Jesus Christ perfectly modeled interfaith work and relationships during his ministry, two women of different faiths taught in a panel at BYU Women’s Conference.
Jesus “crossed religious barriers, cultural barriers, all the time in order to meet people where they are,” said Joy McCullough, a Protestant evangelical who often joins her pastor husband in exploring the Latter-day Saint faith on his YouTube channel, “Hello Saints.”
Kristin Andrus, an author, influencer and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, joined McCullough on the Friday panel, which was moderated by Ganel-Lyn Condie, a mental health educator and Latter-day Saint.
During the discussion, Andrus and McCullough spoke from their experience building interfaith relationships. They talked about common barriers and the impact of interfaith work, and sought to empower listeners to cultivate curiosity and community with those around them.
“Interfaith work and relationships is actually how we truly are God’s hands here on Earth,” Andrus said during the panel. It is “how we live and love like Jesus Christ.”
What are the common barriers to interfaith work?
McCullough, who is a licensed counselor and has supported and cocreated interfaith content with her husband since 2021, said there are definitely barriers to doing interfaith work.
“When you step out and you do the work, you realize in yourself some of the barriers that come up,” McCullough said. “You also get to witness the barriers that come up in other people.”
Some of these common barriers include an “element of superiority,” the thought of past negative experiences and a fear of difference or disagreement.
McCullough encouraged those wanting to enter interfaith work and dialogue to be wary of their attitudes so they can create safe spaces for interfaith connection.
“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar,” McCullough later said, reading from 1 John in the New International Version of the New Testament. “For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”
That’s the “most powerful message,” McCullough said.
The scriptures don’t say “whoever loves his Latter-day Saint brother abides in the light” or “whoever loves only his evangelical brother … abides in the light,” she said. There are no rules or beliefs that “separate us from our command to love our brother.”
Why relationships are essential to interfaith work
Interfaith work is all about relationships, McCullough told listeners during the panel discussion. It is about cultivating relationships with God, others and oneself.
McCullough spoke personally about the need to tend to oneself, detailing a season of her life that was painful and dark. She used her experience to explain that sometimes interfaith work looks like turning to oneself in compassion to then be able to extend that same compassion to others.
“I have no idea what you’ve walked through,” McCullough said. “I don’t know the path that you’ve been on … if you’re suffering or you’ve experienced trauma or heartache or tragedy or loss.”
From her experience, however, McCullough said she’s learned that one’s “sense of dignity is intricately connected to another human’s sense of dignity,” and that by restoring her own dignity, she’s been able to view others with greater dignity and respect, too.
McCullough also shared how her and her husband’s interfaith work — which has included moving from Missouri to Utah, where the Church of Jesus Christ is headquartered — has impacted her kids and family life.
She said her kids have told her that engaging in interfaith work has strengthened their own beliefs and led them to advocate for other religions in situations where they are misunderstood or misrepresented.
The “adventure” has opened up lots of opportunities and conversations, McCullough said.
Andrus likewise spoke from her experience cultivating relationships across her community and told each woman and mother listening that they are the “chief culture officer” of their home.
“How are you spending your time? What do you value? Who are you breaking bread with? Who are you learning from at your table?” she asked.
“That will show your children way more than anything.”
Andrus shared that building interfaith relationships has enabled her and her children to learn from and admire people of other faiths, as well as expand their view and understanding of faith and divinity.
“These friendships will give you an opportunity that you will not find in your congregation,” she said. They will “open up your understanding of God and Jesus Christ and the divinity in a way you will not find in your faith tradition.”
Why we need interfaith connection and friendship
McCullough said a common question she and her husband get, especially from their evangelical friends, is: What is the point of interfaith work if one’s not trying to convert the other to their faith tradition?
“I very genuinely believe that connection itself is sacred,” McCullough said in response.
Humans were created for attachment, belonging and connection, she said. “This is the way that God has designed us, and so connection itself is sacred.”
As truth seekers in movement toward God, she added, “we don’t have to allow truth to create barriers of connection. Truth should actually be inviting us into connection.”
Andrus shared that her interfaith relationships have enabled her to become a better woman, mother and community member.
“We need these friendships more than these friends need our friendship,” Andrus said. “I have learned over and over: I need them, I need these families, way more than they will ever need me, and that is the truth.”
Andrus encouraged listeners to pursue building interfaith relationships through things they already do.
“Don’t host another party,” she said. “Bring them to what you’re already doing. This isn’t another thing on your to-do list. This is incorporating these relationships and friendships into ... how you’re already spending your time.”
Religion is the norm
Among the many blessings Andrus said she and her family have received through interfaith work is the realization that faith and religion are universal.
“As I have traveled the world,” Andrus said, “and sat on these floors and met with these people and understood how billions of people from the beginning of time have worshipped … it has made me realize our faith tradition is so normal.”
It is easy, in a secularized world, to think that religion is “weird,” Andrus said. But people have honored religious traditions since the beginning of time.
“It is normal around the world to put God at the center of your life,” Andrus said. “It is normal to worship in sacred spaces and to pass down traditions and to seek divine guidance.
“It is normal to make faith a top priority in your life and to find deep meaning in spiritual rituals.”
People of faith around the world are all moving toward the divine and trying to do their best, Andrus said.
She encouraged listeners to lead out as people of faith in building community.
“God is calling us to this work, (and) we must lead out,” Andrus said.
“We have an opportunity, truly, as women, to change the world, even if it’s our little part of the world. There is so much work to be done.”