The word "justice” in the Bible means “to make right.” Justice is the act of bringing things back to the way God originally intended - in right relationship with one another, creation, and God. 

As a community, we feel called to follow God’s lead in being healers of injustices, a people who right wrongs in our communities, neighborhoods and homes. We embarked on a discipleship initiative to be “Just Neighbors” in an effort to understand God’s call to bring justice where we live and use our property and land for his purposes and heal the spiritual and physical effects of redlining and racially restrictive covenants in Seattle and the Eastside. Please watch the videos below to understand better our “why.”

As we researched and listened to local experts and community leaders to see where we still see injustices play out in our region today, we found the two areas of highest residual impact in this area were redlining and racially restrictive home covenants. We prayerfully asked ourselves how we could be “Just Neighbors” and reflect God’s kingdom and his character in our region. The below steps are what we are calling our church to so we can show Jesus’ healing and engage rewriting injustice for the kingdom of God in our region.

What is our first step to moving toward healing injustices in our community’s history? Prayer. We will pray about how God wants each of us to dedicate our properties and homes to his purposes. We will rewrite our covenants to reflect God's character and his kingdom. We invite you to host Houses of Prayer to spiritually fight for healing in our own hearts and in our communities. Lastly, we are invited to invest in minority communities through justice deposits and supporting schools that have been negatively impacted by redlining and racial injustices. Together, we can make a big impact for God’s kingdom. Will you join us in becoming Just Neighbors?

Write a new inclusive Covenant <<

We believe that racial restriction on our properties and homes is antithetical to the kingdom of God. We are calling our entire church to write new covenants for our homes, apartments, and/or properties to dedicate their use to rewriting injustice and better reflect the kingdom of God. Click below to learn easy steps to write a new covenant. With the generous help of BKCO Title & Escrow, we can check our deeds to see if there is any racially restrictive language and add a new covenant to our deeds. Together, let’s rewrite and change the narrative of our community and city to reflect who God is.

Pray over your home <<

Take your new inclusive covenants and dedicate your home to God in prayer. As Christians, we believe in the spiritual as much as the physical and half of healing injustice will be with tangible and spiritual actions. Houses of Prayer are gatherings that foster a culture of prayer and worship in local neighborhoods, pushing back against the negative impacts of division, racism and hatred in our communities. We have put together an easy how-to guide on how you can host a House of Prayer with friends, family, and neighbors. To invite others from the BelPres community into your home to pray, fill out the below form.

Make a Justice Deposit <<

Homeownership is the foundation of most families’ accumulated wealth. Home equity can be invested in small businesses and passed on to future generations. African Americans were essentially shut out of the housing market for the first 70 years of the 20th century because of redlining, racially restrictive covenants, and inequitable banking practices. Lack of home ownership is a major factor contributing to the substantial wealth gap between African Americans and white Americans. This wealth gap continues to grow as lenders, businesses, and investors, large and small, avoid the existing poor African American communities. Justice deposits help correct that problem. These are investments (not handouts) that companies and individuals can make to recapitalize Black and minority owned banks and will provide equity for communities previously prevented from building wealth.