Our Church's Stories
Crows Nest Uniting Church was formed in 1977 when the Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches in Australia united. So its heritage goes back beyond 1977 to the mid 1880s when both the Holtermann Street Methodist Church and North St Leonards Presbyterian Church were established in what is now known as Crows Nest. (The area from Milsons Point to the present St Leonards was known as St Leonards.) Holtermann Street is also the "heir" to the St Leonards (i.e. North Sydney) Methodist Church which was responsible for establishing it. The march of time saw the off-shoot become the main branch in 1965.
St Leonards Methodist circuit was responsible for establishing Methodist congregations not only at Holtermann Street (1886) but also Willoughby and Gordon (1888), Mosman (1899), Cammeray (1914) and Waverton (early 1900s).
North St Leonards (Crows Nest) Presbyterians established congregations at Hornsby (1893), Chatswood (1894-95), Greenwich (1899), Gore Hill Mission, Longueville (1902), Ryde (1915), Artarmon (1922), Willoughby (1923) and Northbridge (1925). This earned for Crows Nest the title "the mother of churches".
There are links in the left margin of this page that expand this summary and provide a list of all ministers.
125th anniversary
In 2013 we celebrated the history of the church in which we now worship, from its Presbyterian origins to its place as Crows Nest Uniting Church. View/download the history here
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Sources:
A Century of Service: Walker Street Methodist Church North Sydney 1865-1965 - available as a pdf file
Uniting Church in Australia Northside Parish 1888-1988