About Us

Who We Are

The OMNIA Institute for Contextual Leadership trains religious and civil society leaders -- clergy and lay, women and men -- to counter religious extremism and religion-based oppression, domination and violence. OMNIA has trained over 6487 peacemakers around the world, who are organized in to Interfaith Peacemaker Teams. In Bangladesh, Indonesia, Liberia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Togo and Uganda there are 313 Interfaith Peacemaker Teams with 20 religious and civic leaders in each.

OMNIA was established in 1976 as the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE), as an organization of 12 Christian seminaries. It trained seminary students to take the context of the city seriously, and to build a theology from the bottom-up. After 40 years of training thousands of pastors to take their context seriously, SCUPE decided to take its learning to religious leaders across the world, particularly those in situations of religious extremism. With this expanded mission, in December 2016, SCUPE changed its name to OMNIA Institute for Contextual Leadership.

Please click here to read a statement on OMNIA's Mission, Values and Method.

People in Sri Lanka with hands together in prayer

What We Do

Each Interfaith Peacemaker Team has about 20 faith leaders who are tough-minded and focused, collaborate across identity barriers, build power by organizing people and organizing money and act strategically on critical issues that arise from the ground. The Teams have one-on-one conversations with people in their communities to determine shared self-interests, evaluate the level of power they have and undertake strategic actions that are urgent, relevant and winnable.

As IP Teams win, people are often amazed that age-old antagonism crumble in the face of effective and collaborative action. As a result, IP Teams grow. As they increase in number and impact in a particular locality, the culture shifts from one that affirms or tolerates extremisms to one that celebrates pluralism. IP Teams are a valuable component of a community’s social-infrastructure.

Join Us to Dismantle Supremacy

For the past year, OMNIA has engaged in conversations on supremacy. We want to broaden the conversation to include those with varied identities: religious, race/caste/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality etc.

To participate in the on-going conversation, please sign up below, and we will invite you.

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Women's Interfaith Peacemaker Team in Kaltungo, Nigeria
A large gathering organized by a women's Interfaith Peacemaker Teams in Kaltungo, Nigeria.

Leadership Team

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Shanta Premawardhana

President
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Nancy Renick

Chief Operating Officer
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Newlove Bobson Atiso

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David A. Das

National Coordinator, Bangladesh
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Soraya Deen

Coordinator, Women's Initiatives
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Kumara Illangasinghe

National Coordinator, Sri Lanka
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Abare Kallah

National Coordinator, Nigeria
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William Lloyd

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Oyergiu Joshua

National Coordinator, Uganda

Board of Directors

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Larry Greenfield (Chair)

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Daniel Conley

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Paul Knitter

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Isaac Laudarji

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Kristen Opalinski

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Renee Regacho-Anaclerio

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Bishop Munib Younan

Resource Team

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Wesley Ariarajah, Ph.D.

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Afri Atiba, D. Min

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Kenneth W. Bensen

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Sharon Ellis-Davis, Ph.D.

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Soraya Deen

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Mohamed Elsanousi, Ph.D.

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Mary Gonzales

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Jeannine Hill-Fletcher Th.D.

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Débora Junker, Ph.D.

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Mary Nelson, Ph.D.

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Sharon D. Welch, Ph. D.

Make Peace Work

Interfaith Peacemaker Teams engage the best resources within every community to help turn the tide of extremist violence to create a new season of peaceful cooperation. You can become a team member - through your voice, your involvement, and your financial support!
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OMNIA Institute for Contextual Leadership 

3338 N. Broadway Street, Chicago, IL  60657