As a child, Pastor Charissa Suli dreamed of becoming a beautician.
“I wanted people to feel good about themselves… get their nails done. That was actually the first thing I wanted to do,” she told SBS News.
“But looking back now, I think God wanted me to focus on the inside. It’s not about the outside.”
Suli’s life has taken a different turn. Next week she will become the new spiritual leader of the Uniting Church.
The 41-year-old second-generation Tongan migrant is the first person of colour, and the youngest, to lead Australia’s third-largest Christian denomination, with 670,000 members.
When she announced Suli as president-elect, Uniting Church minister Sharon Hollis celebrated the “historic moment”.
“You (Charissa) are the youngest person ever elected and you are the first person of color. We rejoice for you in this election, for what it means to you, for your family, and for the church.”
Breaking Through ‘Shame’ and ‘Judgement’: ‘It Didn’t Stop Me’
Suli’s journey so far has been a winding road.
She says she became pregnant at age 16 and experienced the “shame” of teenage motherhood.
“I saw the judgment, not just from the church, not just from the family, but from the wider society. It was almost unimaginable to see a young person walking down the street with a little belly,” she said.
“I felt the judgment right away.”
Suli married her partner Langi before the baby was born and the couple had three children.
She credits him and her mother, Liekina Vaka Kamisese, with supporting her through a “dark and lonely place.”
Pastor Charissa Suli with her husband Langi, mother Liekina Vaka Kamisese and children. Source: Delivered
But the stigma returned years later, when she felt her calling to the ministry.
“The story of me as a teenage mother came back. People often said, ‘You can’t be a pastor. That’s your husband’s job. You’re a woman.’
“I brought shame on my family, shame on the culture, by getting pregnant out of wedlock and as a teenager, but it didn’t stop me.”
Suli will be installed as president of the Uniting Church on July 11, where she will serve until 2027.
Her appointment as the first person of colour to lead the Uniting Church follows other progressive steps the church has taken in recent years.
The Uniting Church was the first of the three major Christian denominations in Australia .
The church was also part of who supported the Indigenous Voice’s failed referendum to Parliament last year.
Faith and Pasifika Heritage: ‘Never a moment when you reject someone’
Suli says her faith is influenced by her Pasifika heritage.
“Growing up as a young Tongan woman in a Pacific community, there was never a time when I would turn someone away, even if they showed up at your doorstep unexpectedly and uninvited,” she said.
“We always want to be part of a community.”
She says she hopes the voices of people on the margins will become stronger.
“The way Jesus connected with people, he connected with people on the fringes of society, he connected with women and nameless women.
“I think it also brings humility when you listen to the different voices, and it also helps me to see my privileged position.”
The number of Australians who identify as Christian has been steadily declining since the 1970s, according to figures from the 2021 census from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
According to Suli, migrant communities, especially those from the Pacific region, are often different from the rest because religious beliefs are passed down through generations.
‘Giving young people a voice’
However, she acknowledges that the church must pay attention to issues that concern young people, such as mental health and domestic violence.
“What does it look like to educate and view cultural diversity as leadership qualities and to give young people a voice?” she asked.
“We see domestic [and] domestic violence as a big deal. So what would it look like if the church started talking about healthy relationships with a boyfriend and girlfriend or with your husband and wife?”
“[Young people] “We’re just trying to find a space where we can have an open dialogue and not be judged.”
Suli is convinced that the church she belongs to “supports young people”.
“They’re affirming our queer communities and our immigrant communities. But then what’s the next step? What’s the next step in being in relationship with our First Nations [people]?”
‘I see her as a role model’
Her eldest daughter, Susitina Suli, 25, says she is proud of her mother.
“I see her as a role model for young women coming up. I see her as a role model for people of color, I see her as a role model for people who are afraid to speak up or tell their truth.”
Sione Hehepoto is a second-generation member of the Tongan National Conference, a youth organization of the Uniting Church.
He says Suli’s appointment is a powerful example of what is possible.
“It’s incredibly inspiring. You don’t see it very often. You don’t see it at all, that someone who looks like me is standing there in positions of great influence,” he said.
“I see myself there and that gives me courage.”
Reverend Charissa Suli with daughter Susitina Suli and second generation member Sione Hehepoto. Source: Delivered / Michael Zewdie
More than 300 years after Christian missionaries settled in the South Pacific, more than 90 percent of the population identifies as Christian.
Brian Alofaituli is a senior lecturer in Pacific Cultural Heritage and Religion at the National University of Samoa and holds a PhD in Pacific History.
He says the embrace of Christianity has influenced the human rights and climate change movements in the Pacific, but it has also sometimes excluded important cultural beliefs.
In recent decades, there has been more room for these kinds of beliefs.
“We are seeing over the last 30 years the … renaissance of indigenous existence and the revaluation and appreciation of systems and knowledge systems that were devalued by missionaries and even indigenous peoples becoming part of the clergy and even chiefdoms, if you want to call it that,” he said.
For Suli, faith is a broad church that embraces her Tongan roots.
“We are a community that loves to eat, to break bread together and also to bring joy and color. Color in the sense of hearing that diversity, but also of what we see in our young people and our children.”
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