Our history

Greyfriars Parish Church was formed in 1993 when the former congregations of St. Kentigerns and Cairns were united. The first ministers of Greyfriars were Catherine and David Collins, who served the congregations for over 13 years. In March 2007 the congregation welcomed Rev. Bryan Kerr as the new minister to lead Greyfriars.

Both Cairns and St. Kentigerns had become part of the Church of Scotland in 1929 having formerly been United Free Churches, and both could trace their origins back to the various splits in the Scottish Churches during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Cairns United Free Church had itself been a union in 1918 between the Bloomgate United Free Church and Greyfriars United Free Church, both of which had formerly been United Presbyterian Churches and, before that, Relief Churches.

St. Kentigerns, on the other hand, was the original Free Church of Scotland established at the Disruption of 1843, when many ministers and congregations left the established church over the issue of patronage (the right of landowners to appoint the parish minister regardless of the wishes of the congregation).