Zara teaches on the Practical Theology team and specialises in Laidlaw’s youth-focussed papers.

Zara has been involved in youth ministry and youth work since she was a youth herself. She’s worked in a variety of youth contexts including churches, schools, health settings, houses, mountains, and streets. She also has a background in not-for-profit management, teaching & training and managing Korowai Tupu: Professional Association for Youth Workers.

She is now passionate about equipping any and all who work frontline with youth and young adults: specifically through how classroom concepts, models and theories play out in ministry practice. She is an excellent communicator and storyteller who loves to teach through stories, research, and cultural observation and critique. She aspires to model and teach loyal leadership shaped by steady character, self-development and proactive wellbeing.

Zara spent two years working from the Henderson campus. Her and her young whānau are now based in her hometown Ōtautahi and she spends her days teaching from the Christchurch campus. Zara loves animals, dabbles in plant propagation, the occasional novel, enjoys a coffee she didn’t make herself and food with a view. She’s married to Rev'd Matt and is a proud girl mum to Piper and Paige.