Camberwell Community Building
Friends, families and neighbours working together for the betterment of our community
About Us
WHO WE ARE
Camberwell Community Building is an initiative inspired by the Baha’i Faith. Community building activities, much like the ones in Camberwell, take root in over 200 countries worldwide representing over 2,000 ethnic, linguistic and cultural groups. We work with friends from every cultural or religious background to give practical expression to a vision of world unity. All races, ages, gender and social classes come together to create a warm and authentic sense of community. The unity that must underpin a peaceful and just social order embraces diversity – oneness and diversity are complementary and inseparable. Acceptance of the concept of unity in diversity implies the development of a sense of world citizenship and a love for all of humanity. According to Baha’i teachings “The diversity in the human family should be the cause of love and harmony, as it is in music where many different notes blend together in the making of a perfect chord.”
At a time of change and uncertainty, humankind’s crucial need is to find a unifying vision of the nature of humanity and society. "Let your vision be world embracing. The learned and worldly-wise men of this age were to allow mankind to inhale the fragrance of fellowship and love, every understanding heart would apprehend the meaning of true liberty, and discover the secret of undisturbed peace and absolute composure. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
"SO POWERFUL IS THE LIGHT OF UNITY THAT IT CAN ILLUMINATE THE WHOLE EARTH."
HOW WE WORK
We work and serve to build community and advance the processes towards fellowship and peace in United Kingdom and around the world. Yet, it all begins at neighbourhoods and local communities. Grassroots community development projects address the spiritual, intellectual and material needs of the community and build the capacity of individuals to participate in creating a better world. The creation of a peaceful and noble society that fosters both individual and collective well-being is at the heart of what we do. The aim is empower, engage and enable from the grassroots up and thus, the individual is placed at the centre of the development process. This approach ensures that our social action initiatives are sustainable, which will continue to organically grow, flourish and endure in neighbhourhoods and commuities.
Our projects not only contribute towards intellectual and material progress, but also an important influence for social change is spiritual progress, amongts others, such as:
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Search for what connects us, rather than what divides us irrespective of faith, belief or background.
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Unlocking one’s desire for service to humanity.
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Working in a spirit of trusting relationships, cooperation and collaboration whilst adopting a non-adversarial approach to debate and consultation.
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Recognising that service requires working in fellowship alongside others for the good of their neighbours.
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Acceptance, understanding and tolerance of people from all walks of life.
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Creating a non-judgmental environment with friends, family and neighbours.
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Improving our attitude towards caring for our environment, which comes from within.
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True service requires a humble and sincere posture of learning.
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Looking for the good and qualities in people and building on each other’s strengths.
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Development of moral sensibility such as love, unity, truthfulness, courtesy, respect, forgiveness and honesty.
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Common bond between the individual and the collective with a shared purpose driven by encouragement, mutual support and loving fellowship.
The community building initiatives are not, therefore, religious education, but built within a framework of common bond between the individual and the collective with a shared purpose driven by encouragement, mutual support and loving fellowship.
These society-building and social action initiatives enable individual and collective transformation that take shape in four principle areas: Children’s Classes, Junior Youth Groups, Youth Groups and Adult Groups. Every serving member is a volunteer and those who work with children, junior youth or youth are Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checked (previously CRB checks). The page about Community Building shares more about how we work.
