Rev. Vicky L. Eastland, MA, MDiv
Brookville, New York
BrookvilleMultifaithCampus.org
I was raised a Christian in the heart of the Midwest of the United States, in a very homogeneous area with little to no exposure to people of other faiths. However, I had a deep sense of connection to God and Jesus Christ. At the tender age of seven, I felt a call on my life to serve God. I eventually attended a Christian college in an even more homogeneous part of the Midwest than where I grew up. I majored in religion, but the religion I studied was my own —Christianity.
After graduating with my undergraduate degree, I found myself headed to the West Coast to attend Fuller Theological Seminary, where I pursued a Master of Theology (MA). It was there that I began to be exposed to broader ideas and cultures, though I remained deeply rooted in my own faith. During both college and seminary, I worked in various Christian churches and youth camps, ministering to Christian youth. I eventually joined the global ministry of the Crystal Cathedral—Rev. Robert Schuller’s church and television program, The Hour of Power. This Christian program was allowed to air in countries where no other Christian broadcasts had previously been permitted. While finishing my MA at Fuller, I worked in the youth department. It was during this time that I was first exposed to the Muslim community, as a Muslim group was housed on the campus of the Crystal Cathedral.
After working for years in youth ministry and completing my MA degree, I felt called to return to seminary to pursue a Master of Divinity degree to become an ordained minister. I earned this second master’s degree from Fuller in 2003 and was ordained in the Reformed Church in America—a small Christian denomination with Dutch roots. This led me to the opposite coast of the U.S., to a small church in upstate New York, where I became one of the founding members of the first Interfaith Council of Greene County. While serving the church in Catskill, New York, my faith began to expand, and I came to believe that God is expansive God who meets us through various religions. I became friends with Jewish rabbis and other religious leaders. During this time, my husband and I adopted an Indian child who came home to us at age eleven. His caregivers in India had come from both Hindu and Christian backgrounds.
Because of my work and interactions with people of other faiths, I was asked to become the pastor of Brookville Church on Long Island in 2012. I was called to Brookville not only to serve as the Christian pastor but also to help integrate interfaith families into the life of the church.
Upon arrival, I discovered that a Muslim Qur’an study and prayer group had been renting space from the church for many years and was holding weekly studies there. Additionally, a Jewish synagogue was also renting space. I quickly became friends with Dr. Sultan Abdulhameed, the facilitator of the Muslim Reform Movement Organization, which was the group meeting on the church property. My first real education in Islam came through Dr.Abdulhameed’s book, The Quran and the Life of Excellence, which explains various surahs from the Qur’an in modern language. I was amazed by the similarities to my own faith and to the Bible, upon which my Christianity is based. This was a very enlightening experience for me.
I also discovered that both Dr. Abdulhameed and Rabbi Stuart Paris, who founded The New Synagogue of Long Island (the synagogue meeting at Brookville Church), shared the same heart and desire I had—to bring reform to our respective faith traditions. It was through this shared vision and partnership that the Brookville Multifaith Campus was born. In 2020, just before the global pandemic, we became an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our mission is to build a multifaith community of people from different faiths who connect with one another by embracing similarities while celebrating differences. Each group maintains its own religious identity while fostering an open environment for learning, celebration, and honoring distinct religious paths. Our vision is that through learning opportunities, meaningful partnerships, occasional shared worship, and service projects, we can welcome anyone to learn, question, and grow with us—making a positive and lasting impact in our community and the world. Our tagline is: One house, many faiths, endless opportunities for growth!
Around the time we became an official multifaith campus, we caught the attention of a Belgian filmmaker, who included our story in his global documentary, “All of Us”. It was a joy to be featured in this film, which highlights stories from around the world where people of different faiths are coming together to make the world a better place.
Five years after becoming a recognized nonprofit, Brookville Multifaith Campus continues to grow as a community rooted in the three Abrahamic faiths. Together, we promote cross-cultural understanding, peacebuilding, and a strong commitment to service. It has been one of the great privileges of my life to birth a multifaith community that I believe is a leader in enveloping a model that is not only the way of the future, but necessary for our world to live at peace. When we allow ourselves to be open to not only learning from those of other faiths but also developing deep friendships with people who are different from us, we begin to see that the “other” is not so different after all. Our worldview expands to include all of God’s children from all faiths.
Thank you for allowing me to share our story with you. You can learn more at:
BrookvilleMultifaithCampus.org
Rev. Vicky L. Eastland, MA, MDiv