Deaconess Pamela Nielsen has served in various capacities within The Lutheran—Church Missouri Synod for 37 years. Her early service as a parish deaconess working with the aged and dying shaped her convictions around protecting and preserving the sanctity of life at the end of life. After 25 years serving institutions, as Director of Community Services at Concordia Theological Seminary (4 years), as Senior Editor for Sunday School, VBS and Youth materials at Concordia Publishing House (9 years) and as Associate Executive Director of LCMS Communications (10 years), she is returning to her foundations as deaconess focused on mercy work and soul care while pursuing certifications in thanatology and grief counseling. She now works for COALITION LIFE, a St Louis based organization that is “committed to providing compassionate and effective advocates for life at the gates of abortion facilities, offering women options and hope.”
As part of LCMS Communications, she led the creative team that developed the popular “Eyes of Life” campaign designed to grow the LCMS presence at national and regional marches and make it more cohesive and memorable to the broader prolife community. Working to build a strong Lutheran presence at the marches and interacting with other prolife leaders through that work has been a catalyst for a deep personal commitment to preserving and defending life. These experiences have been the foundation for a conviction that we must work shoulder to shoulder with other like-minded people in teaching and reaching a world enamored with death. Such “cooperating in externals” with other Lutherans and Christians in defense life for the sake of the Gospel, is necessary and critical, even as we faithfully practice our unique confession of faith and led by it in these efforts.
Pamela and husband Jeffrey have three married children, with a granddaughter and six grandsons—one due to arrive in October 2022! They are members of Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church in St. Louis, Missouri. She earned her deaconess certification at Concordia University Chicago with a BA in Theology. She holds a MA in Theology from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and is nearing completion on a certificate in Non-profit Management from Washington University.