ATLANTA – Dr. Heidi A. Miller will join the faculty of Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology this fall as associate professor of spirituality and Christian ministry.
“We are delighted that Dr. Heidi Miller will join our faculty as part of the McAfee community,” said Dr. Greg DeLoach, dean of McAfee School of Theology. “Not only does she bring many years of experience in the classroom, her work in the areas of liturgy, spirituality and ministry is well known throughout the United States and across many denominations. Her scholarship and her leadership will serve McAfee well, including her responsibilities in leading our highly acclaimed Doctor of Ministry program.”
Dr. Miller has served for more than 20 years in academic, church, medical, community and counseling settings.
She most recently was director of the Master of Arts in Practical Theology program and associate professor of practical theology at Pfeiffer University in Charlotte, North Carolina. She previously directed programs and was an adjunct professor at Duke University, and she served on the faculty of Southern Methodist University and Eastern Mennonite University, teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level, including Th.D. and D.Min. students. Dr. Miller has also co-founded and directed various nonprofit organizations.
Dr. Miller’s teaching, research and writing focus on transformative aspects of leadership, spirituality, justice and worship.
“McAfee is engaging theological education for the emerging future of the church in a world that is rapidly changing,” said Dr. Miller. “I am excited to join with the remarkable faculty, students and staff at Mercer in this common mission, working to further integrate the praxis of spirituality in order to live our theology, and to walk with leaders who seek to transform their ministries and the world through advanced study in the D.Min program.”
Dr. Miller has served in numerous leadership roles, including working with business executives regarding the connection between theology and business vocation, leading spiritual formation practices for graduate students studying to be physician assistants, providing advanced training for spiritual directors and leaders, and consulting church congregations undergoing transition and trauma, as well as communities working with refugees.
She has frequently published and presented her work and served as a featured speaker, lecturer, preacher and panelist at events across the U.S. and Canada and in Singapore.
She holds membership in the North American Academy of Liturgy, Society of Christian Spirituality, Spiritual Directors International and Mennonite Spiritual Directors. She is a member of Harrisonburg Mennonite Church in Virginia and an associate member of Bethpage United Methodist Church in North Carolina.
“Dr. Heidi Miller brings remarkable knowledge, gifts and enthusiasm to her new role on the faculty of McAfee School of Theology,” said Dr. Denise Massey, professor of pastoral care and counseling. “She offers considerable experience and energy for the formation of compassionate ministers who competently care in a challenging world. Dr. Miller has deep spiritual sensitivity and a strong academic knowledge of spirituality and Christian ministry. We are delighted and enthusiastic for Dr. Heidi Miller to join the McAfee community, teaching in our master’s degree programs and directing our Doctor of Ministry program.”
Dr. Miller earned her bachelor’s degree in social work from Goshen College, Master of Divinity from Eastern Mennonite Seminary and Ph.D. in spirituality from the Catholic University of America. She is a licensed minister in the Virginia Mennonite Conference since 1997.
About the School of Theology
The Mercer University School of Theology, named for James and Carolyn McAfee who provided the founding gift for the School, has a mission to prepare ministers who will inspire the church and the world to imagine, discover and create God’s future. Guided by a vision to change the world through learning, serving and leading, the School accomplishes its mission by: 1) integrating spirituality with service through: practicing spiritual disciplines that nurture us for Christian service; embracing ethnic, gender and theological diversity to enhance our spiritual growth and moral formation; creating opportunities to learn in community, experience transformation and risk action; 2) integrating theological inquiry with prophetic vision through interpreting the story of the Christian faith through sacred scriptures and traditions; connecting faith to global contexts in ways that engage personal, communal and political realities; critiquing the structures of our society from an informed prophetic voice; 3) integrating worship with witness through celebrating God’s presence in worship as the source of the Church’s call to community and global transformation; reading cultural contexts to create holistic strategies for ministry; proclaiming the love of God in Jesus Christ through dialogue and in partnership with others. For more information, visit theology.mercer.edu.
