Our Staff

Pastor Surekha Nelavala is a rostered leader/pastor of DE-MD Synod, ELCA. Pastor Surekha is intentionally serving in a shared ministry setting. She is mission developer to an intentionally diverse-multicultural worshipping community, and she also serves as pastor on a half time call at a traditional congregation. 

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 is also engaged in teaching at different Seminaries as adjunct professor, taught courses at United Lutheran Seminary, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Virginia Theological Seminary, Hood College, Frederick, MD. She 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 hobbies are reading, writing, creating and editing videos, YouTube Creations (both professionally and personally), traveling (professionally and personally), house planting, cooking and decluttering.