church being like a body with many members—members, meaning parts of the body. All work together, with their many gifts, to make an amazing and inimitable whole. What the body can do together is utterly dependent upon the individual parts, but what that body can accomplish together, with all of the parts engaged, is truly spectacular. What I have come to appreciate about this image is that no part is devalued or considered less critical. Every part, every unique, distinct, and diverse part, makes the body what it is and can be. Without each part, it is something else and is not what it could be. 

As I learned in my own particular Congregational tradition, membership is accentuated in another way. In Congregational churches, we are bound by a covenant, an expression of the most basic agreement that we as individuals make together as a body with the divine and with one another. The earliest description of what it means to be a “member” of a Congregational community is to “own the covenant.” In other words, we all voluntarily agree to certain things, not so much in terms of beliefs, but actions, because we feel we belong to this larger body. To be clear, the membership initiative of the InterFaith Leadership Council is in many ways a different kind of membership experience, because we are not building this on the premise of a specific faith background, tradition, or set of beliefs. But from my most foundational understanding of membership, I do see the value, the necessity, and even the urgency for such a “body,” if you will, to exist and for it to be a space and a place for those who are curious and concerned and committed to building and fostering relationships of resilience and healing.

This is the moment, the “Time to Belong.” The isolation, distance, and breakdown in relationships that keep us separated one from another on the basis of a host of possible factors, alongside the well-attested and documented felt need, yearning, and even hunger for relationship, cry out for such organizations as the InterFaith Leadership Council to exist and thrive. The membership program provides a means to build, or re-build, as the case may be, and foster such relationships of resilience and healing.

The potential of accepting this invitation to membership is, I perceive, extensive, but I will comment on a few particular opportunities. First, membership in the InterFaith Leadership Council will enhance the possibility to discover a sense of belonging that embraces difference and empowers learning about one another’s unique beliefs and practices, as well as shared values. My primary work with the InterFaith Leadership Council, for the better portion of the last 10 years, has been with its educational offerings. I am Co-Chair, along with the extremely dedicated and indefatigable Gail Katz, of the Education Committee. Over the years, we have organized panel discussions, adult immersive experiences, and, most recently, bus tours to religious sites of significance. Going into the 2025-2026 season of activity, we are continuing these, but also reviving the “Ask a” series of conversations that permit audiences to enter into dialogue with practitioners of a variety of traditions by asking questions and hearing their responses. In addition, the previous “Exploring Religious Landscapes” adult education sessions are being re- designed for families as “Interfaith Odysseys.” There are a variety of educational opportunities that are available at reduced costs not only for individual persons, but whole families, with memberships.

Second, membership allows one to engage with those from a variety of faith traditions toward deeper understanding and appreciation. The InterFaith Leadership Council recognizes that, while formal educational processes are important, what is most critical is relationships. While attending various events, learning is an engaged endeavor. There are chances to sit at a table and talk with those of different traditions, and even, in some cases, to dine with them. The Ask a program not only permits, but actively encourages, the asking of questions and seeking of knowledge. The Bridging to Belonging groups are centered around conversations that surface, from diverse stories and backgrounds, shared values and convictions that point to a better world for all.

Finally, membership opens up for each person a way to participate, to really make a difference, in building a community of mutual support and cooperation. That is that step that flows naturally, if nurtured, from learning and interacting and establishing relationships, in fact, genuine friendships in hopefully many cases. The InterFaith Leadership Council’s website states that the central goal of the organization is to bring “people of diverse religious, racial and ethnic backgrounds together to work toward a harmonious community based on our highest and best values.” Participating in the work of the InterFaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit means contributing to generate this harmonious community. Identifying shared values as members naturally leads to actions that live out those values and impact all of our neighbors for the better.

We want everyone to access and enjoy the benefits of this membership, as well as to let membership be the beginning of an amazing journey of developing new and transformative relationships that make an impact on the wider community and world. We want you and, if applicable, your families, to grow with us. We hope that you will discover, engage, and participate in membership with the InterFaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit! You are important to us, and we need you to sustain the values we hold most dear and to shape the world around us in positive and meaningful ways!

Rev. Dr. Charles Packer
IFLC Board of Directors and Co-Chair Education Committee