Our Story 

The earliest records show that the church, then known as ‘The Gospel Hall’ was established prior to 1876. Subsequently the church changed its name several times from The Gospel Hall to Riverside Gospel Church and latterly Home Church, Scotland.

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Whilst the church’s origins are unclear it is a matter of historical record that the well-known American evangelist Dwight L Moody visited Scotland in 1872 and 1874. During that time many thousands of people became Christians leading to the strengthening of existing churches and the formation of new ones. His visits included holding evangelistic meetings in Kirkintilloch.

 

Arising out of the new spiritual awareness brought about by Moody’s meetings it is entirely possible that The Gospel Hall was formed either as a result of his meetings or was impacted by them.

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For approximately 100 years The Gospel Hall was variously located at Eastside, Luggiebank Road and Townhead prior to moving in 1992 to its new purpose built facilities at Lammermoor Road when the name Riverside was adopted. It is an independent evangelical church having its roots in the Open Brethren movement.

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The church has always sought to serve the community by providing spiritual, practical and material help. Regular Sunday services were held along with activities for children and young people in addition to mid-week activities including Bible studies, teaching, missionary support and supporting people in the community with special needs. Other weekly activities included a coffee afternoon, a parent and toddlers group, Alpha courses, ‘Teen Challenge’ a support provision for those with substance abuse problems and drop-in facilities for prayer.

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In the post war years a Tuesday night ‘Children’s Meeting’ was commenced. It ran for approximately 40 years and at its height 400 children would attend each week. For the most part it was held at Hillhead Primary School, later transferring to the community centre in Meiklehill Road. Another popular event was a twice yearly Senior Citizen’s Night held between the 1970’s and early 2000’s. Upwards of 100 ‘seniors’ would attend the regular half-yearly Saturday night events. In 1991 the ‘Ant Hill Club’, a children’s annual holiday club, began. It established itself as an annual event and ran for more than 25 years during July each year, based at Oxgang School.

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Rumours abounded that in the early 1970’s that the Townhead premises would be swept away by a new road scheme for town. It created a stimulus to develop plans for relocating the church elsewhere in the town. As Kirkintilloch developed in the 1960’s a vision of the church was to establish a new ministry in the Hillhead/Harestanes areas of the town. The vision developed eventually into plans to relocate The Gospel Hall from Townhead to a new location at the junction of Lammermoor Road and Redbrae Road. The new building was constructed in 1991/92