How can interfaith cooperation create stronger communities?

For nine years, Father Fisehatision of the St. Mary Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) of Utah said he would cry every Sunday because of the conditions in which he and his fellow churchgoers had to worship.

“It was so small,” he said, adding that following the religious ceremony, the entire congregation would squeeze into his even smaller home to break their fast every Sunday.

But now, “if I cry this time, I cry because of happiness,” he said before his congregation and special guests on Saturday at the celebration of their new church building.

Those involved in creating the new place of worship told the Deseret News that it was a long time coming, but with the support of interfaith and cultural groups, the community is stronger because of it.

“We are here today because about four years ago, on his official state visit to Utah, Kesis Tagay (head of the Inter-Religious Council of Ethiopia) decided to solve a long-standing challenge facing our communities,” Mike Mamo, Vice Chairman and Public Relations, St Mary EOTC, said.

In 2021, Tagay asked Elder Ronald A. Rasband, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to help find a permanent meeting house for the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian community in Utah.

“Without hesitation or delay, Elder Rasband agreed,” Mamo said. “This magnificent house of worship that you see today is a legacy of Elder Rasband’s promise to all of you here in the congregation.”

With the assistance the church had from donors in Utah like The Stirling Foundation, the finished church in North Salt Lake was filled with merrymaking, food and dancing as now its members had the room to celebrate in their new place of worship.

When faiths come together

For the past four years, prayers and fasts have been made for the success of the church building, Nicole Stirling, of The Stirling Foundation, said during the celebration ceremony.

“This building will stand as a beacon and a representation of that interfaith effort, the common cries upon the Lord for people to be able to worship God.”

The event centered on the idea that peacebuilding is fundamental to strengthening a community.

Special guest Pastor Tadesse Adugna, who is the Head of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Ethiopia and a member of the Inter-Religious Council of Ethiopia, told the Deseret News that one of the responsibilities religious groups hold around the world is to foster peace among themselves. Church in Ethiopia and a member of the Inter-Religious Council of Ethiopia, told the Deseret News that one of the responsibilities religious groups hold around the world is to foster peace among themselves.

“We have to,” he said. “We support one another, because Jesus lived for others, not for himself. That is all about Christianity, supporting one another. So we work on the betterment of other people.”

That means, he noted, the purpose is to create peace and uplift, not to convert and to change opinions.

Elder Pepper Murray, an Area Seventy for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on Saturday reiterated Adugna’s words, telling the Deseret News that the focus should not be on the “difference of doctrine” but rather on “building bridges of friendship and understanding.”

“And in this world where religious freedom is threatened more and more, it’s important for us to strengthen those friendships and bonds and build those bridges,” Murray said. “Strengthening a congregation like this strengthens us all. The strength of the community makes us better, makes the community better, makes them better. So in partnership, we can do so much more than we can in individual silence or different areas of interest.”

Since the bridge has been built between the Church of Jesus Christ and the EOTC, Father Fisehatision said he sees more things in common between the two faiths than differences.

He’s attended the church’s semiannual general conference twice, has experienced The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, met with the missionaries on multiple occasions and has established close relations with leaders of the church in his community.

It was shared that just as Ethiopians are cared for in Utah, members of the Church of Jesus Christ will likewise be looked after in Ethiopia.

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