LSC Adopts Reparations Resolution

On January 23, 2022, the Lake Street Church congregation voted to approve the following resolution:

REPARATIONS RESOLUTION Over time, Evanston’s Black citizens have been systematically excluded from equal access to housing, education, healthcare, police protection, and participation in public recreational opportunities. One result of these compounded inequities is today’s tremendous wealth gap between Black and white residents. Most regrettably, with a few notable exceptions, white faith communities allowed the inequitable policies and practices to persist without resistance, while even participating and benefiting from them. Disparities continue to this day, and we join other faith communities that are stepping forward to respond. In accordance with our covenant “to act against injustice and for peace,” Lake Street Church supports the City of Evanston’s current efforts to address this injustice through its Reparations Programs.

This follows Lake Street Church of Evanston’s participation in the three-part workshop “Faith, Justice and Reparations in Evanston” last fall. The workshop explored what “reparation” means, how Evanston’s history of exclusion and discrimination calls for repair, what is happening with our current Reparations programs — and how we, as people of faith, are called to act at this significant moment in history. The workshop was presented by several Evanston churches (including Lake Street Church) with the support of Interfaith Action of Evanston. Click here to view the recordings of these sessions and an extensive collection of reparations resources. Click here to view the sermon “Healing the Wound Lightly,” delivered by Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf on Sunday, February 13, about how Lake Street Church might put this newly approved resolution into action.