The Free Churches in Austria (Freikirchen in Österreich, FKÖ) have appointed their first female secretary general, marking a historic milestone in the evangelical church network’s leadership.
Claudia Krupensky officially introduced herself in her new role through a news update published by the Evangelical Alliance Austria. Formerly known as the Austrian Evangelical Alliance, the organization welcomed Krupensky as she steps into a position that reflects both growing diversity and continuity within the Free Churches’ mission.
Born in Vienna in January 1982, Krupensky brings a diverse background to the role. She holds academic qualifications in molecular biology, journalism, and communication sciences. Her professional experience includes working as a research assistant at the Institute for Brain Research, founding the Christian publishing house salz.korn, teaching at the secondary level in subjects such as chemistry, biology, physics, and computer science, and serving as a school administrator.
She is part of the leadership team for 4Corners Christian Fellowship in Vienna, founded in 2005 by Wolfgang and Angela Pöschl.
The month of August marks not only the 12th anniversary of the Free Churches in Austria being recognised as a church officially but also, according to Krupensky, of a “very personal encounter with God” for her personally. She recalled the experience [translated from German] for Evangelical Alliance Austria.
“It was on a sunny Wednesday morning in August, on a walk in the woods; Words from the Bible, which I had only just begun to read, resonated in me: the question of guilt, forgiveness, the death of Jesus on the cross,” said Krupensky.
“I was 18 years old at the time, a high school graduate with big questions for the world, who had been given a Bible by a young man at a holiday camp and wanted to give this old script a chance.
“As I walked among the tall trunks of the beech trees, I heard a voice within me telling me to sit down and be quiet. I looked around: No one to be seen.
“So I sat down on the soft forest floor, closed my eyes and stretched out my hands expectantly. It was as if something touched me on my right hand and a warm oil from the fingertips filled my whole body.
“Joy, a lightness and the deep certainty that the Bible is the truth, God's Spirit is alive and that Jesus paid for my guilt once and for all through his death on the cross, all this rose up in me and when I went home later, it felt like I was walking on clouds!”
That happened 25 years ago when Krupensky opened her heart to “our loving, heavenly Father, to the Holy Spirit that His Son Jesus promised us.”
The new secretary general recalled how God had been her companion since then, on “countless paths.”
The journey has also brought challenges, which she listed as “studies, marriage, raising children, church leadership, school administration in the first year of the Central Matura, teaching four different subjects, church planting at home and abroad – so many opportunities to be honed and formed!”
However, the inherent knowledge of being loved and accepted by God, and his “clear mandate” to extend the kingdom of heaven has always remained deeply anchored in Krupensky’s heart.
“Faith comes through listening, but it is strengthened by challenges and tested by fellowship with people. Being saved is only the first step,” she added.
For that reason, Krupensky encouraged evangelicals to not “stand still” but “constantly take one step at a time to make known God's kingdom in which we live it, and to celebrate the growth that God has already brought this year and will bring!”
Krupensky recalled celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Evangelical Alliance Austria in May, and she looked forward to a forthcoming celebratory church service of “Jesus in the centre—from the Anabaptists to today's free churches,” this September, but did not disclose further details.
Krupensky hoped such moments of worship together would be recurring “because we are united in Christ, well networked and rooted in God's word, are not lazy, but perceive and live out our responsibility, our vocation as children of God.”
“The world needs more of God's Word and love,” she added. “I'm certainly not the only one who is convinced of this.”
