Stonnington Community Uniting Church
Explore Spiritual Understanding and Growth
- 57-59 Burke Rd., East Malvern (corner Coppin Street)
- 54 Serrell St., East Malvern
A Community of Faith in the Heart of East Malvern
The Stonnington Community Uniting Church is a safe place for all people. Visitors and members, regardless of race, creed, gender, cultural background, or sexual orientation are welcome. However you would like to be part of our community, there is a place for you here.
Acknowledgement: We gather on the sacred lands of the BoonWurrung and Wurundjeri people, who have been its custodians for thousands of years
Sunday Services
Our Sunday morning services are relaxed and inclusive. We incorporate traditional and contemporary music. We draw on the words of the old and new testaments of the Bible as well other thought-provoking and inspirational writings, artworks and the influence of the natural world.
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Special Interest Groups
A number of Groups meet in the comfortable facilities adjacent to the main church. These include the Afternoon Fellowship, the Common Threads, the Library Book Chatters and the Something for the Spirit Group. The church encourages expressions of the Uniting Church values across a range of applications
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Church Facilities
Behind the conservative facade, the Stonnington Community Uniting Church has highly usable and versatile facilities. The main church can be configured in majestic or intimate layouts. The adjoining hall, meeting rooms and renovated kitchen are truly functional.
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Upcoming Events
Fellowship Opportunity Table
Cafe Catch-Up
Christmas Carols Service
Christmas Day Service
We are part of the Community
And the Community is part of Us
We are a Christian Community committed to following the way of Jesus rather than following religious dogma.
Stonnington Community is:
- a listening Church
- a helping Church
- a learning Church
We come from many walks of life, we have had different and similar experiences, we are singles, we are couples, we are children, we are adults. Some of us like dogs, some of us like cats. We have different faith beliefs. We come together in Christian Fellowship.
We are here to stay
Our Christian origins go back over 2000 years
Our East Malvern origins go back to 1886
Our congregation started when Rev John Ewing, the Presbyterian Minister of the Toorak Church began to visit the area, and to hold services in the homes of several of his parishioners. The church has had many ups and downs through the 1890’s Depression, World War 1, the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression of the 1930’s, World War 2 and more.
There have been relocations, building programs, amalgamations, ebbs and flows. Families have thrived, young people have moved to outer Melbourne, friends and strangers have returned. Amazing ministers have guided our community while lay persons have served tirelessly in the evolution of the Church.
We have emerged from COVID times with constant and renewed committment to a Christian ethic. If you are visiting us for the first time, a return visitor or a long-time member of the congregation, we hope you find us and this place a nurturing and renewing experience. From 1886 to 2025, we are here and we are here to stay.
Tomorrow could start today
You may have driven past The Stonnington Community Uniting Church 1000 times. Going to work, dropping the children off at school, or on your way to visit your mum. Perhaps you have walked past the church with your dog, on the way to Central Park, the Newsagent or even that nice coffee place near the corner.
Have you ever wondered what happens on the inside. Have you made assumptions based on the red-brick facade? Maybe this Sunday would be a good day to wander in for Sunday Morning Service? Why not? You will be welcomed, no strings!
Contact Us for a Church Tour
Our Services & Groups
Eucharist & Community Lunch
1st Sunday of the Month
Sunday Church Services
Structured but not old fashioned
Coffee Catch-up
An informal catch up chat in a local cafe
Afternoon Fellowship
Share an afternoon of information and purpose
Common Threads
Where creativity and Christianity converge
Library and the Book Chat
This is for the book-lovers
Something for the Spirit
Making sense of the original Christian message in the 21st Century
Our Team
The Ordained Minister
Rev John Power is our new Minister of the Word.
Church Council
Comprised of Elders and elected Councillors
Office Manager
Jane is our amazing Office Manager
What our Parishioners Say
What do I value in church services?
Quiet fellowship, learning, listening and reflecting (not necessarily opening up to others about my thoughts), the music.
What parts of the wider life at Stonnington Community Uniting Church do I enjoy?
The community and fellowship
Do you have questions?
What’s Happening?
New Language, New Connections – Try Chinese!
New Language, New Connections - Try Chinese! Why not expand your horizons by attempting to learn a new language, with a trained teacher! Unlock the world of Chinese language and culture with Chinese language classes offered by Stonnington Community Uniting Church in...
“You Are the Christ” — A Reflection of Peter
I did not know what moved within me then— a wind, a light, a trembling in the soul— when I looked on your face and saw more than a man, and words not my own rose like fire: “You are the Christ.” Not title, not triumph, not crown— but something vast, ancient, tender—...
Healing
God is at the loom, unseen, weaving threads of quiet spirit through bone and breath, through sorrow and song, through the aching of flesh and the hidden trembling of the mind. A cut closes without our asking, scar tissue sealing the wound as though heaven had leaned...
Communion in a Living Cosmos
The bread will be broken, and in its breaking the whole of nature speaks— wheat from the field, sunlight stored in grain, rainfall, soil, and farmer’s hands, all threads in God’s great tapestry. The cup will be lifted, and in its crimson depth we taste the vine’s long...
Introduction to John Bottomley’s Sermon on our Colonial Past
Introduction to John Bottomley’s Sermon on our Colonial Past Rev John Bottomley provided a sermon to a Springvale congregation in April 2025, titled Confessing our Church’s Colonial Captivity. John Bottomley has a long and impressive life of Ministry in the Methodist...
Confessing our Church’s Colonial Captivity
Confessing our Church’s Colonial Captivity A sermon by Rev. John Bottomley Phillippians 2: 5-11 Passion Sunday 13 April 2025 Springvale Uniting Church Francis Ormond (1829-1889) arrived in the Victorian colony in 1840 aged 11 years old. At age 25, he took over his...
Introducing Panpsychism and God
Panpsychism and God: Discovering a Living Universe Panpsychism suggests consciousness is not a late product of evolution but present throughout reality. From atoms to galaxies, all things carry experience. This vision transforms how we see both the cosmos and God—not...
Awake my soul
Awake my Soul My soul has slept too long in small rooms, dreaming of walls. But dawn is breaking — not only on the horizon, but in me. Awake, my soul. For life is not a circle that closes— it is a river, a spiral, a widening dance. I rise. The stars are burning. The...
Finding Awe and Wonder in the Stages of Faith
Rediscovering a Childlike Spirit in an Adult Stage of Faith There's a strange paradox in the spiritual life - grown-up religion can learn much from the faith of children. Children possess a natural openness to mystery, embracing what they hear from trusted adults with...
Leaving behind the lonely mind
Leaving Behind the Lonely Mind For centuries, people have carried around two very different versions of loneliness. In the Christian imagination, before the Big Bang God is pictured as a great solitary mind, sitting alone in eternity, waiting for company. In the...