Carlynne Nunn has a dream to lead an LGBTQ-affirming church.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The new minister has been inducted into the Uniting Church's Hopkins Region placement, which includes Warrnambool, Allansford, Port Fairy and Mortlake.
She joins Reverend Malcolm Frazer, Marjorie Crothers (Pastoral Care) and Carol Sykes (All Ages Ministry coordinator).
Raised in a Christian family, Reverend Nunn's father was a minister in Queensland until she was aged 13.
She moved to Melbourne in 2007 and went through phases in her early 20s when she questioned her faith "as a lot of Christians do".
"You question everything and disassemble and reassemble. I did that a couple of times but I still stuck around in some way or another and then I ended up in the Uniting Church because I started in Brunswick and they were just cool," Reverend Nunn said.
"I met people there and realised they were just normal human beings and that is what led me to start thinking about taking the church as an institution seriously, in the idea of what it can actually do and help create.
"I realised there was so much possibility for the church to be really helpful, connective and inspiring. That's the sort of stuff I started seeing when I was working at Brunswick and I knew it was something I wanted to be part of eventually."
Reverend Nunn started as a community outreach worker, working in the Brunswick drop-in centre where people went for a toasted sandwich, a cup of coffee and some company.
She was ordained in 2019 in a "big, beautiful service" surrounded by friends.
The minister started her first placement in the small town of Buninyong, south of Ballarat, before moving to Melbourne University and now Warrnambool, where she lives with her dog Joan - a Maremma/Blue Heeler cross.
Reverend Nunn said she was ready for a change when she spotted the city's placement profile.
"It's a bit like a dating app. You have a profile and the churches have a profile and the committee tries to match it up like a matchmaker," she said.
"I was constantly searching the profiles. I found this one and thought it looked like an interesting place."
The minister said she was attracted to the banners donning the old brick church on Koroit Street.
On Thursday, July 25, 2024, they read "love is love", "kindness is everything", " black lives matter" and "women are owed equity".
"If they are saying those things I knew it was probably an interesting place to work, so I decided to try," Reverend Nunn said.
"It was a long process of meeting with the church a couple of times and then they wanted to call me, so they called me."
Reverend Nunn said her first two-and-a-half weeks had been great so far, and she'd love to live here for a while.
"I think it takes a while to get to know a community, both in terms of the church and the wider area, so I'd love to really sink into the community here and get to know it," she said.
"I also have a dream of the church being a celebration and refuge for LGBTQ folks.
"A lot of churches don't have the conversation and might assume everyone is welcome but without having that conversation, a queer person can't walk into a church and feel safe.
"I hoped when I first saw this church that it had done that work and if it wasn't quite there yet, they were willing to do that work."