Daughter of Zion- Team members
After three quarters of a year, Daughter of Zion is developing more and more towards ministry and community. New faces, ideas, visions and personal stories are enriching the original vision, and the team is also coming together more. We are not yet at the end of our team building, and yet it is becoming more and more clear who will shape and carry the direction of Daughter of Zion. Below you will find the core leadership of this project, and we look forward to inspiring, serving and getting to know you!
Sibylle Toeller
Founder and main author of the blog, leader of the project Daughter of Zion, responsible for content and implementation.
Hi, I'm Sibylle!
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I'm now in my late forties, which surprises me the most. I have been married to Armin for 13 years and we have a wonderful ten-year-old son. We live in the country, in the immediate vicinity of Göttingen. Nature and walks with Jesus are my source of life, I love beauty, friendship and good literature.
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I am currently studying Psychological Counseling/Personal Coach (certified), I intend to graduate in a year and a half at the latest. Most of the time I write, run my agape and community Facebook group, and have faith that Jesus will use this project, this vision, more and more for Himself.
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Professionally, I worked as a stand-by foster mother for a long time, I'm on leave in public service for family reasons and have worked in the social sector for a long, long time - job centers, social services and, before that, youth violence prevention are part of the marginal data. I am currently attending a charismatic Baptist church that is on the move, with a high focus on community, but I am more of a Lutheran myself.
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I firmly believe that our personal story, the restoration in Jesus and the healing we experience in our hearts, are precious and valuable.
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It is an infinite treasure that lies hidden - a treasure of testimony to his reality, love and grace. To the extent that we accept ourselves, we become true sources of acceptance for others, messengers and true lovers. Be blessed and be blessed - learn appreciation and respect, give grace, in everything in Christ and Christ in me - very practical, in my life. This is what gives me strength, hope and vision.
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Tanya Krohn
Leadership-Team, Administration, Conductor, finance expert & caring heart.
Hi, I'm Tanja!
I am 49 years old, mother of one adult son and widowed for two years.
I work from home and support my company's field service from there. I am also currently studying pastoral care alongside my job, aiming for a bachelor’s degree.
Who is Jesus for me?
My journey with Jesus began in the Catholic Church, but that didn't stop him from meeting and drawing me close in person in my early 20s. I was finally baptized in the Baptist Church in Göttingen, of which I am also a permanent member. I was a Christian married and mother for 10 years and lived a quiet life on the outside while lacking everything on the inside. The final separation from my husband 10 years ago resulted in far-reaching changes: the relationship with my family broke up for legal and religious reasons, and I lost contact with the community. My second marriage taught me self worth and self love, acceptance and identity. My husband supported my return to church life, although he did not make a clear decision for Jesus himself. But he saw him, in me, with me, and encouraged me to cultivate this relationship. I loved him very much.
Jesus guided me and led me, with foresight and as a support in deep trouble :
Upon returning to the community, my husband became seriously ill and eventually died unexpectedly from sepsis. The congregation caught me, carried me, comforted me. A warm-hearted christian counselor was by my side, and grief counseling turned into inner growth and healing. Jesus cleaned up my life during this time. With the help of my pastor, I became aware of how devaluation and limitations determined me for years, how my desires, my talents and gifts were kept small. Healing processes started thanks to this grandiose counselor.
Then I met Sibylle at a pastoral seminar in Dresden , although we only live a few kilometers apart. There she told me about her project Daughter of Zion. The articles hit me right in the heart: They address exactly my construction sites and topics, I become aware of my behavior and can change it. I now know that God wants me exactly as I am. I'm not below average, I'm good the way I am! Loved, recognized, beautiful and valuable in his eyes. Always.
The combination of good pastoral care and the articles is balm for my soul.
And now I want to use my talents and gifts myself to pass on this blessing.
Yes, and what do I love?
I love knitting, my animals, I love to cook and I pray with faith!
I'm excited to see where the journey is going.
Will I meet you there?
Andre Wardenga
Leadership-Team, Administration, the masculine heart of this Agape- and women's project! Guidance provider, balancing,conductor
Hello, André here! :)
After a good half century on this very interesting planet, I'm still experiencing new things, there are still some things to discover, and new adventures to go on (Daughter of Zion fulfills for me, in a way, both the "new" and "adventure" aspect! ;-)
I am at home in the Palatinate, in the "Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region", or in other words: between Rhine and wine!
If my working life allows it, I like to hike or explore new landscapes or places (most recently the Kraichgau as well as Kassel and Fulda), discover culinary insider tips, meet with friends, deal with phytotherapy or photography.
Daughter of Zion has become for me, within a very short time, from a "curiosity" to a source of inspiration, and with great excitement and enthusiasm I follow which interesting people meet here.
For some years now, I have been working in the field of disability assistance and I am involved in a pilot project of our institution, in which people are cared for who have not had it easy in many respects. This is exhausting, this is beautiful, this is meaningful, adventurous, sobering, and definitely "horizon-expanding"!
My spiritual home seems to be a very promising church plant here in the region, where authenticity, informality, togetherness at eye level and, wherever possible, the participation of all in church life are writ large.
I would like to say about my faith that it is very closely linked to the fascination that emanates from the person of Jesus . . . . a fascination that has now lasted for several decades, through crises, times of closeness to God and also distant, many ups and downs.
Topics that particularly occupy me are, among others, "the adventure of fatherhood", turning points in church history (and their consequences), liberated faith (since it is fatal when all the "-isms" obscure one's view of the essential!), the question of what difference our faith makes in the coexistence of the sexes, and, again and again, GRACE.
The latter represents for me anyway the red thread for my existence - to get more and more on the track of the essence of God's merciful love for us and to tap into these sources for me and others, to open them up and to let my life be determined more and more by this dynamic.
In this sense, I look forward to the journey with the Daughters of Zion and all the discoveries that lie ahead! :)
P.S.: Oh yes . . . . and I love (above all: my kids!), rock, folk and old music, natural streams, forest, dogs, Kneipp facilities, chilling pines, inspiring church services and much more (you may find out for yourselves).