RACIAL JUSTICE
Epworth has a multi-decade history of conversations about race and racism, including educational workshops, congregation-wide book studies, film discussions, and panel discussions about racial identity.
In May/June 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, our congregation began to pursue a number of short- and long-term efforts to raise Epworth’s collective racial consciousness and pursuit of justice.
One of these efforts was a series of Holy Conversations on Race, Racism, and Racial Justice in the Fall of 2021. It was in these conversations that we became familiar with the Wesleyan model of Holy Conferencing, reflecting on questions together in breakout groups, often after a short presentation, while discerning the wisdom of the Holy Spirit throughout. Over the series, 18 Epworth members offered presentations or led panel discussions, while at least 90 other persons–reflecting the diversity in age, gender, and racial/ethnic background of the congregation–participated in a hybrid setting.
The Holy Conversations series culminated in the development and adoption of the following racial justice mission statement in December of 2021.
MISSION STATEMENT FOR RACIAL JUSTICE
As a community called Epworth living in the grace and mercy of God, trusting in the healing and liberating example of Jesus, and guided and strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit, we commit ourselves to being an anti-racist, justice-seeking church and to living out our enduring, always evolving understanding of what this means.
Please see the timeline below which chronicles how we came to partner with the Black Wealth Builder’s Fund as an ongoing reparations project at Epworth.
What is the Black Wealth Builder’s Fund?
The Black Wealth Builder’s Fund is a reparations project intended to address the racial wealth gap. It seeks to repair a small portion of the financial damage of racist and discriminatory housing and lending policies that have long denied African Americans access to home ownership, a major source of generational wealth. The Fund provides 0% interest loans of up to $20,000 to first-time Black home buyers for down payments that don’t have to be paid back unless the home is refinanced or sold. Epworth’s partnership with the Black Wealth Builder’s Fund is an expression of our commitment to being an anti-racist, justice-seeking church.
Epworth UMC’s Partnership with the Black Wealth Builder’s Fund by the numbers
$141,410 raised as of 9/30/25
97 contributors (97 average in-person worship attendance)
45 sustaining contributors (giving more than once)
In total, the Black Wealth Builder’s Fund has given $883,800 in loans to 58 applicants throughout the Bay Area.
Timeline of Epworth’s Racial Justice Work from 2020 to the present
OUR WORK FOR RACIAL JUSTICE
