St Michael's Uniting Church, Melbourne

St Michael's Uniting Church , Melbourne
St Michael's Uniting Church, Melbourne
Location	Corner of Collins Street and Russell Street, Melbourne
Country	Australia
Denomination	Uniting Church in Australia
Website	stmichaels.org.au
History
Founded	1839
Dedicated	1867
Architecture
Architect(s)	Joseph Reed
Architectural type	Uniting Church
Style	Lombardic
Years built	1866-1867
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)	Rev Ric Holland

Corner of Collins Street and

St Michael’s Uniting Church is a church in Collins Street in central Melbourne, Australia. Originally the Collins Street Independent Church, a Congregational Union of Australia church, and later Collins Street Uniting Church, St Michael's has become well known as a centre of liberal theology and political radicalism under its outspoken minister, Rev Ric Holland, currently the church's executive minister. The church became a congregation of the Uniting Church in Australia at its inception in 1977.

Rev Ric Holland commenced the post of Executive Minister at St Michael's Uniting Church in Melbourne, on the 1st of February 2017. For the vast majority of his ministry, Rev Holland has worked in the field of Social Justice and has been CEO of many large organisations both in the United Kingdom and Australia. Rev Holland asserts that despite all the top CEO positions he has held, he remains “one of John Wesley’s preachers”. During his first month at the helm of the church, Rev Holland announced his intention to encourage St Michael’s to be “a loud voice in the field of social justice, including, mental health and marriage equality”.

Rev Holland became a Uniting Church Minister in 1989 when he transferred from the British Methodist Church. He was later appointed the Director of Communications at the Uniting Church of Australia in 1990.

He has also worked as the Chief Executive Officer at the Lort Smith Animal Hospital and Parkinson’s Victoria. He also has a history of work with Comic Relief Australia, the Uniting Church in Australia, the National Marriage Guidance Council/Relate UK, Nottingham Council of Social Service and Community Service Volunteers, Scotland.

The first church on this site was built in 1839, one of the first churches in the Port Phillip District (now the state of Victoria). The original church was demolished in 1866 to make way for the larger church now on the site. The church was designed by Joseph Reed, who also designed the Melbourne Town Hall and the Royal Exhibition Building. The church is classified by the National Trust of Australia. It was variously known as the Independent Church and the Congregational Church before it was given its present name.