New Presbyterian pastor finding a home in Orange

New Presbyterian pastor Angus Gibb is excited by the prospect of making a home for his family here in Orange.

Arriving in town for the first time last month, with his wife and three small children, Angus was not wholly unfamiliar with the Colour City.

“My one exposure to Orange was on the ABC’s Escape from the City; they did a special on Orange and both Steph and I thought at the time that Orange looks like a great place to live,” said Angus.

“That was late 2018 and even through that we started to fall in love with the idea of being in Orange. And then it happened that we got the phone call from the church to consider the position of a second pastor here to work alongside Rob McKean and we thought great!”

Angus was born and raised in country Tasmania in the small town of Scottdale, an hour northeast of Launceston. After finishing school, Angus studied history at university in Launceston, but felt a call to the church.

“My original degree was Arts majoring in history and Aboriginal studies and during that time I had begun wrestling with the idea of what it meant to live out my faith and how I can seek to serve God's Church,” he said.

“And really, I just kept coming back to the whole idea of being a pastor in full time ministry. I tried various other things, but I always sort of came back to the idea that I think this is really where I want to be. I was thinking about pursuing postgraduate study in history or getting into public relations, but all those opportunities seemed to peter out and opportunities for doing stuff in the church kept opening up.”

Angus moved to Sydney to undertake his theological studies and after graduating in 2017 was posted to a small church in Tumut.

“I really enjoyed being in a small country town again; the town I grew up in was very similar to Tumut and also my wife Stephanie is from the Riverina so it was nice to be back in that region,” said Angus, who has found Orange similarly welcoming.

“It is nice walking around the place and, as we are slowly finding out where things are, it feels like home,” he said.

“And, particularly, we've really appreciated the warmth of people in Orange… not just in our church, but the people you meet down the street or talk to in the shops or our neighbours. We have just been really blown away by the great community spirit here.

“We'd love to be able to really settle here and be able to invest deeply in the community and really get to know and love and support this place.”