About
OMNIA organizes Interfaith Peacemaker Teams of local leaders who act in response to urgent, relevant, and winnable issues in their communities. Through consistent wins, these teams build power from the ground up—transforming the conditions that sustain injustice and creating alternate structures for just-peace. As these teams grow in strength and number, they become a powerful and effective peacemaking network in the world.
Our Mission
1976 - SCUPE Founded in Chicago
OMNIA was established in 1976 as the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE). An organization of 12 Christian seminaries, it trained seminary students to take the needs of the city seriously and to root theologies in the context of lived experience.
2016 - Transition to OMNIA
After 40 years of training thousands of pastors in contextual theologies and methods, SCUPE decided to take its learning to religious leaders across the world. With this expanded mission, in December 2016 SCUPE changed its name to OMNIA Institute for Contextual Leadership.
Today - A Global Movement
OMNIA has trained over 10,000 peacemakers and formed them into 550 IP Teams in 11 countries: Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Liberia, Kenya, Uganda, Togo, South Sudan, Ghana, Cameroon, and the USA. Each team has approximately 20 religious and civic leaders.
Our History
OMNIA accepts The Paul Carus Award for Interreligious Understanding from the Parliament of the World’s Religions