The beginning of church services and a school dates back to the early 1860s. By that date there were quite a few Scottish settlers east of Springton. The Shearers had arrived from the Orkney Islands in 1852. Also Peter and Janet Miller and family who had at first lived at Mt. Crawford, bought land at South Rhine. A school was conducted in Mr Dowden’s barn, a quarter of a mile down the creek from the present building.

A meeting of residents resolved to erect a building that could serve as a school and chapel. Peter Miller gave the land. The school was built in 1864, with two rooms attached for a dwelling and an outside room for cooking. These rooms with their flagstone floors and the [later] added iron roof are still in good order today. The building was opened with a tea meeting on 19th November 1864. The School functioned only for a few years, but the building continued to be used for church services.

By the 1880s the school room was found to be too small and inconvenient for the needs of the church congregation. A meeting in January 1882 resolved to erect a new and larger building to be open to all Christian denominations with Presbyterians to have preference. The church was constructed that year at a cost of one hundred and fifty pounds and ten pence. In 1909 a porch door was added and in 1932 the vestry was built for the jubilee year. Alterations were also made to the choir platform and a new pulpit added.

For many years the church Choir was a key feature of the services with a level of interest andn commitment unique for such a small congregation. Floss Miller organist for a record 66 years (1910 – 1976) played for several generations of choir members. When children have been a part of the congregation, Sunday School has been conducted in the former school building. This was well attended particularly in the early years.

For many years South Rhine and Mt Pleasant Presbyterian Churches were a combined parish with the minister living in the manse in Mt Pleasant. In 1965 the churches joined with the Keyneton and Eden Valley Congregational Churches in a united parish. In 1977, South Rhine Church became a congregation of the Uniting Church within the Barossa Parish. Later it joined the Murray Plains and Hills Parish. In more recent years the congregation declined as people left the district and a general decline in church attendance. Late in 2008 it was decided to close.