The Staff of St. Andrew's United Church
Dr. Rebecca Giselbrecht serves as Pastor of St Andrew’s United Church in Nanaimo, British Columbia and was recently named Research Associate in Church History and Spirituality at Vancouver School of Theology.
Rebecca studied Biblical Studies in Chicago and Leadership in Pasadena, Reformation History and Practical Theology in Zurich. She has a B.S. in Biblical Studies, M.A. in Global Leadership, a MAS in Sociology and Youth Work, a MDiv from Fuller Seminary, and her PHD in Intercultural Studies. Her dissertation in sixteenth-century church history is titled: A Hermeneutic of Female Testimony in the Zurich Reformation.
After serving as a lay ministry leader for most of her adult life, Rebecca transitioned to minister as Associate Pastor of Youth and Children’s Ministry at the Swiss Evangelical Reformed Church in Degersheim, Switzerland. She taught and conducted research in practical theology and spirituality as Assistant Professor of Practical Theology at the University of Zurich for ten years and was Director of the Center for the Academic Study of Christian Spirituality at the University of Zurich until October of 2018.
She is Oberassistentin at the Institute for Old Catholic Theology, University of Bern, Switzerland and is writing her habilitation – a critical edition of the writings of Anna Alexandria of Rappoldstein at the University of Bern. Rebecca has published widely in both German and English on women in church history, the Zurich and Strasburg Reformations, Calvin, Zwingli, Bullinger, women and mission, and practical spirituality studies.
Rebecca is married to her husband Dieter and they have five children.
Deidre Schmidt is our Office Administrator. She has worked for St. Andrew's since 2002 and does all bookings for Church events, concerts, funerals and weddings.
Anne Dalton is the Organist and Choir Director at St. Andrew's United Church. She holds degrees in Piano Teaching and Organ Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto. She also sings, plays the cello and various other instruments. Anne has been teaching music for 44 years and has been a church musician for almost 40 years. Her extensive musical experience includes 4 years with the Vancouver Cantata Singers, 15 years with the Lyric Choirs of Surrey and over 20 years as a conductor's assistant with the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra.