Awareness Foundation

Awareness Foundation
Founded 1 January 2003 (2003-01-01)
Founder The Revd Nadim Nassar
Type Charity registered in England & Wales
Focus Christian adult education, bridge-building between East and West and interfaith projects
Location
Origins Constituted in the UK;[1]
Area served
UK, Middle East, North America, Hong Kong
Key people
Nadim Nassar, Director
Revenue
GBP 189k in 2010/11
Employees
4
Volunteers
6
Slogan 1. Deeper in faith, wider in perspective. 2. Challenging ignorance and intolerance
Website

The Awareness Foundation is a Christian charity that was established in 2003. Their Founding Patron was Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury; they now have a College of Patrons, including Williams, Charles Cadogan, 8th Earl Cadogan, Anba Angaelos, Leslie Griffiths, Paul Kwong and Kevin McDonald. The Awareness Foundation is based in London, UK, with supporters in North America, the Middle East and Hong Kong.

Purpose and composition

The Foundation says that "Our mission is to equip Christians everywhere to form an effective counter force to the intolerance and mistrust that now prevail in so many communities. We want to enable Christians to live a generous and hospitable faith; emphasise the role their faith has in healing broken societies; facilitate positive interactions with neighbours and colleagues from other faiths; build up understanding between the East and the West; strengthen and sustain Christians in the Middle East.[2]

Middle East:

Awareness Foundation Middle East is headed by Huda Nassar. It has two main missions: it "builds up understanding between the East and the West" and "strengthens and sustains Christians in the Middle East". Core projects include:

Rest of the World:

The Awareness Foundation is ecumenical, with board members from the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England, the Episcopal Church in the US and the Middle East, the Greek Orthodox Church, Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist Churches, plus several charismatic evangelical churches.

Personnel

Nadim Nassar is Director.[9] He is co-founder of the Awareness Foundation along with Michael Marshall (President Emeritus of the Awareness Foundation), and author of the Awareness Course. Nassar has been a guest blogger on the UK Daily Telegraph website, [10] and both Marshall and Nassar have spoken around the world.[11][12] Charles Longbottom was the Founding Chair of Trustees.

History

The Foundation was launched in September 2003 by Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury at a service at Holy Trinity Sloane Square church, where Marshall was Rector from 1997 to 2007.

Awareness Course

The Foundation describes the Awareness Course as 'helping Christians to make sense of their faith in the 21st century'. Current 'DVD Modules' of the Awareness Course are 'The Diversity Code', 'Living in a Global Village' and 'Speak Out' was published in 2011. The DVD Modules are described as "very user-friendly and easy to teach." [13] The Awareness Course includes a Lent course [14] and a day/half-day workshop.[15] All are free in the United Kingdom.

The course is said to be suitable for all, and while aimed primarily at Christians, the Foundation reports that people of other faiths or none regularly attend the sessions.

References

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