Pastoral Staff

Rev. Emma Nickel, Pastor / Head of Staff

Emma was born and raised a Presbyterian in southwest Virginia. She graduated from the College of Wooster and received her Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. She has served as pastor of churches in Warren, Michigan, Greensburg, Kentucky, and Louisville, Kentucky. Emma and her husband, Matt, are both ordained Presbyterian ministers, which makes their two young daughters double “PK’s,” or Pastors’ Kids.

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Rev. Neeta Nichols, Parish Associate

Neeta has lived in Detroit Presbytery since 1993 serving nine different congregations as Interim Pastor, and also served briefly as the Presbytery’s Acting Head of Staff. She holds an undergraduate degree in Religion and Philosophy from The Defiance College in Ohio and a Masters of Divinity from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She was ordained as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament in 1973 to serve First Presbyterian Church, Adrian, Michigan. For over 35 years, her ministry has been in transitional (interim) settings where she has developed skills in quickly assessing a situation, helping the congregation understand its situation, and offering appropriate options for resolution. Neeta actively serves our Presbytery including six terms on the Committee on Ministry, in addition to many other roles. On January 1, 2020, Neeta retired from parish ministry. In her newly found free time, she is a Volunteer at the Detroit Zoo, and enjoys travel having visited Egypt, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus in recent years. Music plays a part in her free time, as does the challenge of Sudoku. A diehard coffee fan, Neeta enjoys a daily latte from Starbucks and spending time with family.