The Genesis of the Reparations-Inspired Fund of Elkhart County

By Ben Bouwman, Pastor at Walnut Hill Mennonite Church

I want to begin with how I got connected with the work of reparations. After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, I decided it was time to more fully understand the history of this country and how it led to the present. Having heard of something called the Racial Wealth Gap, I found two books that would provide a helpful starting point: The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap by Mehrsa Baradan and The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide assembled by United for a Fair Economy.

These books opened my eyes to the collaborative and comprehensive efforts at all parts of white American society to help white households and communities build and retain wealth while exploiting and excluding communities of color from building and retaining wealth. I realized that this wasn’t just harm from the 1800s and earlier, but continued in various forms throughout the 1900s and into the present. It also opened my eyes to how I have been advantaged.

Learning this history angered me and saddened me. And it also inspired me! In light of the overwhelming harm, I asked myself: What might be some tangible ways to respond to and heal the harms? This led me to learning more about the historic call for reparations in this country; a movement that seeks to redress historic wrongs.

Around the time that I was engaging this learning and sharing it with my congregation, Walnut Hill Mennonite Church, I learned of other congregations in the Goshen area who were also in early stages of seeking to do faith-based reparations: Assembly Mennonite Church and Eighth Street Mennonite Church. Pastor Karl Shelly at Assembly and Pastor Julia Gingerich at Eighth Street were both important conversation partners.

There are too many details to fit in this article, but eventually the three of us got together to plan a Reparations Summit which would both highlight the historic call and need for reparations as well as offer a tangible, collaborative step for congregations to partner together in reparative work. In November 2025, over 100 people from around twenty Elkhart County congregations and organizations gathered at Assembly Mennonite Church to listen to professor, author, and activist Drew Hart share about the Biblical, theological, and historic call for reparations. (Audio links to those sessions can be found at the Reparations Committee page on Assembly’s website.)

We are in the early stages of this fund, but very excited about its potential. Two IMMC congregations Walnut Hill and Waterford, have committed to participating, with more on the way! We have also created a website for the Fund: ReparationsFundEC.org. If you have any questions, want to have conversation, or are interested in participating through individual or congregational contributions, please reach out!

As people of faith, we are moved by our scriptures to take action. Like the tax collector Zacchaeus in Luke 19, the church is called to return wealth that was gained through the exploitation of others (including wealth received through various forms of inheritance). Like the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, the church is called to restoration and healing when we see that our neighbors have been harmed. Join us in this work!