Dome of the Rock

The First Pilgrimage

In October of 2002, Wayne Smith, the founder of Friendship Force International, invited a group of forty religious leaders from Atlanta, GA to go on pilgrimage to Turkey, a country rich in the heritage of the three religions. They shared ten incredible days together, visiting Muslim, Jewish and Christian sacred sites, worshipping with congregations of each religion, and visiting in Jewish, Christian and Muslim homes. In a Declaration of Common Ground, they reflected on their shared experience:

“During this time [in Turkey] we built upon our mutual belief that God is the Creator of all human beings, and we discovered in each other the spiritual abundance that God bestows upon us all. We prayed, laughed, wept, argued and celebrated together. We are here to declare to our communities that we have found hope, trust and abundance of Common Ground.”

A Heritage of Friendship

Friendship Force International, a global exchange program, was started more than 30 years ago by the late Wayne Smith, a Presbyterian minister. It now has 374 chartered clubs and programs in 54 countries. Members, called Ambassadors, go on exchange visits, staying the homes of hosts in another country. Since its beginning, 180,000 Ambassadors and 534,000 hosts have participated in exchange visits.

After the tragedy of 9/11, Wayne Smith was convinced that the biggest obstacle to peace is the hostility and lack of understanding among people of different faiths, especially Muslims, Christians and Jews, which led him to organize the first interfaith pilgrimage from Georgia to Turkey in 2002. That group, known as World Pilgrims, continues to conduct pilgrimages and programs.

The C.F. Foundation in Atlanta, GA has generously provided funding to Friendship Force International to expand the Pilgrimage Project to other cities and provide scholarships to ensure the diversity of participants. See communities organizing pilgrimage. (Link to page not yet written)