Empowerment+ Interfaith Action
Empowerment Plus is an interfaith action program for young adults. Empowerment Plus shows young adults how to apply spiritual principles in their personal and professional lives, helping them develop a faith-centered framework with a focus on giving back – the key to a meaningful life.
The giving-back portion of Empowerment Plus is not just theory, but practical interfaith action projects, helping others in need – including immigrants, refugees and people with physical disabilities – to get better jobs.
The inspiration for Empowerment Plus comes from the famous story about loving our neighbors – The Good Samaritan.
Although the Good Samaritan was a foreigner with a foreign religion, his care for the man left to die by the side of the road is the example of the loving faith-in-action we are called to show to others regardless of their faith or background.
Empowerment+ has three interconnected elements: Launching Leaders; the Self-Reliance Resource Find a Better Job, all linked by the interfaith resource, My Foundations.
Empowerment+ was successfully piloted for global rollout at Manchester Universities’ Catholic Chaplaincy (UK) in collaboration with the al-Furqan Islamic Centre, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and other faith partners. The global project is coordinated by Brian J. Grim, PhD, who during the pilot was Visiting Professor, School of Management and Social Sciences, St. Mary’s University, Twickenham/London, and President of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation (RFBF), his ongoing role. The Manchester Empowerment+ pilot and ongoing work is directed by RFBF Research Fellow Hinna Parvez Maluch (pictured below with former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson).
Because Empowerment+ is staffed by university and community volunteers, it is low cost but has high impact with the potential to scale up globally and equip many of thousands of volunteers to build relationships with many more.
Launching Interfaith Leaders
The first component of Empowerment+ is offered in partnership with Launching Leaders, a nonprofit organization helping Millennials (i.e., people reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century) find fulfillment through applying proven principles and spirituality to their everyday lives.
The Launching Leaders Advisory Council and Millennial Advisory Council includes people of a variety of faiths and nationalities who believe in a congruent approach to living – that faith and everyday life need not be separate from one another.
Footage and photos from the graduation of the first interfaith Launching Leaders group is available here.
Sir Peter Fahy, the recently-retired Chief of Police in Manchester, was instrumental in introducing Brian Grim to the Catholic Chaplaincy and the Muslim community in Manchester. At the time, Sir Peter also directed Retrak, a global charity working to transform highly vulnerable children’s lives, preserve families, empower communities and give each of them a voice.
In the video below, Sir Perter speaks of the need, impact and importance of Empowerment+.
Sir Peter Fahy, former Chief Constable, Manchester
Bishop John Arnold of the Catholic Diocese of Salford, which includes Manchester, has also been an encourager of Empowerment+. In the video below hear Bishop John’s reflections on interfaith Launching Leaders.
Bishop John Arnold of the Catholic Diocese of Salford
Empowerment+ Interfaith Toolkit
Many economic and social problems are overcome when people of different religions and beliefs work together in faith and action.
The second component of Empowerment+ is an interfaith toolkit containing several 12-unit courses. Find a Better Jobwas successfully piloted in Manchester (see Table of Contents).
This second component is made possible by a license granted to the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to help produce and distribute an interfaith version of a successful self-reliance and empowerment program they have successfully pioneered worldwide. TheLatter-day Saint version has already helped nearly a million of their own members in all parts of the globe move from poverty and/or economic hardship to living more spiritually and temporally empowered lives.*
A key component of the Empowerment+ interfaith toolkit is the Interfaith My Foundation resource designed to accompany each of the content courses.
Interfaith My Foundation draws on scriptures from multiple faith traditions, including Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and others to address practical — yet spiritual — issues that relate to living a more abundant life. These include the following lessons: 1: The Lord Has the Power to Bless Your Life; 2: How to Manage Money; 3: Being Obedient, Do Right; 4: Use Time Wisely; 5: Work: Take Responsibility; 6: Solve Problems; 7: Become One, Serve Together; 8: Communication: Ask and Listen; 9: Show Integrity; 10: Be Determined; 11: Focus on Learning and Education; and 12: Stay on Task, Grow Spiritually, Become Empowered.
Empowerment+ Religious Freedom Philosophy
RFBF President Brian Grim (an active Catholic) first encountered this program in Latin America and saw its effectiveness in helping people. Even more, Grim saw that the approach would be a new way to advance religious freedom by utilizing the freedom people of faith have to do good and address some of the pressing issues of today. These issues range from poverty alleviation to countering radicalisation.
The Empowerment+ interfaith toolkit helps build social cohesion through facilitated interfaith groups (eliminating isolation), that provide practical results (overcoming desperation), and demonstrate acceptance (ending rejection), and model the radical spiritual power of serving others (replacing spiritual anomie with spiritual groundedness).
Indeed, the social and spiritual power of the approach is that it gives those facing challenges and problems the opportunity to constructively help others in the group process. By helping others we become more empowered, contributing members of society.
Observations on Empowerment+ and Finding a Better Job
One of the first partners in the Empowerment+ initiative was Mohammed Ullah, the honorary Muslim Chaplain at Manchester University. Mohammed was part of helping to pilot Find a Better Job. In the video below hear his reflections on the second component of Empowerment+:
Mohammed Ullah, Honorary Muslim Chaplain at Manchester University
And finally, the person who has literally opened the door of the Catholic Chaplaincy as the venue to pilot Empowerment+, Fr Tim Byron, SJ, gives his reflections on the overall initiative in the video below.
Fr Tim Byron, SJ, former Chaplain at Manchester University
For more information, contact Brian Grim.
* The Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, a registered non-denominational charity in the United States, is grateful to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the opportunity to adapt the church’s self-reliance materials in collaboration with the multiple faith communities participating in this interfaith initiative.