The Reverend Perzavia Praylow, PhD is a minister of Word and Sacrament ordained in The Presbyterian Church (USA). She is currently the Director of Contextual Theology at Howard University School of Divinity. She previously served as the senior Pastor of Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. Prior to serving as a Presbyterian Pastor in South Carolina and Washington, DC, she was an assistant professor of American History at Augusta University in Augusta, GA. Her roots stretch from the Sea Islands of South Carolina to the skyline of Jersey City, NJ where she was born and raised. She has previously served as the pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Winnsboro, South Carolina and a minister/elder at The Church Of the Living God in Champaign, IL in addition to teaching African and American history at Bowie State University and other colleges and universities.

 

Dr. Praylow earned a PhD in American History, MA in Education Policy and MA in History all from the University of Illinois (Urbana, IL), the MDiv at Columbia Theological Seminary (GA), Masters of Sacred Theology at Lutheran Theology Southern Seminary (SC), and BA in History at Drew University (NJ). Dr. Praylow’s research focuses on 20th Century race relations, American religious history, African American social equality and the history of education.

 

Rev. Dr. Perzavia Praylow looks forward to serving as the interim pastor of Plymouth UCC. Interim ministry is a partnership. As we embark on our shared ministry together, “may the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing, so that together we may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).”