Port Phillip East Presbytery is the council of the Uniting Church providing oversight of the Uniting Church in the region between Port Melbourne and Pakenham, between Toorak and Portsea, at the tip of the Mornington Peninsula.
The Presbytery is made up of 60 congregations and faith communities, with members coming from many cultural backgrounds and ages.
In one sense, the Presbytery’s members are people in ministry placements or long-term supply arrangements, and representatives chosen by their congregations. In another sense, the Presbytery represents all people who are members of Uniting Church congregations in the region.
The Presbytery is there to provide oversight of the life and mission of the Uniting Church in the region, as well as foster connections with Uniting Church agencies and schools. The Presbytery sets out to encourage people in congregations to strengthen one another’s faith, to bear one another’s burdens, and exhorting them to fulfil their high calling in Christ Jesus. It promotes those wider aspects of the work of the Church committed to it by the Synod or Assembly.
Contact Us
The Presbytery office is at 1 Allan St, Noble Park.
Telephone 03 9558 4710.
Email secretary@ucappep.org
You can download a copy of the Congregation Directory 2024, which includes key staff contacts, and a list of all our congregations.
Download the 2022/2023 annual report for Port Phillip East Presbytery.
Vision
Our vision as a movement of the Uniting Church in this region picks up the three elements of the vision outlined by the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, with the addition of a focus on building up healthy communities of faith.
As the Uniting Church in Port Phillip East
• Following Christ
• Walking together as first and second peoples
• Seeking community, compassion, and justice for all creation
• Building up healthy communities of faith
Mission Principles
We have adopted the seven mission principles developed across the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania,
as a way of honouring the many ways we share together in God’s mission in the world.
God in Christ is at mission in the world and sends the Church in the Spirit to:
1. Share the Good News of Jesus Christ
2. Nurture followers of Christ in life-giving communities of reconciliation
3. Respond in compassion to human need
4. Live justly and seek justice for all
5. Care for creation
6. Listen to each generation and culture so as to live out the Gospel in fresh ways.
7. Pursue God’s mission in partnership
Shared Values
We reflected on the flavour of church we believe God is calling us to express at this time.
Growing a culture of local mission and ministry marked by
• Healthy relationships
• Lifelong disciples
• Collaborative leaders
• Active engagement with agencies, schools and each other.
Synod’s Strategic Priorities
We also note that the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania has adopted the following three strategic priorities over the period 2016-2022.
1. Ministries which foster diverse gathered communities of renewal, Christian practice and mission
2. Culturally diverse mission and ministry
3. Mission and ministry with children, youth, their families and young people.
Our Emerging Priorities
In March 2021 we also noted that the Presbytery Standing Committee was considering strategies for advancing the Presbytery’s capacity in relation to:
• Connection with Uniting Church schools
• Connection with Uniting & Uniting Agewell
• Covenanting – First and Second Peoples
Mission Priorities
The Mission Leadership Development Committee and Presbytery Standing Committee have agreed on these priorities at this time:
1. Intercultural Ministry & Mission
2. Listening to First Peoples
3. Forming Lifelong Discipleship
4. Regional Ministry and Mission
5. New Ways of Being Faith Communities
6. Expressing Faith in Everyday Life