British pastor new General Secretary in Austria 

British Baptist David Bunce has been commissioned as the new General Secretary of the Austrian Baptist Union (ABU). David succeeds the long-serving Walter Klimt, the first General Secretary of the Union, who has retired after more than 20 years faithful service in the role

David has an MA in German and Theological Studies from St Andrews University and an MRes in Biblical Theology from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. He has ministered in Austria since 2014, initially co-pastoring a church in Vienna and running a gap year program. In 2021 he moved to the spa town Bad Ischl, east of Salzburg, to pastor the Baptist church there, and he has also led the Austrian Baptist Union’s Children and Youth Department for the last five years.

David said he was approached by the Union’s Executive Board if he would consider allowing his name to go forward to succeed Walter. 

‘I felt I had something useful to offer to the Union, so I did,’ he says. ‘We are not a big Union and so the number of possible candidates was not huge.

‘I had a worry that a non-Austrian in such a senior leadership role would be inappropriate, but it was a concern that seemed to be largely shared by me - or at least wasn’t important compared to other factors.’

David was duly called, and the commissioning and handover service took place in Vienna on 18 October. It saw representatives from around the world, including Alan Donaldson, General Secretary of the European Baptist Federation, and guests from the USA (Virginia), Germany, Switzerland and Romania. The Evangelical Alliance Austria, the Free Churches in Austria and other churches in Austria were also present.  (Watch a short film of the commissioning service here and below.)



The new role is half-time, with David remaining the pastor of Bad Ischl Baptist Church. It involves keeping the day to day functioning of the Union running smoothly, being part of the Executive Board wrestling with bigger strategic goals, representing the Union both in other Austrian organisations (such as the Ecumenical Council of Churches, or the Board of the Free Churches in Austria) as well as abroad (the European Baptist Federation).

David also hopes to walk alongside the Union’s churches ‘to turn up the dial on mission’, both through helping to think about church planting as well as helping older churches through a revitalisation process. 

The ABU is a small Union (around 30 churches) with a large diversity of theological positions and ethnic backgrounds (around a third of its churches are Romanian speaking for example), and his approach will be relational, he explains. 
 
‘I have never been the person to primarily be vision-driven and be ploughing a furrow in a particular strategic direction,’ he says.

‘Instead, I like to pay attention to relational processes and the kind of pastoral presence that helps to increase unity - my models of ministry are people such as St Benedict or Dietrich Bonhoeffer, both of whom paid deep attention to the quality of communal life and what kind of structures and postures are necessary for it to work in a healthy way.’

David says becoming General Secretary wasn’t ‘on my radar at all’ when he first came to Austria in 2014. 

‘I arrived with the goal of helping to plant a church. I then quickly discovered that wasn’t my particular skill set - but I have a love for existing churches and helping them go the next step. So I ended up in “normal” pastoral ministry (as much as there is such a thing) along with a concentration on next generation ministry, first with young adults and later with children and young people.’

He adds, ‘I have a deep affection for the churches in our Union and it is a huge honour to be able to serve them for the next stage of their journey. 

‘Many of our German-speaking local churches are aging and need help to imagine what the future will look like - and I would love to see a renewed move of church planting, especially among Austrians in smaller regional towns (if anyone reading is feeling called, definitely reach out).’

David also highlighted Walter’s ‘fantastic legacy’.

‘I am very conscious I am stepping into very big shoes,’ he continues. ‘Walter Klimt is a highly gifted leader who, in over 20 years of his ministry as the first ever General Secretary of the Austrian Baptist Union, built up many of the structures we have and helped in many key ways to bring the Union together. He is a visionary for what could be, he took clear stands for the issues that mattered to him, and he consistently mentored young people to begin their journey into ministry.

‘Walter would also very clearly point out that retirement does not mean the end of God’s call on his life - he will continue to serve in various ways in Austria, including our world mission and social work and helping to start the church cafe space Donauhof in Vienna.’ 
 
David invited Baptists to pray for their sisters and brothers in Austria in the following ways:
 
(‘The prayer of Paul in Ephesians 1:18 is always a good start’, he says, ’a recognition of who we are is always a good beginning to everything else we do.’
 

• The partnerships between the various churches and the Union, that trust and affection for each other would continue to grow.
• For vibrant local church ministry in the various places we have churches in Austria.
• For our children and youth department, that relationships between churches would start at a young age and that we would empower the next generation who will help to shape our church life.
• For church planters to come alongside us and that Baptist churches would be planted in Austria (baptistic and evangelical churches are still a tiny minority in Austria and there are huge gaps across the country with not a single free church) - and that partners would also be found to practically and financially resource this.