Pacifica Institute initiated a youth group from its volunteers to encourage them to be active in the community. The youth group’s aim is to organize and actively participate in joint social programs with other faith and community organizations.
One of the most important aims of the group is to bring the youth of different faith communities together so that they may learn more about each other’s traditions and build a strong bridge of friendship in order to better serve the community.
On November 17, 2013 youth groups from the Pacifica Institute, Malibu Synagogue, St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, Malibu United Methodist Church, and Interfaith inventions came together at the Malibu Synagogue and Jewish Center for an innovative get-together. The event was hosted by the Malibu synagogue community, bringing together Muslim, Jewish and Christian youth where they not only had a lot of fun but they learned about each other’s faiths, constructed an art project, cooked and ate together.
The fact that this meaningful day happened to fall during the season of Noah’s pudding enriched the beauty of the gathering. After a quick introduction to the Noah’s pudding and the meaning which is carried onto this day, the youth found a chance to prepare the ingredients themselves. As each person added their contribution into the brewing dessert this group of interfaith youth made their own Noah’s puddings, signifying the brotherhood and unity they sought in the world.
Moving on, the group as a whole enjoyed a couple rounds of ice breaker games, getting to know more about one another. A special 10-minute video focused on the interfaith efforts of another group of youth volunteers in another part of the country served as a nice introduction before breaking up into small discussion groups. The youth shared their ideas and reflections on the video they had just watched, afterwards brainstorming over possible interfaith gatherings for the future.
