Rev. Dr. Elizabeth “Liz” Ríos, a pioneering Afro-Boricua mujerista public theologian, is an educator, strategist, and advocate from Manhattan’s Lower East Side whose work is deeply informed by womanist thought. She has devoted her life to helping people become better humans, developing bolder leaders, and cultivating braver churches—on the ground and online.

This commitment—Better Humans. Bolder Leaders. Braver Churches unifies Dr. Ríos’s work at the intersection of theology, justice, leadership, and technology. Whether she is teaching, preaching, writing, mentoring, conducting research, or building organizations, she equips people to think deeply, lead courageously, confront injustice, and participate in God’s work of bringing justice, healing, and hope to the world.

Dr. Ríos is the founder of Passion2Plant, the nation’s only church-planting and leadership-development network founded and led by a woman of color. Passion2Plant equips emerging and established leaders to build healthy, justice-oriented, and contextually relevant ministries. Its goal is not simply to produce more leaders but to develop the courageous, spiritually grounded, and socially conscious leaders the world actually needs.

Dr. Ríos consistently led theological innovation and engaged in digital ministry long before the COVID-19 pandemic. She leads The Passion Center, a phygital faith community that embodies her conviction that the Church must learn to minister wherever people gather, whether in a sanctuary, community, classroom, or digital space. She also created the Lilly Endowment-funded Púlpito Fellows Program, which equips Latina/o and other global-majority religious leaders to use technology and social media to share gospel-centered, justice-oriented messages with digital audiences. Through these efforts, she challenges churches to move beyond merely adopting technology and become brave enough to reimagine ministry for a changing world.

An ordained minister, senior nonprofit leader, and educator, Dr. Ríos has served on several national boards, including the board of Sojourners, an organization that publishes an award-winning magazine and mobilizes people of faith to advocate for social justice. She is an engaging speaker, teacher, preacher, and writer whose areas of expertise include women in ministry, church planting, leadership development, civic engagement, disability and belonging, digital ministry, and organizational culture.

Her work has appeared in Sojourners, Christianity Today, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and Religion News Service. She is the author of Don’t Buy the Lie: Eradicating False Belief Systems That Keep You From Your Destiny and a contributor to Need to Know: Empowering Female Leadership and Why It’s Essential for the Future of the Church and Rhythms of Rest: 40 Devotions for Women on the Move.

Dr. Ríos also serves the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) through the Florida Congregational Vitality Commission, which supports new and affiliating congregations while resourcing established churches. She has also served with La Obra Hispana’s 25 in 5 church-planting initiative. Across these denominational roles, she works to cultivate braver churches—communities willing to confront injustice, embrace necessary change, develop new leaders, and make room for people too often pushed to the margins.

Dr. Ríos has made significant scholarly contributions to the study of Latine Pentecostalism. Her chapter “The Women Are Warriors,” which examines the civic activism of Latina Pentecostal women in New York City, was originally published in Latino Religions and Civic Activism by Oxford University Press and later republished in Azusa Street and Beyond. Her life and accomplishments have also been recognized in The Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America and Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia. She hopes to continue contributing to Latino religion through her current research, which focuses on disability, the politics of prayer, and belonging within the Latino Pentecostal church. This deeply personal project honors the life and legacy of her younger son, Daniel Jeremiah, who passed away on his 23rd birthday in September 2022.

Her numerous recognitions include being named one of 12 Hispanic Women of Distinction by Latina Style Magazine and Bank of America in 2014, receiving the Multicultural Excellence Award from City to City Miami in 2022, and being inducted into the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers in 2023. She has also received the Unsung Sheroe Award from former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Suzan Johnson Cook and a 2023 Trailblazer Award from Midtown Church in Sacramento. In October 2025, Dr. Ríos was inducted into the inaugural class of Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Florida College of Preachers.

Dr. Ríos holds a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts, a Master of Arts in Management, a Master of Arts in Social Justice from Union Theological Seminary, a Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership and Adult Education from Nova Southeastern University, and a Doctor of Ministry from Southeastern University. Dr. Ríos and her husband of 36 years, Rev. Hiram Ríos, share their lives with their oldest son, Samuel, and their fur baby, Milo. They divide their time between Central Florida and Santurce, Puerto Rico.

At the center of everything Dr. Liz does is one unwavering belief: people can grow, leaders can become more courageous, and the Church can be better.