JourneyOnline
REV DR MARIAN Zaunbrecher, the newly-appointed Associate General Secretary of the Queensland Synod has been a minister of the Uniting Church since 1987, serving in urban and regional areas of Victoria and New South Wales.
A teacher by profession, Dr Zaunbrecher has taught as a primary teacher, a multicultural teacher, a teacher for adult women in a technical college and a chaplain.
“I love teaching,” she said. “It’s about seeing the amazement on people’s faces and the excitement when they suddenly learn something new.”
Dr Zaunbrecher encourages continuous learning in a congregational setting and hopes to see the growth of well-informed people.
“As a teacher I want to see people grow,” she said.
Before taking up her current post, Dr Zaunbrecher was Acting Dean of the Theological Hall of the Victorian Synod, a presbytery mission consultant, and secretary of the Assembly Ministerial Education Commission in Melbourne. She said her new job is a calling from God.
“I am amazed at how things work out … in that sense of God’s time, everything falls into place,” she said.
With a surname which means ‘breaking down zones’, Dr Zaunbrecher believes this is where her passion for social justice issues stems from and the need for acceptance of all people regardless of gender, race and creed.
“We need to break down the barriers, whether it’s with people with disability, women and violence, children who are abused or migrants,” she said.
She said her hope for the Church was one of true love and acceptance of one another in the agape sense.
Apart from her duties, Dr Zaunbrecher is also looking forward to being involved with the Church’s education and training programs.
Photo : Rev Dr Marian Zaunbrecher. Photo by Osker Lau
