Building the Beloved Community

Habitat's History of Loving Our Neighbor

Published Tuesday, February 25, 2025

When we build houses, we build bridges.

We see this all across the work we do at Maumee Valley Habitat for Humanity:

  • On our build sites, when people of different backgrounds come together to make someone’s dream of homeownership a reality.
  • When a Playhouse Project group meets the family and child they’ve been building for.
  • During Rock the Block, when the community comes together to care for our neighborhoods.
  • When we meet and talk with homeowners who are able to safely stay in their homes after a roof rescue or home preservation project.

All of these MVHFH programs allow us to build a new and better world, one that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the Beloved Community.

 

What is the Beloved Community?

First coined by Josiah Royce, but popularized and enhanced by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Beloved Community is “the love of God operating in the human heart”. Poverty, hunger, homelessness, racism, and all forms of discrimination, bigotry, and prejudice will not be tolerated, and instead replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. Love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred. 

This vision of the Beloved Community is ingrained in the history of Habitat for Humanity, starting at our very foundation.

Habitat for Humanity began at Koinonia Farm, an interracial community farm outside Americus, Georgia. From their founding in 1942, Koinonia Farm emphasized the siblinghood of all people, regardless of race. Their commitment to racial equality, pacifism, and economic sharing made them the target of the Ku Klux Klan and others who tried to drive them out. But the Koinonians held firm in their love for their neighbors and this love turned into a global organization working to provide safe and affordable housing for all.

 

Whether you’re a volunteer, donor, core crew member, ReStore shopper, or event attendee, you are a part of this legacy; building bridges that make the Beloved Community a reality!

 

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