Dr. Jacqueline J. Lewis uses her gifts as author, activist, preacher, and public theologian toward creating an antiracist, just, fully welcoming society in which everyone has enough. After graduating with an M.Div. with honors from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1992, Jacqui was ordained in the PCUSA and fell in love with urban ministry. She led two churches in Trenton, New Jersey, on a journey to become multiracial communities. Intrigued by how faith can heal souls and transform the world, she returned to graduate school and earned both an M.Phil. and a Ph.D. in Psychology and Religion from Drew University in 2004. Jacqui’s research had brought her to study Middle Church; Middle Church called her to join the staff in January 2004, and she became Senior Minister in 2005. Middle is the church of her dreams and prayers—a Christian universalist, multicultural, multiethnic rainbow coalition building a more just society with worship, education, activism, and the arts. Middle Church understands what Jacqui preaches: Love liberates. Love. Period.

In her activism, organizing, preaching, speaking, writing, and teaching, Dr. Lewis advocates for global peace, racial equality, religious freedom, gun control, economic justice, equal rights for all genders/sexual orientations, and marriage equality. Because of her dynamic leadership, Middle Church was featured in a national broadcast on CBS. A Bold New Love: Christmas Eve with Middle Collegiate Church aired on December 24, 2018, to more than 1,000,000 viewers. Middle Church will produce the Christmas Special for ABC in 2025 and for NBC in 2026. Dr. Lewis has been a frequent commentator on NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, and PBS, and on National Public Radio.  Dr. Lewis created two national television programs: Just Faith, an on-demand television program on MSNBC.com, and Chapter and Verse at PBS. She has been featured in documentaries  Jesus, Crown of Thorns; and in Life Stories, a division of the Kunhardt Film Foundation. Middle Church and Jacqui have been featured in AP, RNS News, The Washington Post, the New York Times and other major periodicals.

Jacqui has used her womanist voice on stages and in pulpits around the globe, including at the Festival of Homiletics, The Children’s Defense Fund’s Haley Farms, The Wild Goose Festival, Princeton Theological Seminary, Drew University, Iliff Seminary, Union Theological Seminary, the Apollo Theater, the Chautauqua Institution, the Low Country Mental Health Conference, the Kripalu Retreat Center, the Center for Action and Contemplation, and the American Church in Paris.

Jacqui’s writing has been featured in periodicals like The Amsterdam News, Essence, and Ebony; in electronic formats like the Huffington Post and Substack, and in books like Becoming Creoles, and Faith and Reckoning After Trump. She is the author of Ten Essential Strategies for Becoming a Multiracial Congregation; The Power of Stories; You Are So Wonderful! A rhyming celebration of diversity: Fierce Love: A Bold Path to a Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World, and The Just Love Story Bible (Beaming Books September 2025), ready for pre-order now. 

Jacqui’s podcast, Love. Period. is available on all streaming platforms.

For nineteen years, Jacqui has curated an annual justice conference at Middle Church. Artists like America Ferrera, Aunjanue Ellis and Ani DiFranco; and authors like Marianne Williamson, Frederick Joseph and Brian McLaren have shared the stage with activists like Williiam Barber III, Valarie Kaur and Linda Sarsour; and spiritual leaders like Raphael Warnock, Sharon Brous and Otis Moss III. With Jacqui’s leadership, Middle Church and our partner Freedom Rising have uniquely convened diverse voices of moral courage and revolutionary love for world-healing conversations, connections, and community development.

Jacqui and her best friend John are married, and have two adult children and two grandchildren, which brings them so much joy.

Jacqui’s writing has been featured in periodicals like The Amsterdam News, Essence, and Ebony; in electronic formats like the Huffington Post and Substack, and in books like Becoming Creoles, and Faith and Reckoning After Trump. She is the author of Ten Essential Strategies for Becoming a Multiracial Congregation; The Power of Stories; You Are So Wonderful! A rhyming celebration of diversity: Fierce Love: A Bold Path to a Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World, and The Just Love Story Bible. Jacqui’s podcast, Love. Period. is available on all streaming platforms.

For nineteen years, Jacqui has curated an annual justice conference at Middle Church. Artists like America Ferrera, Aunjanue Ellis and Ani DiFranco; and authors like Marianne Williamson, Frederick Joseph and Brian McLaren have shared the stage with activists like Williiam Barber III, Valarie Kaur and Linda Sarsour; and spiritual leaders like Raphael Warnock, Sharon Brous and Otis Moss III. With Jacqui’s leadership, Middle Church and our partner Freedom Rising have uniquely convened diverse voices of moral courage and revolutionary love for world-healing conversations, connections, and community development.

Jacqui and her best friend John are married, and have two adult children and two grandchildren, which brings them so much joy.

Follow Jacqui on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook and subscribe to her Substack, Fierce Love.