Cliched as it may be to use building blocks imagery when talking about bridge building that’s exactly how we engaged with and inspired a room full of university chaplains from across the country. 

At the start of this week Beth Williams (Campus leadership manager) and James Roberts (senior programme manager) led a workshop at the Churches Higher Education Liaison Group (CHELG) conference. The theme for this year was ‘Into the way of peace – reconciliation in higher education chaplaincy’ which is very much in line with the work of the Campus Leadership Programme and CCJ more broadly.

We shared 5 building blocks for bridge building at university. These are models, examples, and methods we teach our campus leaders to be able to host welcoming and inclusive interfaith events and can be used in so many contexts wider than university.

1 - Ground rules – The foundation for our building blocks is ground rules. Throughout our three cohorts of the Campus Leadership Programme, we have developed and curated a set of ground rules which students use to frame the space of their events. Ground rules allow for comfortability in bridge building but also can help when we get things wrong. Two key ground rules we like to highlight are ‘Speak from the I’ this means only speaking from your own perspective and experience. The second being ‘freedom to ask questions’. Practically, this looks like using the phrase ‘I’m not sure how to phrase this but I would like to ask…’. These ground rules act as a foundation to allow spaces to be open and the beginning of bridges to be built.

2 - Faith based hate awareness – We have been highly aware in the past year of the exponential rise in antisemitism and islamophobia especially on university campuses. Having an awareness of faith-based hate, how we can report it, and how we can support others experiencing it are key factors in helping build bridges between faiths on campuses. This building block allows for deeper understanding and empathy and encourages students to stand up against all forms of hatred. It is also a pillar in our model that is built upon the ground rules and supports so much of what we do.

3 - Brave spaces – Brave spaces are the second pillar in our building blocks model. Brave space encompasses the idea that not every space may be safe for every person. This could be due to a variety of factors including, comfortability, fear of judgement, lack of understanding etc. However, brave spaces gives us the framework to enter a space with bravery. It is the recognition that even though we may not feel fully comfortable or safe in a space we can be brave and still access that space in order to help build bridges.

4 -Listening and learning – Listening and learning is CCJ’s model for dialogue and understanding. It is the recognition that we need to actively listen to people’s stories, take the time to understand, and then learn from them. It is a model which gives space for people of all perspectives and differences to share and be fully heard, listened to, and learned from.

5 - Multiple narratives – Finally we have multiple narratives as our last building block for bridge building. Multiple narratives takes all of the understanding and learning from the listening and learning model and highlights how we can hold all of the narratives we have heard together. It highlights how individuals will have different perspectives, opinions, stories, and narratives and how we should hold these together allowing the difference and individual narratives.

This is a whistle stop tour into 5 of the key building blocks we use for building bridges particularly on university campuses.

We look forward to seeing how the chaplains on university campuses will take these forward and how they will be passed onto the next cohorts of students and generations of campus leaders and interfaith ambassadors to create deeper understanding at university.  

And while yes building blocks imagery can be cliched it’s a great way to remember some of the key foundations and building blocks of how we can engage in interfaith dialogue.

With that we leave you with a question – where could you use some of these building blocks in your communities to foster bridge building, peace-making, and understanding?