Home Encounters Network

• Books
  • P1. Interfaith Dialogue
  • P2. Criteria for Dialogue
  • P3. Reflections of an Encounter
  • P4. The Question
  • Acknowledgments
  • C1 Introduction
  • C2 Monotheism (Muslim Perspective)
  • C2 Monotheism (Christian Perspective)
  • C3 Prophets (Christian Perspective)
  • C3 Prophets (Muslim Perspective)
  • C4 Holy Qur'an, Scriptures and Their History (Muslim Perspective)
  • C4 Holy Qur'an, Scriptures and Their History (Christian Perspective)
  • C5 Family and Marriage (Christian Perspective)
  • C5 Family and Marriage (Muslim Perspective)
  • C6 Spiritual Experience (Muslim Perspective)
  • C6 Spiritual Experience (Christian Perspective)
  • C7 Concept of Holy War (Christian Perspective)
  • C7 Concept of Holy War (Muslim Perspective)
  • A1 Meeting Format
  • A2 Sample Questionnaire
  • A3 General Guidelines
  • A4 Guidelines for Writing Papers

Appendices

Appendix 3

General Guidelines

Guidelines for the Facilitator

The main purpose of the facilitator will be to ensure the smooth running of the evening with minimal intervention. He/she will be available to serve the group by taking notes and conducting an evaluation of the evening, but the main purpose of the facilitator will be to facilitate group dynamics. At the same time, the facilitator is essential for managing any potential unpleasant dynamics.

The facilitator will discuss the guidelines in the first meeting and again in the next meetings if it is felt necessary. The preferred approach would be to discuss the guidelines in week one and then the facilitator intervenes in the following meetings to remind the group of the guidelines if necessary.

The facilitator must keep in mind that one of the aims of this project is to break down barriers of misunderstanding by people getting to know people of another faith, not just knowing about their faith. And so the desired atmosphere is more one of people sharing their faith and home with each other in a friendly manner rather than a formal workshop. Therefore it is not encouraged to make the evenings too rigid and structured.

The facilitator will exercise some discretionary judgement according to the nature of the group in determining how prescriptive they take these guidelines to be. The timeline for the group is important. The facilitator must exercise their position in keeping the presenters to their 15 minutes. For example the facilitator may ring a bell after 10 minutes and again at the 14 minute mark so that people don't go over time.

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Guidelines for Discussion

1. The facilitators instructions will be followed.
2. The attendees should always keep in mind that the intention of the night is to better understand the other faith and to discover the similarities between the two religions, not the differences.
3. The speakers will be listened to without interruption.
4. The speakers from the two religions will alternate in starting first.
5. When asking questions or discussing, there will always be one person speaking.
6. When asking questions, they should be asked in a way not to offend those from the other faith.
7. The questions should not be asked with the intention to challenge the person but with the intention to learn about the other religion.