The first Anglican services were held in Croydon in the year 1878 in a small weatherboard building at the corner of Croydon and Whitehorse Roads. The first recorded meeting of parishioners was on 5 August 1896 when “there were only five persons present due to the inclemency of the weather”. The parish at that time was a part of the Ringwood Parochial District.
The population of the area increased steadily, and the railway line was extended to Croydon in 1900. A new church was built in Croydon Road opposite Surrey Road, and dedicated on 29 August 1906 by the Archbishop of Melbourne, Henry Lowther Clarke.
In 1920 the Parochial District of Croydon was established. It was soon realized that a larger and more centrally located church was necessary, and the present site was bought in 1922. The Croydon Road church building was moved to the new site in October 1922.
After protracted fund-raising activities, a start was made on the building of the present church. (Described in newspaper article Turning the Sod ) The church was dedicated by Archbishop Frank Woods on 21 December 1957.
List of Vicars of St John the Divine Croydon
1920 – 1929 Athenry John Whyte
1929 – 1931 Charles Hudson
1931 – 1933 George Alfred Morphett Cerutty
1933 – 1946 Harvey Langford Ebbs
1946 – 1947 Thomas Russell Hope Clarke
1947 – 1958 Christopher Nutter Thomas
1958 – 1961 E R Walkerdon
1961 – 1965 Arthur de Quetteville Robin
1965 – 1977 Peter Ralph Monie (Archdeacon)
1977 – 1985 Alan John Baxter
1986 – 1994 David Graeme Wood
1994 – 2002 Stephen Reginald Williams
2003 – 2007 William ‘Bill’ James Ray
2007 – 2012 Timothy Maxwell Gibson
2013 – 2016 Jahnese ‘Jan’ Kay St James
2018 – 2023 John Kelsey Webster