Reverend L. Carla R. Culmer is the second of nine children born to the late Mr. Frank Culmer and Mrs. Joyce Culmer of Savannah Sound Eleuthera. She is from a family where she was spiritually nurtured by her parents and it was reinforced by her home church, Wesley Methodist Church, Savannah Sound. It was there where she committed her heart to the Lord at the tender age of six years at a children’s meeting. Additionally, she was given opportunities to lead Sunday School, Youth Ministry and to become a Lay Preacher while still a teenager.

 

Reverend Culmer received her call to Ministry at the age of fourteen while attending the International Youth Conference held in Nassau. However, upon completing High School she went on to train as a teacher at the College of The Bahamas obtaining the Associate Degree with a Double Option in Social Studies and a Teaching Certificate. She then taught for five years; two years at Windermere High School and three years at the Rock Sound Primary School in Eleuthera.

 

Rev. Culmer candidated for the ministry in 1991 at the Synod in Rock Sound. This was the year when the Autonomy Resolution was passed. She delayed her candidature until 1992 and went to seminary as a candidate from The Bahamas Conference of The Methodist Church.

 

In 1995 she obtained the Master of Divinity Degree from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta Georgia and was the first woman ordained to the Ministry of Word Sacrament and Order in Bahamian Methodism on June 21, 1996. Her first posting as a Minister was for an eleven year period beginning September 11, 1995 to the Eastern Methodist Abaco Region. This Region is comprised of three Churches: St. James Methodist Church in Hope Town, St. Andrews Methodist Church in Dundas Town and Epworth Methodist Chapel in Cherokee Sound. In 2006, she was appointed as Minister to Grants Town Wesley Methodist Church,   Nassau. Prior to her current appointment on September 1, 2023 as the Minister to Trinity Methodist Church, Frederick Street, Nassau, she was elected beginning in September 2017 as the Sixth President of The Bahamas Conference of the Methodist Church where she served for two consecutive terms.

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Rev. Culmer has had the wonderful opportunity of being the first female Minister to every congregation where she has served. Additionally, she serves as Chaplain to the Senate and as the Third Vice President of the Bahamas Christian Council and Chaplain to the Senate.

Her life verse, Jeremiah 29:11, serves to remind her that God has a purpose for her life and that her ministry is to all persons she encounters. God has allowed her to experience growth and joy in the places where she has been privileged to serve. This knowledge has facilitated her belief in the importance of clergy and laity partnering in ministry.