The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

NAIN strives to be a flexible, continental network engaging individuals and member organizations in strengthening their grassroots efforts by connecting resources, uncovering opportunities, and capturing the dynamism of today’s multifaith realities (NAIN Vision, 2003).

From Wichita to the World

The North American Interfaith Network (NAIN) is a continent-wide coalition of interfaith organizations, offices, and media groups who work at the local, regional, state, or national level. The idea for the organization was spearheaded by a small consortium of U.S. interfaith leaders under the guidance and impetus of the Temple of Understanding. In 1987, the inaugural meeting was held in Wichita, Kansas, where organizers made plans to host a larger multi-religious gathering in the following year. Members of the early planning meeting, like former co-chair Mr. Charles White, stressed the importance of providing a table where interfaith groups and religious leaders could build coalitions to learn from and support one another. According to Mr. White, there was no existing structure that supported that type of initiative at the time NAIN was formed.

The multi-religious gathering was realized on November of 1988 when 235 individuals representing 12 of the world’s major religions gathered in Wichita, Kansas. The multi-religious gathering was called “a North American Assisi” and was modeled after an interfaith prayer meeting Pope John Paul II held with representatives of other religions in Assisi two years earlier. The North American Assisi was recorded in the New York Times article, “From Wichita to the World, a Vision.” The November 2, 1988, article read, “The meeting here, part of an effort to establish a North American Interfaith Network...was described as the first of such nature and scope on the continent since 1893, when a World Parliament of Religions was held in Chicago.”

A Networking Focus

According to Mr. Don Mayne, who acted as the NAIN Chair from 2001-2004, the ultimate goal of the organization is to support local organizations through “educating and joining them” in an international network of people. “Many interfaith organizations feel alone in their work, so NAIN provides a valuable resource for them to reach out to others doing the same work.” Thus, NAIN primarily acts as a support network for its members, rather than as an action-oriented group.

The central networking event that the organization sponsors is NAINConnect, an annual gathering where individuals exchange information and obtain new programming ideas through casual conversation, workshops, discussion groups, and speaker events. The event occurs in July or August of every year, usually rotating between locations in the U.S.A. and Canada, and is coordinated and administered by a local planning committee of the hosting NAIN organization. Local volunteers and representatives from non-member organizations are also invited to attend the event to broaden the base for discussion and to spread the word about NAIN.

Today, there are more than 40 full organizational members in NAIN, as well as a number of associate members or “Friends of NAIN,” which include both organizations and individuals. Within this membership body there is no cap on the amount of representation from a single religious tradition. As a networking organization, communication between these members is principal, so the organization has recently been enhancing its internet capacity by setting up an interactive website, an online member database, as well as two NAIN Internet chatrooms. Presently, members can participate in discussion in either the West Coast chatroom, to speak with those in Canada, or the East Coast chatroom, for those in the U.S.A. The group is continuing to expand this feature and to include a number of other online components, including membership sign-up, a feature that allows members to conduct polls and electronic voting, and a NAINews newsletter database. More than 1,200 NAINews newsletters are also sent out by mail on a bi-annual basis to member organizations.

Enlarging the Circle

The title of the 2004 annual meeting, a joint initiative between NAIN and the National Association of Ecumenical and Interreligious Staff (NAEIS), was “Connecting Partners: Enlarging the Circle.” This event was unique in that it was not only the first joint conference in NAIN’s history, but it was also a joint effort with another networking-like organization, specifically one comprised of individuals doing ecumenical or interreligious work. The event also featured NAIN’s first ever interfaith film festival and interfaith awards banquet.

Besides actively working with other interreligious coalitions, NAIN has been working hard to enlarge its membership circle on other fronts. One of these fronts is to involve more young adults in the organization, currently through the development of the Young Adult Committee. Over the last eight years, the Young Adult Committee has been offering partial scholarships to young adults, aged 18 to 35, to attend the NAINConnect conference. In the past, this effort was met with success, says Mayne, as many young recipients of this award “kept coming back” in future years. Of the four young adults on the NAIN Board of Directors, two were former younger adult scholarship recipients.

Overall, Mayne emphasized that the success of the organization was ultimately dependent on the membership body, saying, “You get out what you put in.” The organization does not have staff, but is completely volunteer-based, so the annual conference, programs, and meetings are contingent upon the personal initiative and energy of the members. Without a regular staff and a central headquarters, Mayne recognized that it could be difficult to sustain an international organization. Despite this fact, he noted that NAIN has continued to expand for more than 16 years because of a membership that was committed to the organization’s vision.