One of my favorite parts of my work as communications associate has been working on Faces of ICJS. I’ve gotten to interview friends of ICJS who have participated in programs of all kinds—from minicourses to fellowships to intensives—and share pieces of our conversations on ICJS social media.
It has been amazing to gather and share personal stories about friends of ICJS’ lived religion; I’ve loved capturing what ICJS means to people personally.
As I’ve reflected on the first season of Faces of ICJS, I’ve found parallels between these stories and the ICJS mission. The mission reads, “To dismantle religious bias and bigotry, ICJS builds learning communities where religious difference becomes a powerful force for good.”
I love that the mission can be interpreted broadly as it relates to organizational impact as a whole, and it can be interpreted specifically, as it affects people in their daily lives.
Here are pieces of of the mission that tie in nicely with specific Faces of ICJS:
“To dismantle religious bias and bigotry…”
I think of Jason Hensley, who experienced a transformational paradigm shift during Faculty Seminar. He was raised in charismatic Evangelical churches in California. Although they had both begun to broaden their original beliefs, ICJS was the place where things really started to click.
“ICJS builds learning communities…”
Rabbi Emily Stern has now been part of multiple ICJS learning communities—the Emerging Religious Leaders Intensive (ERLI) and the Congregational Leaders Fellowship (CLF)—and called her finding ICJS “the most beautiful love story.” She’s a great example of completely immersing herself in ICJS’ learning communities and bringing tools back to her synagogue. Her learning ripples out into her place of work and worship.
“where religious difference becomes a powerful force for good.”
Tallah Drammeh, a CLF alum, told me about his interreligious family with one Muslim parent and one Christian parent. He said that before he found ICJS, it was hard for him to feel at home in Christian spaces and Muslim spaces. But through CLF, he found synergy in both the religious difference in his personal life and the religious differences of his fellows.
I look forward to producing a new season of Faces of ICJS starting in January 2024, and I hope you’ll follow along. To see our past Faces of ICJS posts and be the first to see new stories, follow us on Instagram and Facebook. We’re also expanding the series to include LinkedIn.
Angela Cava is an eclectic creator with experience in writing, editing, and producing content for digital, print, and broadcast mediums. She is passionate about interviewing people of all backgrounds and telling stories from their unique perspectives.