Being a Chaplain - The Revd Linda Pepper
There is something about the student world that I love...and have since I arrived at Lampeter University in 1983. I offered my whole life to Christ when I was 10 years old, trusting that He would lead and guide, show me His direction, and lead me to the vocation He had in store for me. As I went to the first Christian Union meeting of the 1983/1984 academic year, I was sure that I had found it. Let me explore a bit more.
I grew up in a context where there were few young people eager to follow Jesus, yet I believed whole-heartedly that I could not do anything else. When I found 70 other 18–21-year-olds meeting together in the Uni Social Space, I was thrilled and delighted and remember rushing to the phone box to tell Mam and Dad that I had found the very best thing to give my life too. And so began the journey that has brought me to the University and College Chaplaincy work I am engaged in today.
Working with the Christian Union Movement (UCCF) enabled me to develop gifts and skills which equipped me to work with those who are inquisitive, those who are in a place of change, those who are open to the possibility of a living faith. Going on to work in Belgium with International Students, leading successive teams of young graduates through a one-year mission program, grew and expanded my vision for this period of transition that the student life, at any age, represents.
Back in the UK by 1999 and with two small boys, my passion for the student world resolved into working part-time with CYM, engaging with children and young people through schools' work, and then beginning a discipleship training year for those who, pre or post Uni, wanted to grow in their understanding of faith and action.
My boys grew up and the student world beckoned again, this time uniting my passion for people from other nations with my love for students as I became the International Student Chaplain at the University of Essex before accepting my current role as Lead Chaplain at University of Suffolk and Suffolk New College.
I still love this 'world' I have been called to. When I began with UCCF in 1989 I was 24 years old, an 'older sister' or possible friend. Through the years I have become a 'parent figure'...and I am already 'grandparent' when it comes to the 16-year-olds at Suffolk New College. Can God still use me as Chaplain at this age? The answer is a resounding YES! I am still answering some of the same questions I have been answering for 35 years...and I am still learning new answers to new questions that come my way. I still love relating to those much younger than myself. And I love working with Staff too. Chaplaincy is a joy.