GILA includes faith leaders from Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Baha’i and many Christian denominations. We jointly organize the Greenbelt Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration which dates from 1939, co-sponsor the HUG Walk, and march together in the Labor Day Parade. We also have organized responses to 9/11, Charlottesville, and local occurrences of hate crimes.
We stand in the cooperative tradition of Greenbelt by building bridges among all people. GILA aims to model interfaith understanding and cooperation as an example for the wider community. The human challenges of Covid have have mobilized GILA membership to work together for City wide eviction relief and food security.
The Greenbelt Clergy Association was founded in 1975, but in 2001 renamed itself the Greenbelt Interfaith Leadership Association (GILA) to reflect the growing participation of lay leaders. The abbreviation “GILA” meaning JOY in Hebrew.
Purpose Statement
June 14, 2001
This document (originally considered on January 11, 2001) was created and revised by various combinations of these participants:
| Jonathan Cohen | Mishkan Torah Synagogue |
| Dolores Downs | Catholic Community of Greenbelt |
| Jim Fischer | Greenbelt Baha’i Community |
| Mark Johnson | Greenbelt Baptist Church |
| Dan Hamlin | Greenbelt Community Church |
| Mary Linstrom | Catholic Community of Greenbelt |
| DaeHwa Park | Mowatt Memorial United Methodist Church |
| Renee Mackey | Berwyn Presbyterian Church |
| Barbara Wells & Jaco ten Hove, scribe | Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church |
| Jack VandenHengel | Community Ministry of Prince Georges County |
In this era of intermingling of diverse peoples yet fractured human society, we believe that inter-religious cooperation can have great value. By sharing the richness of a variety of spiritual traditions, an interfaith group can build community and point the way toward peace in a world that desperately needs healthy and uplifting models.
In this spirit, since 1975 the purpose of the Greenbelt Interfaith Leadership Association (GILA)* has been to facilitate the regular gathering of leaders and representatives from a full variety of local faith groups in the broader Greenbelt community, in order to:
- discuss religious issues of our day in a friendly, productive atmosphere
- appreciate and strengthen the multi-cultural environment of this area
- enjoy sustaining fellowship with each other
- collaborate on projects of worth
In this endeavor, we celebrate the diversity of our community by expanding our
awareness of how the holy is honored in different faiths and by exploring creative ways to share the struggles we face as religious leaders. We welcome those who would join with us in an atmosphere of integrity, harmony, good will and humor.
In this way, we stand in the cooperative tradition of historic Greenbelt by building more bridges among people, to enrich our own lives and foster ever greater compassion and more charity.
* Gila is the Hebrew word for joy