ST THOMAS’ PARISH, TOOWONG

A member of The Anglican Church of Australia in the Diocese of Brisbane, established in 1870.

Welcome to the Community of the Anglican Church of St Thomas the Apostle

Christian Ministry at St Thomas' Toowong

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers … And day by day the Lord added to they number those who were being saved.”

                                                                                                                                                                      (Acts 2: 42 & 47)

The life of the early Christian community in Jerusalem is centred around these aspects of the Christian life; the apostles’ teachings, fellowship, worship and prayer.  At St Thomas' we are building our model of Christian Ministry on these foundations.

1.       Teaching what was handed down by the Apostles, those who had lived and worked with Jesus during his earthly ministry.

2.       Fellowship: sharing a common life under the leadership of Christ.  The word translated as fellowship means to 'participate' in the life of the community.  Our fellowship is a spiritual bond in Christ.

3.       Eucharist: the breaking of the bread was observed in their homes and is a distinctive feature of early Christian worship.  Although it often involved a full meal, the breaking of the bread is terminology for the Eucharist.  The distinctive practice in the early Jerusalem community was a 'day by day' partaking with 'glad and generous hearts'.

4.       Prayer: the other spiritual practice listed is prayer, this was done both in the home and in the temple.

5.       Called into fellowship: the result of faithful observance was that God called other into the fellowship of the Church.  The young Church found favour with both God and the community in Jerusalem.

In developing our parish Ministry Plan we have a number of strategies to develop further these areas of ministry.  To these we have added the dimension of service within the community and a concern for social justice issues.

Our prayer is that St Thomas' will continue to find favour with God and our local community, and we believe that God will call others into our fellowship.

Tom Sullivan

Rector

We have a Sunday School, a Prayer Fellowship , and a Family Service at 9.30am. 

Please click on these links to see more details, or visit their pages on the side menu.

COME AND JOIN US FOR WORSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP!

 THE CHURCH OF ST THOMAS THE APOSTLE

1877-2010

A Short History of the Church

1865 – Services began in Toowong and at a meeting of laymen on 6 May it was decided to build a church.

1866 – The first St Thomas’ Church was built in Curlew Street, Toowong.

1870 – St Thomas’ Parish, Toowong separated from All Saints’ Parish, Wickham Terrace.  The first incumbent was the Reverend Robert Creyke.

1875 – The present site (at that time an area of 1.25 acres) on the corner of High and Jephson Streets was purchased.

1877 – The foundation stone of the Church of St Thomas the Apostle was laid by the Bishop of Brisbane, Matthew Blagden Hale, on the  17 February; the Rector then was Benjamin Glennie.  The first part of the present church was completed and consecrated in October of that year.

1888 – An extension of two bays of the nave (to the present sanctuary arch) was completed.

1948 – As a War Memorial the vestries were completed, replacing the wooden structures.  This completed the church as we see it today.