On a 38-acre parcel on Omaha’s west side, the Tri-Faith Initiative is marking two decades since Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders committed to live as neighbors and build a shared campus where a synagogue, church, mosque and interfaith center would stand side by side.
The site, known as the Tri-Faith Commons near 132nd and Pacific streets, now includes Temple Israel, the American Muslim Institute, Countryside Community Church and the Tri-Faith Center, along with gardens, an orchard and a circular bridge that physically links the three houses of worship.
According to the initiative’s own historical overview, the project traces back to relationships formed between Omaha’s Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders in the early 2000s and was formally organized through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in November 2006. That memorandum established core commitments: each congregation would retain full autonomy, each would have its own building, proselytizing among partners would be prohibited, and the shared commons would be used for parking, outdoor activities and cooperative programs.
After a lengthy search for land, the partners purchased roughly 35–38 acres in 2011 within the Sterling Ridge development, giving the initiative a permanent home in the city’s growing western corridor. Temple Israel’s new synagogue was completed in 2013, followed by the American Muslim Institute’s mosque and Islamic center in 2017, with Countryside Community Church, a United Church of Christ congregation, opening its facility on the campus in 2019. The Tri-Faith Center, conceived as a shared hub for education and public events, was the final building to open, completing the commons in August 2020.
Reporting from Christian outlets and local media has consistently highlighted the scale of the undertaking, estimating the overall project at around $65 million, funded largely through donations from the three congregations and supporters of the initiative. Each faith community is responsible for financing construction and day-to-day operations of its own worship space, while Tri-Faith as a separate nonprofit manages shared programming and stewardship of the commons.
On its public materials, Tri-Faith describes itself as an educational 501(c)(3) that works closely with the three co-located congregations to “challenge and inspire people across religions, cultures and identities” and to model a way of life that embraces difference and heals division. The Tri-Faith Center hosts lectures, panel discussions, community courses and informal gatherings designed for the broader Omaha community, not just the three congregations, and the organization’s history notes that its October 2020 grand opening was celebrated as “a beacon of hope and safe haven for dialogue and friendship-building.”
Each partner brings its own identity to the shared campus. Temple Israel describes itself as a Reform Jewish congregation and notes that its move to the commons made it the first faith community with a permanent building on the site. Countryside Community Church’s own communications emphasize its United Church of Christ affiliation and its 2015 vote to become the Christian partner in the initiative, relocating its congregation to the new facility constructed on the commons. The American Muslim Institute, formerly known as the American Institute of Islamic Studies and Culture, presents itself as a founding member of Tri-Faith and the Muslim presence on the campus, with a mission to promote better understanding of Islam in the Western world.
From the outset, organizers framed the project theologically as an effort by three communities that “share belief in the God of Abraham” to become intentional neighbors, even while maintaining distinct beliefs and practices. In interviews with Christian media, leaders have stressed that proximity is not about blending traditions but about practicing respect, acceptance and trust and creating regular opportunities to “break bread together” and confront social and political divisions in person.
As the initiative enters its third decade, Tri-Faith’s public-facing updates describe a focus on expanding educational programming, nurturing the gardens and orchard that serve the wider community, and sustaining the campus through ongoing fundraising and partnerships. Leaders of the three congregations continue to serve both as heads of their own communities and as representatives on the Tri-Faith board, navigating global tensions while maintaining the local relationships that have defined the project since its founding.