Sojourners Board Member

Elizabeth Rios is an Afro-Latina native of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. She is the spiritual daughter of both the Primitive Christian Church and the Latino Pastoral Action Center. The Primitive Christian Church is pastored by Rev. Marc Rivera, where she first discerned a call to leadership at the age of 11. She is the pioneering Founder of Passion2Plant, one of the only national church planting networks in the U.S. founded by a woman. Passion2Plant trains Black and brown planters to start holistically minded, justice-oriented churches. She is also the Founder of the Passion Center, an online, justice-oriented, liberation-driven training center based in South Florida

Rios also serves on the Church Multiplication Institute’s Missiologists Council at Wheaton College, a think tank for evangelism and church planting and is an adjunct faculty member at Fuller Theological Seminary. She is also senior consultant for Freedom Road, LLC, which was founded by Lisa Sharon Harper to provide coaching and consultation in multiple sectors to do justice in just ways.

She is skilled in teaching, preaching, and writing on women in ministry, organizational culture, civic activism and church planting. Her articles have appeared in Sojourners, Influence, Called, Christianity Today, and Pentecostals and Charismatics for Peace and Justice. She is the author of Don’t Buy the Lie: Eradicating False Belief Systems That Keep You From Your Destiny (Ghetto Rose Publications, 2012). She has also contributed to many books including Rhythms of Rest: 40 Devotions for Women on the Move published by Our Daily Bread Publishing.

Posts By This Author

Latino Evangelicals Say No to the Death Penalty

by Elizabeth D. Rios 06-08-2015
Being pro-life means opposing capital punishment.

Death chamber in Sing Sing prison (Everett Historical / Shutterstock) 

THE NATIONAL LATINO Evangelical Coalition announced in March that it would no longer support the death penalty, making it the first U.S. evangelical association to take this stand. Coalition president Gabriel Salguero announced the change at a press conference in Orlando, Fla., and urged NaLEC’s 3,000 member congregations to work toward ending capital punishment nationwide.

“As Christ-followers, we are called to work toward justice for all. And as Latinos, we know too well that justice is not always even-handed,” said Salguero.