Mennonite Church USA is accepting applications for the 2025 Justice Fund grant year. Applicants planning to use the funds for immigration or climate justice will receive priority.
By Jessica Griggs for Mennonite Church USA
ELKHART, Ind. (Mennonite Church USA) — In 2020, amid COVID-19 shutdowns, the killing of George Floyd by a police officer ignited a wave of protests across the U.S. — and around the world — to draw attention to systemic racism. This moment provided individuals, organizations and churches an opportunity to renew efforts to dismantle racism, address police brutality, reimagine policing and combat poverty.
During this critical time, Mennonite Church USA’s Peace and Justice Ministry founded the Justice Fund, which provides seed money to MC USA congregations that are engaged in this peace and justice work. These grants, which range from $500-$2,500[1] can be used as start-up funds or to continue an existing ministry. Since 2020, this denominational ministry has awarded grants to more than 30 different congregations, many of which have also received additional grant funds in a subsequent year.
Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz, MC USA’s denominational minister for Peace and Justice, said, “The justice fund is a way for the denomination to assist churches that are actively engaged in their community and partnering with another church or organization that is working on significant justice issues within their communities.”
2024 Justice Fund awardees
In 2024, Mennonite Church USA’s Peace and Justice department awarded nine Justice Fund grants to support Mennonite church ministries across the country. Thanks in part to the Justice Fund, these congregations were able to support the needs of immigrants in their communities, create spaces of healing for activists, offer biblical resources and activities for Indigenous ministries, shelter and support unhoused people, and provide educational resources related to immigration and environmental justice.
Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster (Pennsylvania)
Last year, Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster formed a consortium with Blossom Hill Mennonite Church, Landisville Mennonite Church and East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church to work together toward dismantling racism. In April and May of 2024, each church of the consortium welcomed three presenters, who spoke on two topics — Christian nationalism and reparations — during their Christian Education hours. The Justice Fund helped provide honorariums for the speakers.
Emmanuel Mennonite Church, Gainesville, Florida
For years, Emmanuel Mennonite Church has dreamed of creating a short film that follows the story of a young woman who immigrates to the U.S. and is captured by immigration officers. They intend to help increase people’s knowledge of what happens during the immigration process, how families often become separated and how faith can play a role in these journeys, despite the difficulties that immigrants often face. Emmanuel Mennonite’s goal is to screen the film in churches, peace organizations and film festivals around the world to help encourage anti-racism and immigrant justice work. The Justice Fund has contributed to the film’s overall budget.
Iglesia Cristiana Roca de Refugio, San Antonio, Texas
Congregants from Iglesia Cristiana Roca de Refugio gather for a meal. Photo provided by Dianne Garcia.
Iglesia Cristiana Roca de Refugio is a congregation made up of immigrant families, from over 20 countries, who serve others within the immigrant community of San Antonio. The church receives and helps an average of one to two unhoused immigrant families each week, providing food, shelter, community, advocacy and help finding the resources they need. Their goal is to help these families reach stability and climb out of poverty. The Justice Fund has helped this church host events, trips and celebrations to build a stronger community to combat the isolation that immigrants often feel, as they are far from home.
Pastor Dianne Garcia said, “Our church is not a place for families to receive handouts or charity. We believe in the worth of each individual as a child of God and in our mandate as Christians to create community with others rather than for them. Each person that is a part of our community receives and gives in equal measure.”
Indonesian Light Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Indonesian immigrant community in Philadelphia faces significant challenges when it comes to adapting to the culture and language of the United States. Indonesian Light Church is working to help Indonesian immigrants with English-language acquisition, through educational opportunities, which also increases participants’ cultural understanding. These English as a Second Language classes, which the Justice Fund is helping provide, help Indonesian immigrants more seamlessly integrate into their new home and provide an opportunity for a more just and equitable world, through helping participants have better access to resources and jobs that are often only available to English speakers.
Lame Deer (Montana) Mennonite Church
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Lame Deer Mennonite Church hosted a youth services program, through which congregants were able to actively participate in providing successful youth and adult Bible school and Sunday church programing. Lame Deer was using this program, in part, to help address the high occurrence of substance abuse in youth, as well as child abuse and domestic abuse. In recent years, this program has seen a sharp decline in youth participation, and Lame Deer is working to reinvigorate the program, with the help of the Justice Fund.
Pasadena (California) Mennonite Church
The community altar for Community Care and Trauma Healing gathering for Palestinian solidarity. Photo provided by Katerina Gea.
In October 2023, Pasadena Mennonite Church joined other interfaith partners in advocacy and action for Palestine. As part of their solidarity work, the congregation hosted a vigil outside of a representative’s office, which led to regular events including more vigils and demonstrations. Through these gatherings, members of PMC met numerous activists of various faiths, including some Palestinians, who were feeling burnout and the mental health impact of witnessing the genocidal violence. One of these activists was a Palestinian therapist named Marianna Albina. Together, PMC and Albina planned two half-day community care and healing retreats for the activists The retreats, which were partially paid for by the Justice Fund, provided meals for the attendees, as well as space for the activists to meet with Albina and other therapists.
