The origins of St. Columba’s Church are with the neighbouring Cathedral Church of St Machar, in Old Aberdeen. For many years, the Cathedral Church of St Machar had been responsible, in the eyes of the Church of Scotland, for evangelising the residential area of Bridge of Don and for pastorally caring for its inhabitants.

Services were started in a Bridge of Don primary school and a small number of church members from the Cathedral Church of St Machar began worshipping in Bridge of Don. The minister of the Cathedral Church of St Machar led a brief service in the school each Sunday prior to the morning service in his own church.

In the fullness of time the congregation grew. Thought began to be given to the possibility of erecting a church building in Bridge of Don. A number of sites were considered, including the plot of land on Ellon Road on which the Bank of Scotland is currently situated. A plot of land was purchased in Westfield Park and a church building was constructed in partnership with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen.

St. Columba’s Church is therefore unique in Scotland in that a Church of Scotland congregation and a Roman Catholic congregation are both housed within the same church complex. Although we worship separately, there are extremely friendly relations between the two churches.

In 1983 the congregation of St. Columba’s reached a milestone and was granted full status, independence, at the General Assembly of that year.

The present minister of St. Columba’s Church, Louis Kinsey, came to the church from Elgin in 1990. Early in his ministry it became clear that God was leading the congregation to establish a new church in the northern part of Bridge of Don. At that time, St. Columba’s Church ran an early Sunday morning service in a school in the northern part of Bridge of Don. This became the nucleus of a church plant that was to grow into the present Oldmachar Church of Scotland.

Graham Black was appointed at an early stage to be the Associate minister of St. Columba’s Church, with special responsibilities for leading and developing the new church plant. This he did for a number of years before handing over to his successor, Jim Ritchie. In that time, the church has grown significantly and now reaches out extremely effectively to the parish area comprising the northern segment of Bridge of Don, and beyond.