Interfaith Harmony Seminar at the Church of Scientology to Help All Faiths Thrive

Program to help KC houses of worship work together to resolve the issues affecting our community.

An Interfaith Harmony Week open house and seminar in February at the Church of Scientology of Kansas City brought together religious leaders who are eager to help their congregations deal with the challenges they face in life and improve conditions in the community.

There are issues that affect people of all denominations: crime, poverty, drug abuse and addiction, interpersonal relations and family problems to name just a few.

The seminar provided a way religious leaders can locate and address the key issues affecting their congregations and communities so they can plan and carry out programs to address these. Working together, great strides can be accomplished for the community as a whole.

“We wanted to work with other religions to provide them tools to assist them in helping their members and their neighborhoods,” said Bennette Seaman, public affairs officer for the Church of Scientology of Kansas City who led the seminar.

The core of the program was one of the Scientology Tools for Life courses on using public relations to accomplish goals. The Tools for Life are a series of free online courses offered by the Church of Scientology through its Volunteer Minister program.

The seminar trained attendees on how to survey their own parishioners and the general public. By doing so, they can better understand what they need. What are their concerns? What are they worried about? What are they looking for? And what kind of activities would they like their church to provide for them or their community?

Religious leaders from the Church of Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Baptist church, the Jewish community and the Church of Scientology practiced these skills with one another and learned how to conduct person-to-person surveys. 

 

The response to the program was enthusiastic. As one pastor said, he couldn’t wait to start using these tools to learn what his church should be focusing on so they could implement programs to satisfy their congregation’s needs.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers program was created in the mid-1970s by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard and is sponsored by the Church of Scientology International as a religious social service.

For more information on the Tools for Life courses, visit the Church of Scientology of Kansas City at 1805 Grand Blvd, Kansas City, MO., or your nearest Scientology Church, or watch the introductory Tools for Life videos on the Volunteer Ministers website or the Scientology Network, available on DIRECTV Channel 320, DIRECTV STREAM, AT&T U-verse and streaming at Scientology.tv, on mobile apps and via the Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV platforms. 

The next KC Volunteer Minister open house will be held in honor of World Civil Defense Day. It will take place Sunday, March 5, at 2:00 p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend. Call (816) 753-6590 to reserve a seat.

The Church of Scientology Kansas City was dedicated in November 2019 by Scientology ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige. The Church works extensively with other religions, nonprofits and officials on programs to uplift and benefit the community. Its outreach activities throughout the pandemic are featured in a series of videos on an interactive timeline on the Scientology website.