Rev Prof Kylie Crabbe brings a wealth of experience to the role of Pilgrim Theological College Head of College.
By Andrew Humphries
In one sense, it felt like a homecoming for Rev Prof Kylie Crabbe when she took up the position of Pilgrim Theological College’s Head of College last month.
The appointment feels, she says, like a good fit for where she is in her vocational life.
It’s certainly a good fit for the college, which is getting a leader with a seriously good track record in many areas.
The cliché, these days, is to suggest that someone ticks a few boxes when it comes to sport, employment or whatever their role might be.
With Kylie, it’s more a case of running out of boxes to tick.
From studying and teaching at Oxford University and then the Australian Catholic University, to a stint in ministry in Melbourne’s inner suburb of Armadale, Kylie has a wealth of experience to draw on as she takes up the reins at Pilgrim.
In announcing her appointment last year, equipping Leadership for Mission (eLM) Executive Director, Duncan Macleod, said Pilgrim was appointing someone with “considerable experience in teaching, research, academic leadership, management and administration in higher education”.
“Kylie has demonstrated skills in building a team of colleagues, nurturing capacity in teaching, research and formation for ministry,” Duncan said.
As a child of the Uniting Church, Kylie is delighted to be returning to its theological college in Melbourne in a full-time capacity, and excited about what lies ahead.
“It genuinely does feel like a good fit, and it’s wonderful to be returning full-time to a role within the Uniting Church,” she says.
“I’ve worked in lots of ecumenical settings before, but there is something particularly special about working within your own tradition.”
While a double degree in Arts and Theology after leaving school gave Kylie a solid grounding for what was to follow, it was a placement with the Order of St Stephen that really shaped a long-standing interest in the lived experience of faith and questions of discipleship.
Introduced in the 1950s by the Methodist Church, and continued through the Uniting Church from 1977, the Order of St Stephen provided opportunities for those taking part to undertake 12 months of intentional service to the Church and the world.
Kylie Crabbe is looking forward to working with faculty members at Pilgrim committed to broadening students’ theological education.
During her placement, Kylie explored the lives of people living in intentional Christian communities, some on the fringes of institutional church organisations.
“Sometimes these communities would be made up of people from a range of different Christian traditions and our task was to support these people in their communities and also to help the Church learn from them,” Kylie says.
“It was wonderful meeting people who really took their faith very seriously, and who were doing great work in terms of shared worship, prayer, spirituality and social justice.”
In 2004, Kylie became a candidate for Minister of the Word but then tragedy struck in 2005, with the death of her husband in a car accident in the Northern Territory, just a day after she had been approved to take up ministry in a congregation.
Understandably, Kylie took some time away to grieve, before returning to finish her candidacy and take up a role as congregational minister at Armadale Uniting Church.
She was able to combine ministry with teaching at both the United Faculty of Theology and Australian Catholic University, before discerning a call to broaden her education through doctoral work at Oxford University.
Kylie studied and lectured at Oxford before returning to Australia, and the Australian Catholic University in 2017.
She says she is taking on the role as Head of College at what is an exciting time for Pilgrim, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year.
“I’m excited about a lot of the things that are happening at Pilgrim, and really excited about the way that the faculty there engages in thinking contextually about theology,” Kylie says.
“There are wonderful people among the faculty at Pilgrim and I’m really looking forward to being able to support them to flourish in a variety of ways.
“I’m also excited about engaging with the student population, including candidates for ministry, people who are engaging in private study, those who are just dipping their toe in the water around theology and people who are engaging first and foremost from the perspective of their own discipleship.
“I’m interested in the ways in which Pilgrim is able to support all of that.”
“Theological education is an invitation into deeper engagement and reflection,” says Kylie Crabbe.
As she steps into the role, Kylie hopes to continue a strong tradition of learning at Pilgrim that focuses on encouraging all students to flourish in their theological education.
“When I reflect on what Pilgrim can offer, I recall speaking at a valedictory service there a few years ago on the raising of Lazarus in John’s Gospel,” she says.
“Jesus raises Lazarus, calls him out of the tomb and tells the people there to unbind him and let him go.
“Jesus does the work of raising him, but the community is instructed to play their part too, releasing him so he can go on his way.
“The story resonates with me because I see theological education at its best as liberation; the instruction Jesus gives to the crowd to unbind Lazarus leads me to the hope that our deeper learning in theology will free us and others to be more fully God’s people in the world.
Kylie says part of her philosophy around formation is to discern the best environment for God to continue to do the creative work that God is already doing within that person.
“God is already at work in the lives of everyone who comes to Pilgrim and our job is to provide the environment and resources to allow them to flourish within that,” she says.
“I think it’s also important to point out that theological education shouldn’t be seen as some sort of rarefied undertaking that is only available to certain people.
“It’s something that can support the discipleship of all of us, including people in their daily life, those working in secular contexts and people working in church agencies and schools.
“In my experience, including in times of terrible grief like the death of my husband, right through to other experiences with people in congregational life as their minister, there is something deeply important about engaging with, and having opportunities to reflect upon, the life of faith and the sustaining grace of God.
“Theological education is an invitation into deeper engagement and reflection, learning from faithful people across the globe and across time, from the biblical writers to First Nations theologians, from those who have engaged in radical reform of church and world to those who honed their faith in domestic settings, and much more.
“I’m honoured to lead Pilgrim as we continue to invite people into theological education and formation for ministry and discipleship.”
