Relationship building begins with mutual learning about the goals, priorities, and practices of each partner and the roles they play in the community. While there are many shared principles between secular advocacy programs and faith-based groups, perhaps the most clear is the concept of Beloved Community, popularized by activists Grace Lee Boggs and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Built on the core value that love leads to justice, Beloved Community “is the idea of the community as the agent of change, moving away from self-interest and isolation and moving toward wellbeing of the whole and a shared sense of belonging” (Transforming Communities, 2014).
"The goal is to create a beloved community, and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.