Date: December 20, 2019
Time: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Khandallah Presbyterian Church minister Rev Ryhan Prasad is one of the first ministers to be involved in the 1,000 Abrahamic Circles Project, which is a new global inter-faith initiative pitched at the Paris Peace Forum, adopted by the United Nations. An Abrahamic Circle consist of an international Jewish, Muslim and Christian leader each coming together for one-week visits to one another’s hometowns for discussions, interfaith activities, and community service.
With a Jewish rabbi and an Islamic iman on board, the organisers sought a Christian minister – specifically from New Zealand after the tragic Christchurch mosque shootings last year. Rev Prasad, a minister whose parish is in Presbytery Central – Nukuhau Tapu of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (PCANZ), fitted the bill. The Wellington minister joined Ustad Oji Fahruroji, an Islamic iman from Indonesia and a Rabbi Eliot Baskin from America to visit each other’s cities last August, where they attended services of all three faiths in each city, had an inter-faith service and held panel discussions to break down stereotypes by showing their faiths were similar.
After these immersive visits across three different global communities, the Circle leaders are asked to enter the public discourse and lead inter-faith peace-building efforts in their own communities. Rev Prasad has since held a series of conversations on Three Abrahamic Faiths in Khandallah, as part of this grassroots movement.