Delaware-Maryland Synod Staff
Assistant to the Bishop:The Rev. Mary Miller-Zurell
E-Mail: mmiller-zurell@demdsynod.org
The Rev. Mary Miller-Zurell, assistant to the bishop of the Delaware-Maryland Synod, was born on January 5, 1957, in Bristol, Conn., and baptized six days later by the pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, a Lutheran Church Missouri Synod congregation, where she was an active member until college.
In 1975, she graduated as the valedictorian of Bristol Central High School. She went on to Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pa., from which she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1979 with a double major in biology and philosophy, earning departmental honors in the latter. In 1985, she earned the Master of Divinity degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. Her Clinical Pastoral Education was completed at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pa. Since then, Miller-Zurell has been certified as a Lab I Trainer with the Calling and Caring Ministries and as a NeuroLinguistic Programming Practitioner. She also has been trained as an evangelism consultant and as a teacher of Crossways Bible study programs.
Following her ordination on December 29, 1985, at Zion Lutheran Church, Penn Hills, Pa., Miller-Zurell was called to Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Baltimore, from 1986 through the consolidation with Bethany and Martin Luther churches to form Amazing Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, where she then served until 1998. From 1998 until her call as assistant to the bishop, Miller-Zurell served as the second pastor on staff at New Hope Lutheran Church, Columbia, Md., one of the ELCA's fastest-growing congregations.
When the lead pastor at New Hope, the Rev. H. Gerard Knoche, was elected bishop of the Delaware-Maryland Synod in June 2000, he recommended that the Synod Council call Miller-Zurell as one of two assistants to the bishop. She assumed that position on September 1, 2000, and was formally installed at a festival worship service at Baltimore's Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on October 14, 2000.
Prior to her call as assistant to the bishop, Miller-Zurell served on the Task Force on Synod Restructuring for two years as well as the synod Candidacy Committee and synod Evangelism Committee since the mid-90s. While serving in Baltimore city, Miller-Zurell was a founding developer then an officer on the board of the Southeast Baltimore Teen Center, 1995-1998. She served on the McElderry Park Community Association from 1986 to 1998 and as volunteer chaplain at the Johns Hopkins Hospital for 11 years, chairing the chaplaincy group at two different times.
The Delaware-Maryland Synod is one of 65 geographic subgroupings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the sixth largest Protestant denomination in the United States. Headquartered in Baltimore's Inner Harbor area, the synod serves more than 96,000 Lutherans across the two-state area. As one of two assistants to the bishop, Miller-Zurell works throughout the synod with pastors, congregations and church roster candidates in the areas of calls, pastoral transitions/vacancies, and placement. Miller-Zurell is the staff liaison in the area of "Mission through Leadership" which includes: professional ministry preparation, growth in leadership and professional education, lay leadership training, leadership support, financial support and mutual accountability. In the area of "Mission through Partnerships," she relates to the African American Lutheran Association (AALA).