From the Minister

From the Minister

Rev Rod Peppiatt

Hi. I’ve been a Minister of the Word in the Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) since 1995. Pilgrim is my third congregation in that time, having previously served in the Burra District Congregation (S.A.) and Hobart North (Tas). I joined Pilgrim in May 2015.

I’m married with 2 adult children who are now finding their way in the world, which delights me greatly. I’m a lifelong supporter of the North Melbourne Football Club. I like kaleidoscopes, tapirs, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Monty Python.

I have a ‘restless passion’ for the Uniting Church in Australia:

  • passion because I believe strongly in what the UCA stands for as a church of Jesus’ followers, and
  • restless to make sure that we are always open to the raw spontaneity that seems to have been Jesus’ way, in the midst of our life as a large organisation.

My approach to my ministry at Pilgrim is to grow the ministry of ALL of our people, so that together we might offer something really important to Launceston in Jesus’ name.

I express it like this: Listen….

  • Listen to our stories of faith
  • Listen to the stories of the city, the world, the church…
  • Pay attention to what we’re hearing among us and around us,
  • “… for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Jesus, Mark 1:15 and elsewhere)

Remember…

  • Who we are, and whose… Sacrament, Worship, Scripture, Study, Prayer.
  • Are we different from other community groups? How? What is our heart, identity and purpose?

Share.

  • Hospitality, generosity, sacramental living.
  • Visiting with”: practising hospitality that’s mutual, wherever it occurs. “Creating free space where relationships are made and grow, and where change might occur”. (Henri Nouwen)
  • Sharing in the life of the wider church, its missional, pastoral, and administrative life, which are interwoven.

Act. Practising faith and living worship

  • How what we do on Sunday and on the other six days come together. Maggie’s Café is one aspect of this. Another is the many things that people do to enrich the life of the community around them.