About Us

Two-thirds of the world’s Christians and the vast majority of Muslims live in the Majority World. The representatives of their communities, however, have limited access to academic resources and seldom find the opportunity to exchange ideas about their faith or about matters that relate to their respective religious constituencies. As the world steps into the post-secular age, inter-faith relations are destined to become increasingly important, both for communal coexistence as well as peaceful international relations. Christian-Muslim scholars and interfaith practitioners who are engaged in substantial theological exchange are poised to impact relations between Christians and Muslims in Africa, Asia and the MENA region, and these relations, we aspire, will contribute on a policy-making level globally.

Recognizing this reality, the Network of Centres for Christian-Muslim Relations was launched on March 1st 2024 by Scholar Leaders with the support of Templeton Religion Trust. NCCMR is a constellation of distinguished centres of Christian-Muslim relations that have a proven record for maintaining and enhancing Christian-Muslim dialogue and engagement in their local communities in Africa, Asia and the MENA region. There is an evident need for local and global cross-cultural and religious engagement. NCCMR’s aim is to improve this engagement, to promote peace and an ethos of faith, and engender human flourishing through cross-cultural exchange and religious literacy.

Our Vision
We envision a world where Christian-Muslim relations are marked by mutual understanding, respect and collaboration for a culture of peace and harmony.

Our Mission
NCCMR aims at connecting individuals and organizations, sharing knowledge, exchanging living experience, and promoting a spirit of mutual learning and curiosity for the purpose of building long-term relations and generating innovative solutions. The centres have joined their efforts into a transformative network that spearheads cooperative strategic thinking and empowers network members to be catalysts for positive change in society and to serve a common noble cause.

Our Project
Effective collaboration requires mutual understanding. For that reason, cross-cultural and religious literacy skills must be improved if a productive and meaningful partnership is to take place. Enlightened collaboration is fundamental to the philosophy of NCCMR, which is committed to engendering cross-cultural and religious literacy, increasing collaborative exchange, and producing cross-cultural media and arts for the greater public. The Network, it must be stated, is not a melting pot, it rather seeks to celebrate diversity in order to reach a better understanding of the self and of the other and achieve the common good. Christian-Muslim centers in Africa, Asia and the MENA region are doing outstanding work in serving the societal cohesion and mutual understanding in their communities, despite the paucity of their resources. NCCMR will build their capacity, by bringing them closer to one another, offering them the needed training to formulate projects, acquire third-party funding and coordinate their collective endeavors. The Network expects that once these centers are connected with one another, their individual contributions will merge to greater effect… for a world in desperate need of examples of inter-faith cooperation that seek to build a culture of peace.

Our Objectives
NCCMR will work on capacity-building to improve cross-cultural and religious literacy and move from ‘tolerance’ to ‘collaborative engagement’ and achieve a true sense of ‘partnership’ between cultures. Learning about the other’s theology and principles of faith will improve the members’ impact, diversify their future undertakings, and significantly expand their reach. NCCMR aims to radiate its impact from within the members of the network outwards to the greater public, which will be achieved by sponsoring and/or organizing a series of activities and performances and diffusing them to the wider community through media and the arts.

Our Undertakings
To fulfil our objectives, we have designed a set of future undertakings that include – but are not limited – to the following:

• Establish the Annual Symposium on Christian-Muslim Relations. The symposium will be organized in rotation between Africa, Asia and the MENA region.
• Organize summer schools in regional centres. The summer schools will cover topics and include activities that involve ‘working for the common good,’ ‘religious literacy,’ and ‘building a culture of peace.’
• Create the online diploma program in cross-cultural and religious literacy.
• Offer an online Master’s Degree in Eastern Christianity and Islam.
• Supervise translations of the Patrimoine Arabe Chrétien series which contains the earliest Arab Christian conversations with Islamic thought.
• Produce a dictionary of Christian-Muslim relations.
• Sponsor Christian-Muslim spiritual chanting events across Africa, Asia and the MENA region.
• Organize podcasts on contemporary issues facing Christian-Muslim relations.
• Produce Majlis dramatization episodes of historical theological conversations between Christians and Muslims.
• Offer an award to key figures fostering Christian-Muslim relations who play a significant role in engaging others that adhere to a different religion.

Desired Impact
Our member scholars and centers, and the communities they serve, constitute the largest number of religious people in the world. NCCMR, therefore, is the first collective multi-regional Christian-Muslim relations network committed to shared values in the majority world. Its proposed projects can change the realities of hundreds of thousands of people. The projects will improve Christian-Muslim relations in Africa, Asia and the MENA region by enriching a learning culture that fuels curiosity between Christians and Muslims, and appreciation for religious and cultural diversity in the places where they are needed most.

To download the Network’s charter please click here