Beyond Belief
Among peoples of different faiths and cultures, Habitat builds bridges--and houses

by Shala Carlson

Beyond Walls Beyond Borders

Egypt

Armenia

U.S. Gulf Coast

Mexico and Brazil

On a humid afternoon on a leafy street in East Baltimore, Md., Jayna Powell caught a glimpse of the future.

A group of Chesapeake Habitat for Humanity volunteers was working together to rehabilitate one of the city's thousands of abandoned row homes, the kind of renovation project that has characterized Chesapeake's urban affordable housing efforts since its birth 25 years ago. Each year, local Habitat efforts revive 16 of these aging brick structures. But this time, this house, this day, was different.

The assembled volunteers--the group of 10 men and women hammering and sawing, laughing and lunching--were building a house, but they were also quietly creating something else. Each of these individuals had crossed town on their way to this build, but stepping forward to help with this particular Habitat home, these Muslims, Jews and Christians were crossing a very different set of lines, the kinds that cultures and religions can sometimes create when communities aren't paying close enough attention.

Surveying the scene of Chesapeake Habitat's first-ever interfaith build, catching snippets of casual conversation amid the din of the busy work site, Powell, who serves as the affiliate's faith relations coordinator, saw something that stopped her in her tracks. "There was a 16-year-old from each one of those groups, totally random," she says. "Christian, Jewish, Muslim. I really liked that all of these participating organizations felt that this was an important thing for their youth to be involved in, and that those kids worked side by side.

"That's been the best part about this--that people just laugh together, have a good time together, with people that they never, ever would have connected with. They wouldn't have shopped in the same places, they wouldn't have worshipped in the same places, they wouldn't have gone to school together, but they're together on an equal basis when they're working on this house."

Faith is not a prerequisite for Habitat involvement. There is no tenet, no creed required to volunteer, support or partner with the organization. In locations around the world, Habitat works with the willing from any religion--or from no religion; all that is required is a desire to help improve the lives of families needing decent shelter. And yet, for many, faith is the avenue that brings them into the fight to eliminate poverty housing. In significant and substantial ways, church partnerships and the support of related organizations and communities mean more volunteers, farther reach and, ultimately, more houses.

For participants, Habitat can be the arena where faith turns into action; congregations make monthly donations, sponsor houses, provide volunteers, help raise awareness, and often offer all-important leadership and moral support. In cases such as Chesapeake Habitat's Interfaith Build, Habitat also can be an arena where faith communities and cultures come together to seek common ground.

When Powell began putting together Chesapeake's interfaith build, a two-house 2007 undertaking the affiliate called "Peace by Piece," she learned as much as she could from other Habitat affiliates that have hosted similar projects. The first thing she learned was that Baltimore would be a bit different. "Almost without exception, every one of these affiliates had an existing organization in their city that did interfaith dialogue with Christians, Jews and Muslims," she says. "We didn't have one of those in Baltimore. So what I discovered was that we were going to have to design an organization of the three faiths that would both talk together and work together. When we designed it, we made it about much more than just building houses."

The first thing Powell did was assemble a steering committee of leaders from the three communities. The committee members began by designing a manual for event volunteers that presented each of the three faiths' basic beliefs and also printed a book of prayers, scriptures and readings from each tradition that was used for morning devotions on the build sites. The committee also arranged a three-weekend series of worship services, an open invitation for volunteers to visit a participating mosque on Friday, a synagogue on Saturday and a Christian church on Sunday.

"While we know all of those places are open all of the time, on those particular weekends, they made bulletins for the visitors that walked them through the worship services, that said this is why we're doing this, and this is what we're saying now, and this is why we sing this," Powell says. These pre-build events--which also included activities for youth of all ages--became post-build events for Peace by Piece's second house, Powell explains, "thinking that once people hold sheetrock for each other, they might be more interested in sharing worship as well, or seeing how others worship."

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