The Reverend Michael G. L. Church is a long-time New Yorker, having moved to the city immediately after graduation from Vassar College in 1984. Before seminary, he worked as an executive recruiter and as supervisior of the National AIDS Hotline. He holds an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and an S.T.M. in liturgical studies from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. In 1992, he was an exchange student at the Mar Thoma Seminary in South India. He has traveled widely in Europe and Latin America.

After an internship at Redeemer, Flushing, he served under call at parishes in the Bronx and Farmingdale. Pastor Church has a special commitment to interim ministry, and has helped congregations in Uniondale and Newburgh during periods of discernment and transition.

Pastor Church strengthens his parish ministry with an ongoing commitment to theological scholarship.

In addition to liturgics, he has special interest in ecumenism and interfaith relations. He is an Adjunct Instructor at Marist College, and has published numerous articles in theological journals. He presently serves as our Synod Historian.

Pastor Church is married to the Rev. Terri E.C. Luper, another ELCA pastor. Since Autumn 2005 they have called the Trinity parsonage home, accompanied by their loving but overfed housecat! Most recently - in March 2007 - they celebrated the birth of their first child -- son Theodore!