The Reverend Dr. Jacqui Lewis is Senior Minister and Minister for Vision, Worship, and the Arts at the Middle Collegiate Church, a 900-member multiracial, multicultural, and inclusive congregation in New York City. She is also the Executive Director and co-founder of The Middle Project, an institute that trains ethical faith leaders for a more just society.
As an activist, preacher, speaker, writer, and teacher, Dr. Lewis advocates for racial equality, gun control, economic justice, and equal rights for all sexual orientations and genders. She has traveled the country speaking on the power of multicultural and multiracial congregations to address racism and discrimination. In addition to teaching at Union Theological Seminary, Dr. Lewis has served as an adjunct faculty member at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, the Wesley Theological Seminary, and the Graduate Theological Union. She has preached at the Festival of Homiletics and at the Proctor Institute’s Great Preachers Series at the Children’s Defense Fund’s Haley Farm, and has taught workshops at Haley Farm on multiracial and multicultural ministries.
Prior to joining Middle Collegiate Church in January 2004, Dr. Lewis was a Senior Consultant at the Alban Institute, leading a project on negotiating cultural boundaries. Her doctoral dissertation was published as a book entitled, The Power of Story: A Guide for Leaders in Multiracial/Multicultural Congregations, and she is also the author of a children’s book, You Are So Wonderful! a rhyming celebration of diversity. Together with her husband, the Rev. John Janka, co-founder of The Middle Project, she offers consulting services to congregations and religious institutions and trains the next generation of young professionals in social justice and community building.