Passion2Plant

Passion2Plant is a church planting network that empowers people from diverse backgrounds to join God’s mission in their context. Passion2Plant boldly states they are “a fully egalitarian network that trains Black & Brown planters to develop holistically-minded, justice-oriented churches right from the start.”

By Corey Lee, Director of Church Planting Content and Partnerships

Henry Louis Gates Jr writes that ‘No pillar of the African American community has been more central to its history, identity, and social justice vision than the “Black Church.’ In honor of Black History month, I’d like to highlight the three Black church planters who have navigated the “church planting industry” and innovated ways to plant without access to the same resources:

Dr. Liz Rios is a renowned Afro-Latina leader who is passionate about equipping black and brown planters to lead churches with a heart for transformative justice. She founded Passion2Plant to be a “fully egalitarian network that trains Black & Brown planters to develop holistically-minded, justice-oriented churches right from the start.” Her ministry demonstrates how diverse the Black diaspora is in America and we celebrate her contributions to history as a Black woman leading in ministry.

Carl Johnson (https://ourfcc.community) and Lori Ruffin cohosted the first Missional Black Convening on January 31 of this year. It was an online gathering of over 100 missional leaders from across America and the world to discuss how the missional church movement uniquely expresses itself in and through the Black Church. Lori, who I have known since college, is a strategic leader and an artistic genius, who creatively engages and mobilizes church planting leaders. Pastor Carl Johnson and his wife Melanie founded Faith City Church in St. Paul Minnesota, and used his heritage in the AME church to innovate church planting and advocacy work outside of that tradition. Ruffin and Johnson have joined forces to gather dynamic leaders of color for the purpose of strengthening missional leadership among people of color.