“Numerous participants [said] that they had never heard of Mennonites, and many had a complicated — if not painful — relationship with the church,” said Katerina Gea, pastor of PMC. “After participating in the retreat time and experiencing the hospitality of our community without feeling coerced by our faith, they came away with a sense of gratitude and curiosity about Mennonite Christian faith and our values of justice and service. … We believe that hosting sacred spaces to rest, to breathe together, to laugh and eat good food, to deepen our relationships and to ground ourselves in love allows us as justice-seekers to find strength for the long-haul work of social change.”
Shalom Mennonite Church, Tucson, Arizona
Volunteers at Eloy Visitation & Accompaniment help alleviate the feeling of isolation for immigrants who are being held in the Eloy (Arizona) Detention Center through support, friendship and encouragement. Volunteers communicate with those in the detention center through weekly letters, phone calls and visits, reminding those who are being detained that people care for them and they are not forgotten. Shalom Mennonite Church partners with Eloy Visitation & Accompaniment, providing EVA with financial support and accounting/financial services. The Justice Fund has helped Shalom Mennonite and EVA supply program materials, such as books and commissary funds, mail materials, development materials, office supplies and volunteer mileage reimbursements.
St. Louis (Missouri) Mennonite Fellowship
St. Louis is experiencing a homelessness crisis. To help address this issue, St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship, in partnership with St. Louis Winter Outreach, provided 10 beds for unhoused people in their community during 12 of the coldest nights this past winter, providing for a total of 109 people and one dog. This ministry, housed in the SLMF basement, provided hot meals, hygiene products, a place to stay for the night and bus passes for the next morning. Congregants overwhelmingly supported the ministry, with a majority of attendees volunteering at least one of the 12 nights. The Justice Fund grant helped provide food and supplies for this ministry.
“People who are unhoused are working so hard to keep their heads above water,” said Michelle Kaufman, who helped coordinate this ministry. “Having a safe place to let your guard down, have a good meal, and sleep in warmth and peace lets a person start the next day with the energy it takes to work on their problems and keep going. … I hope it also renews their spirit to feel like people care if they are OK.”
White River Cheyenne Mennonite Church, Busby, Montana
Within the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, there are a number of parents who have lost custody of their children and are required, by Social Services, to take parenting classes to be reunified with their children. Due to the absence of available parenting classes in this area and a lack of transportation, fueled by systemic poverty on the reservation, many of these parents struggled to find a way to regain custody of their children. White River Cheyenne Mennonite Church saw this need and met it by taking the necessary steps to become certified to provide the required courses and hiring an instructor to travel and meet the parents where they are, so they can learn how to become better parents and ultimately be reunified with their children. The Justice Fund helped this church obtain the certification needed to host these classes, in addition to helping pay for special speakers, educational materials and travel expenses for the instructor. As a result of this ministry, some of the parents have started attending church and the congregation is identified for its proactive approach to serve the community.
“The legacy of [the Indian] boarding school era continues to impact the native communities, as they grapple with the generational trauma stemming from the removal of children from their parents, families and the community,” said pastor Suzette Shreffler. “As a result, these individuals were not parented by their own parents and, therefore, lack the necessary skills and experience to parent effectively themselves. Our parenting classes equip them with essential tools and knowledge to become better parents.”
2025 Justice Fund applications
The Justice Fund accepts applications year-round from MC USA churches that are engaged in social justice ministries. While all applications will be considered, the current socio-political circumstances surrounding immigration and the ecological impact of climate injustice have created additional urgency in the need for ministries related to these fields. Thus, for 2025, the Justice Fund will focus on providing grants to churches that are collaborating with others within their communities to work on the issues of immigration and climate justice.
“We are prioritizing immigration and climate justice this year, because both are deeply interconnected, urgent and have far-reaching consequences for our communities,” said Stutzman Amstutz. “These issues challenge us to act out of solidarity, compassion and responsibility, now and for future generations.”
Churches seeking consideration for the Justice Fund Grant must be:
Actively engaged in their community and partnering with another church or organization to work on issues addressing racial justice, poverty, police brutality/reimagining policing, climate justice and immigration.
Or,
Seeking start-up money to begin working on racial justice, poverty, climate justice or immigration issues in their local communities, in addition to being committed to partnering with another church or organization.
Priority will be given to congregations working with organizations led by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) in their community, as well as congregations with less than 150 members. Previous recipients are eligible to apply for a new grant, but priority will be given to first-time applicants. MC USA accepts applications on a rolling basis. The online application is available here.
Join in by donating today!
The Justice Fund is a mutual aid initiative, funded by donations from individuals and churches across MC USA. To help MC USA churches throughout the country engage in this work, donate to the Justice Fund here.
Mennonite Church USA is an Anabaptist Christian denomination, founded in 2002 by the merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church. Members of this historic peace church seek to follow Jesus by rejecting violence and resisting injustice. MC USA’s Renewed Commitments state the following shared commitments among its diverse body of believers: to follow Jesus, witness to God’s peace and experience the transformation of the Holy Spirit. Mennoniteusa.org
[1] While the grant itself is usually awarded at a maximum of $2,000, congregations that provide $500 of their own funds will receive an addition $500 of matching funds, for a maximum total of $2,500 granted from the Justice Fund.