The Faith Encounter Programme (FEP) is an independent initiative set up to promote religious harmony and social cohesion for the benefit of the public. Over the years our extensive knowledge of the faith sector and involvement with a wide range of faith-inspired organisations has helped us to successfully engage collaboratively with diverse faith comumunities in Birmingham, the Midlands region, and further afield.  

Our aims include offering customised courses in Faith Guiding to train Guides of all faiths to recieve visitors with confidence and openness at their places of worship in the Midlands Region.

The Faith Interpretation aspect of the course trains people to witness to their own faith with clarity and confidence, but without preaching or attempting to convert.

They learn to interpret specialised language which makes them think deeply about the real meaning of words and phrases that may have been familiar all their lives, such as, 'God is known as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit' to give a Christian example.

Those participants belonging to faiths which are rooted in other cultures, who commonly use words that cannot be accuratedly translated into English learn to explain them. Sikhs, for example, explain 'langar' and 'Guru Granth Sahibji', while Musilims talk about 'hajj' and 'halal'.

Christians too learn that their faith has cultural expression, and that, for example, Arabic speaking Christians may call God 'Allah' while Christian women in India often remove their shoes and cover their heads for workship. In England Christians put up Christmas trees in church and celebrate harvest festival - which is cultural rather than biblical - and would be thought strange in some Christian churches around the world.

Faith Guides learn to distinguish between religion and culture, to respect the integrity of each other faiths and to reconise and understand the differences while building on areas of common ground.

The Faith Guiding Course embodies the principle of 'Commitment and Openness', which lies at the heart of interfaith dialogue. Mutual respect can be developed between peope of different faiths who are clearly committed and able to express that commitment. They find they are speaking the language of faith and each recognise a deep spirituality in the other that forms a genuine bond.