When he was 16, Flynn decided that he wanted to become a Presbyterian minister and study theology (religion) at the University of Melbourne. In 1911, he finished his training for the Presbyterian ministry and was officially ordained into the Presbyterian Church. He went to live and work in the Australian Outback, where many people had little access to medical care because they lived so far from large cities, doctors, and hospitals. In 1912, he created the Australian Inland Mission, which gave medical, spiritual, and other care to people in the Outback. 