Founding Director of Salvation and Social Justice and pastor at Greater Mt. Zion in Trenton, Salvation and Social Justice and Greater Mt. Zion AME Church in Trenton
The Reverend Dr. Charles Franklin Boyer is a third-generation African Methodist Episcopal preacher. He is the pastor of Greater Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church in Trenton, New Jersey, and the co-founder with his wife Rosalee of Salvation and Social Justice, a non-partisan Black faith-rooted organization that believes liberation should precede legislation and prophetic vision should precede public policy.
Dr. Boyer is a leading faith voice in New Jersey for racial justice issues, the campaign to abolish the drug war and the criminalization of Black people. His advocacy has led to the statewide adoption of racial impact analysis for sentencing, closure of youth prisons, voting rights restoration for people on probation and parole, the independent prosecutor law, and restricting solitary confinement. He led the campaign to free thousands of incarcerated people from New Jersey’s deadly prisons due to the coronavirus, making it the largest singular decarceration event in the state’s history.
Charles works closely with the Black Legislative Caucus and is a co-convener of the United Black Agenda and the NJ Black Multi-Faith Alliance. He has been recognized as one of New Jersey’s 25 most influential African Americans by the South Jersey Journal, a Game Changer by the NAACP, a Torch Bearer by the ACLU, a Movement Maker by NJ Working Families, and a Community Servant by NJ Citizen Action. He has been recognized by the NJ Work Environment Council and received the Making Democracy Work award by the League of Women Voters. He was named one of the “Twenty-One People to Watch in 2021” by NJ Advanced Media and has made the 2020, “100 Political Power Lists” and 2021, “100 Most Influential African Americans Lists,” for Insider NJ.
Charles and Rosalee have three children, Shaina, Kyle, and Jayden. More than anything, Rev. Boyer is passionate about the spiritual disciplines especially prayer and meditation. He rises early every morning to commune with God and seek guidance. His favorite scripture is Psalms 27:13, “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed, that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
