diff --git a/spring-cloud-stream/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/stream/binding/MessageConverterConfigurer.java b/spring-cloud-stream/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/stream/binding/MessageConverterConfigurer.java
index a08a04681..d9355de8f 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-stream/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/stream/binding/MessageConverterConfigurer.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-stream/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/stream/binding/MessageConverterConfigurer.java
@@ -163,9 +163,7 @@ public class MessageConverterConfigurer
 			}
 			else {
 				if (environment != null && environment.containsProperty("spring.cloud.stream.rabbit.bindings." + channelName + ".producer.routing-key-expression")) {
-					FunctionCatalog catalog = this.beanFactory.getBean(FunctionCatalog.class);
-					FunctionInvocationWrapper function = catalog.lookup(this.streamFunctionProperties.getDefinition());
-					function.setSkipOutputConversion(true);
+					this.setSkipOutputConversionIfNecessary();
 					functional = false;
 				}
 				if (!functional) {
@@ -175,6 +173,16 @@ public class MessageConverterConfigurer
 		}
 	}
 
+	private void setSkipOutputConversionIfNecessary() {
+		FunctionCatalog catalog = this.beanFactory.getBean(FunctionCatalog.class);
+		if (catalog != null) {
+			FunctionInvocationWrapper function = catalog.lookup(this.streamFunctionProperties.getDefinition());
+			if (function != null) {
+				function.setSkipOutputConversion(true);
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	private boolean isNativeEncodingNotSet(ProducerProperties producerProperties,
 			ConsumerProperties consumerProperties, boolean input) {
 		if (input) {