Our Staff

Pastor Surekha Nelavala is a rostered leader/pastor of DE-MD Synod, ELCA. In her call of being in shared ministry, in addition to being a Pastor of ASLC, She is also a mission developer of an intentionally diverse-multicultural worshipping community.

During her ordained ministry at ELCA, she has served in multiple congregational settings such as diverse-traditional-informal settings as well as, traditional-rural, Intergenerational, traditional-urban/suburban settings and therefore her ministerial experience helps serve to the specific needs and context of a congregation.

As a biblical scholar, she engages in teaching at different Seminaries as an adjunct professor, taught courses at United Lutheran Seminary, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Virginia Theological Seminary, Hood College, Frederick, MD. Pastor Surekha is currently teaching at Pacific Lutheran Seminary, California Lutheran University USA. She has completed her Ph D at Drew University in Biblical Studies, New Testament.

In addition to this role as a pastor she is a teaching Scholar/adjunct faculty, an academic writer, a published author, a public speaker, and an international traveler of Indian descent living in the United States. In her inquiry and practices of theology, hermeneutics, and homiletics she uses intersectional, contextual and gender-based socio-scientific analysis to re-interpret and re-imagine scriptures that emerged from religious-socio-cultural interlocking systems. Her scholarship challenges dominant interpretations of scripture, advocating for an inclusive and justice-oriented approach.

Pastor Surekha lives in Frederick, MD with her younger son Rishi and her husband Rev. John Ponnala, who is a chaplain at Johns Hopkins. Her older son Nishanth is a high school teacher, teaches biology and Chemistry. Her hobbies are reading, writing, creating and editing videos, YouTuber (both for work and fun), traveling (for work and fun), house plants, cooking and decluttering, and a lifelong student, eager to learn.