The Awareness Foundation, formerly the Trinity Foundation for Christianity and Culture, is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

charity that was established in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 2003 for the purpose of peace-building between the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

Overview

The Awareness Foundation is based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, the UK, with supporters in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, the

, and

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. The Foundation states that it works to build, "peace through empowering people in the Middle East and the West to use their faith as a means to bring reconciliation and understanding, driving out mistrust and hostility.". Their Royal Patron is the

Duchess of Edinburgh Duchess of Edinburgh is the principal Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom, courtesy title held by the wife of the Duke of Edinburgh. There have been five Duchesses of Edinburgh since the title's creation. Following the accession of Charles I ...

GCVO. Their Founding Patron was

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet, who served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012. Previously the Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of W ...

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

. They now have a College of Patrons, including Williams, Charles Cadogan, 8th Earl Cadogan, Anba Angaelos,

Christopher Cocksworth Christopher John Cocksworth (born 12 January 1959) is a Church of England bishop in the open evangelical tradition who served as Bishop of Coventry from 2008 to 2023. Prior to becoming bishop, he was a university chaplain and the Principal of ...

, Paul Kwong and

Kevin McDonald Kevin Hamilton McDonald (born May 16, 1961) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is a member of the comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall, who have appeared together in a number of stage, television and film productions, most notably the 1988–1 ...

Leslie Griffiths Leslie John Griffiths, Baron Griffiths of Burry Port FLSW (born 15 February 1942) is a British Methodist minister, politician and life peer who served as President of the Methodist Conference from 1994 to 1995. A member of the Labour Party, ...

is a former Patron.

History

The Trinity Foundation for Christianity and Culture (TFCC) was launched in September 2003 by

, Archbishop of Canterbury, at a service at Holy Trinity, Sloane Street church. There were two co-founders; Bishop Michael Marshall was rector of Holy Trinity from 1997 to 2007, and

Nadim Nassar The Revd Nadim Nassar (born 1964) is a Syrian-British Anglican priest, who is the Executive Director and Founder of the Awareness Foundation. He established the Awareness Foundation in 2003 with Bishop Michael Marshall in response to the growing ...

was an assistant curate in the parish. The charity was later renamed the Awareness Foundation.

Programmes

Work in the 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: * Ambassadors for Peace: The Awareness Foundation trains young people in Syria and Iraq to become 'Ambassadors for Peace' in their community. So far, "over 700 young people have begun their journey to become Ambassadors for Peace, and much peace-building projects are now in development, including a center offering first aid training, a program to rehabilitate vulnerable street children, and an ecumenical dialogue project." * Little Heroes: The Awareness Foundation states on its website, "In 2015, we decided to invite 200 (displaced children) to a special three-day Summer School to plant the seeds of love, trust, hope, and joy in their hearts so that they could overcome all they have faced and play an active role in their new homes, schools, and communities. "Our Little Heroes program has already helped more than 2,000 displaced children in Syria to give them a new hope and new energy to live their life without fear. This enables them to build new bridges of respect and understanding with children of other faiths that they meet in their new homes and schools." Rest of the World: * The PAX programme, is "a growing online collection of short yet challenging faith-based videos." The program's goals are described as "Through discussion of topics such as politics and faith, interfaith relationships, and how to combat extremism, PAX seeks to build peace by insisting upon compassion and respect. * The Awareness Forum consists of special events such as dinners, conferences, roundtable exchanges, and lectures, focuses on the religious and cultural issues of the day. * The Facing Faith program is described by the Foundation as "A community-based initiative to promote peace and understanding across barriers of faith & culture" by "bringing together community and faith leaders from different religions and cultures to discuss ideas."

Awareness Sunday

The foundation held an

Awareness Sunday Awareness Sunday is an annual Christian event in the UK. It takes place each year on a Sunday in September and is giving people an opportunity to dedicate themselves to "healing and reconciliation in our communities"; it is an initiative of the A ...

event in September for several years up to 2020. On Sunday 11 September 2011, a special public service of remembrance and reconciliation for Awareness Sunday took place at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

Denominations

The Awareness Foundation is

ecumenical Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

, with board members from the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

, the Episcopal Church in the US and the Middle East, the

Greek Orthodox Church Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Christianity in Greece, Greek Christianity, Antiochian Greek Christians, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christian ...

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

and

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Churches and several charismatic evangelical churches.

Personnel

Michael Marshall was the first Executive Director of the Foundation. As of 2023, Nadim Nasser is the current Director. Nassar's first book, ''The Culture of God'', was published by Hodder in 2018. He has been a guest blogger on the UK website of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', and both Nassar and Marshall have spoken around the world.

Charles Longbottom Charles Brooke Longbottom (22 July 1930 – 5 February 2013) was a British barrister, businessman and Conservative politician. In his later years his interest turned to Christian healing and education. He was appointed Officer of the Order of ...

was the Founding Chair of Trustees.

References

{{Reflist Christian education Christian ecumenical organizations Christian charities based in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2003