The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Inchture woman Lorna Tunstall is “thrilled” after being ordained a minister via video link, and ready to take on her first parish in Sutherland.
ORDAINED: New minister, 53, will be taking over two parishes for the first time in the far north of Scotland
A former Tayside communications manager is to be ordained a minister and take over her own congregation for the first time, at the age of 53.
Lorna Tunstall, who lives in Inchture, has been appointed as the minister to lead two Church of Scotland groups in the Highlands after returning to college to study theology in 2016.
She will be ordained via video conference tomorrow before taking on her new role at the Clyne and Kildonan and Loth Helmsdale churches in Sutherland.
Lorna was inspired by her minister at Inchture, the Rev Dr Marjory MacLean, to begin leading worship ceremonies in 2012 which eventually saw her return to education at New College in Edinburgh.
She said: “Marjory recruited Dr Alison Jack from New College as our assistant minister at Inchture where I
am a member and she trained three of us up to lead worship.
“Dundee Presbytery eventually gave us permission to lead worship on our own. Marjory and Alison saw something in me that they thought should be developed and I was sent to a Vocations Training conference in 2014 which is the first step to becoming a minister.”
During her studies Lorna undertook a placement at Letham St Mark’s Church in Perth and spent her 15-month probation at Barnhill St Margaret’s Parish Church in Broughty Ferry.
Having graduated from her studies last year, she was “thrilled” to have been unanimously chosen by members of her new parishes to be their full-time spiritual leader.
She said: “I am overjoyed and thrilled and terrified in equal measure.
“I couldn’t have been made to feel more welcome by the congregations.
“I am very pastoral in my ministry and love being part of a community, and want people to know that the doors are open for everybody.
“I am looking forward to walking alongside people and putting the church back into the heart of the community and the community back in the heart of the church.”
Lorna and her husband Mark will now move to Brora when she takes up her new role.
Sometimes life takes you in unexpected paths and Lorna Tunstall is living proof of that. The former communications manager is about to be ordained as a Church of Scotland minister and is preparing to leave her home in the Carse of Gowrie in order to join her new congregations in the far north of Scotland.
The 53-year-old admits to being thrilled and terrified but she has also shown determination and a dedication to the community that will stand her in good stead wherever she goes.