Welcome!

Welcome to the Iowa Faith Leadership Network! This is a group of faith leaders committed to the following:

1. Building interfaith and ecumenical collegiality, cooperation, and networking;

2. Sharing resources/ continuing education opportunities and asking questions;

3. Developing ourselves professionally as faith leaders so we may better serve the people in our faith communities, as well as the peoples in the community surrounding our places of worship.

Here are some of the areas on which we seek to cooperate in order to improve the lives of people in the communities in which we live and/or serve:

+Eliminating hunger and homelessness

+Caring for creation/ environmental stewardship

+Alleviating poverty

+Promoting physical and mental health and well-being

+Advocating for human rights, civil rights, and equality of all human beings

+Increasing accessibility and welcome to persons with physical, developmental, and/or mental health
disabilities in our places of worship

+Ensuring the safety and well-being of children in our ministries and communities

+Peacemaking, unity, and finding common ground on issues of deep controversy or bitter divide

+Preventing and responding to acts of violence

+Preparing for and responding to disasters and tragedy in our communities

+Developing/ increasing shared opportunities for continuing education and professional development

+Supporting one another as colleagues in our respective ministries to our communities

There are additional aspects to our online presence: a Facebook page for public posts/ announcements; and a Facebook group for faith leaders (clergy or equivalent) that focuses more on professional ministry skills. We also have a Facebook group for women clergy, and the regional group, North Iowa Peacebuilders.

For all social media, please note the following guidelines for commenting:

1. Respect one another--we are all faith leaders representing many religious traditions. This is a space for building positive relationships among leaders of differing religious groups.

2. In addition to respecting one another's religious background, be respectful of the diversity of gender, race, ethnicity, age, physical ability, political persuasion, and other human demographic factors that may be represented on this page.

3. This is a place for civil conversation and differences of opinion, not arguments.

4. This is a non-partisan space; no candidate or political parties for elected office will be endorsed.

5. We respect that each of us may have our own individual thoughts/ reflections/ ideas, while also being accountable to a religious tradition and its established beliefs, ideas, and policies.