The Dunedin Interfaith Council (DIC) warmly welcomes members of interfaith councils across the motu, and all engaged in inter-religious dialogue, to gather in friendship and hope. After more than seven years without a face-to-face National Interfaith Forum, we are responding post-Covid crisis to the shared wish to meet again, kanohi ki te kanohi. We aim to plan carefully and keep things simple: quality, meaningful input; opportunity to share and dialogue; comfortable venue; low cost.

Under the theme “Seeds of Unity, Fruits of Hope,” the forum will provide a rare opportunity to gather, learn, and kōrero as people of shared and diverse religious understandings and practices (interfaith), recognising these as a central dimension of personal and social life in Aotearoa New Zealand. It will bring people together from all over Aotearoa to strengthen both longstanding and new relationships through listening, dialogue, and shared experience. Inspired by the whakataukī “Poipoia te kākano kia puāwai – Nurture the seed and it will blossom,” the gathering recognises from the outset that its true strength lies in the wisdom, traditions, and lived experience of its participants, trusting that small seeds of understanding can grow into lasting hope for ourselves, our communities, and our shared future.