Book written by Hozell Francis. Provides both the theory and practice for raising up a church in today’s black community.

The Rev. Joe Samuel Ratliff is pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church in Houston. He is co-author of Church Planting in the African American Community. Contact him through his executive assistant, Vernastene J. Davis.

Ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) involved in recruiting, equipping, and nurturing new church planters and emerging leaders, with the goal to help these leaders start sustainable new congregations of all expressions. The church plants are diverse, with Hispanic, Asian, Haitian, African-American and Anglo members. Contact Rick Morse, vice president for mission initiatives in Indianapolis.

Cheryl Townsend Gilkes is a professor of sociology and African-American studies at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. She is an expert on black churches. She has written widely, including If It Wasn’t for the Women: Black Women’s Experience and Womanist Culture in Church and Community (Orbis Books, 2000).

Zaid Shakir is an African-American imam who converted to Islam during his service in the Air Force. He has a master’s degree in political science and received classical scholarly training in the Muslim world. He is a writer, speaker, teacher and activist, having founded several Muslim organizations in the eastern U.S. before becoming a resident scholar […]

The National Council of Churches USA, representing mainline Protestant, Orthodox, African-American and peace churches, posted resources about its advocacy for Darfur.

Teresa L. Reed is the author of The Holy Profane: Religion in Black Popular Music (University Press of Kentucky, 2004), in which she links West-African musical and religious cultures and religious lyrics and themes in African-American blues, rhythm and blues, soul, funk and gangsta rap. She is an associate professor of music at the University of Tulsa […]

Karim was an assistant professor in the department of philosophy and religious studies at Spelman College in Atlanta. She was reared in an African-American Muslim community. Her expertise is on race, gender and Islam; younger Muslims in the U.S.; and connections and tensions among African-American Muslims and immigrant Muslims in the U.S.

Carl Jeffrey Wright is the author of God’s Vision or Television: How Television Influences What We Believe (Urban Ministries, 2004), about African-Americans, television and religion. He is the CEO of Urban Ministries Inc., an African American Christian publishing and communications company.