A Handbook for Building Beloved Community

This handbook is intended both as a personal reflection on the idea and hope of Beloved Community and as a resource for use by nonprofits, churches, and programs in higher education hoping to create inclusive and welcoming communities. The working definition of Beloved Community invoked here is an inclusive, interrelated consciousness based on love, justice, responsibility, shared power, and a respect for all that radically transforms individuals and institutions. It requires both that people work on themselves and on the institutions they inhabit. The term dates back to Josiah Royce, a nineteenth-century theologian, and Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement; it continues to be used in widespread present-day efforts among institutions and organizations seeking to build more inclusive communities. The material includes practical guidelines for fostering Beloved Community, as well as stories and lessons learned from more than thirty-five years of working with various groups.