In June 1997, two hundred people from forty countries and dozens of religions, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions – Buddhists, Muslims, Baha’is, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Jews, Jains, Hindus, Christians, Kollas, and Lakotas – came together at Stanford University for the second United Religions Initiative (URI) Global Summit. Women and men, young and old, they were religious and spiritual leaders; business people and scholars; leaders of non-governmental organizations and artists. Mostly strangers, they were pioneers on a journey of creation to produce an unprecedented global organization whose goal was to change human history through globally linked grassroots interfaith cooperation.

The purpose of the summit was to create a community of dedicated participants who would collaboratively generate plans needed to extend the United Religions Initiative into new parts of the world and begin the process of writing a charter. To be successful, the work of this community was to build upon and integrate with prior and ongoing work to establish the URI. At the same time, in the ways that people were invited to meet and interact with one another, it was to be an exemplary experience of the relational organization that would emerge. A carefully adapted Appreciative Inquiry (AI) process was the structure for accomplishing the work. Read More

Source: Appreciative Inquiry: Creating Cultures of Positive Participation: Published by OD Practitioner, Vol. 38, No. 4, Fall (2006): 46-51. Diana Whitney, Ph.D., Charles Gibbs.