One Church, Two Church Centres, Three Hubs – an e.x.p.a.n.d.i.n.g approach to Worship

Join our services:

  • Craigsbank Church – 19 Craigs Bank, Edinburgh EH12 8HD, 10.30am, on the first and third Sunday of the month. Directions
  • East Craigs Church Centre – 29 Bughtlin Market, East Craigs, Edinburgh EH12 8XP, 10.30am, on the second and fourth Sunday of the month. Directions
  • Forest Church – out in the wilds – at Cammo estate. Directions – occasional.
  • Cafe Church – an informal approach to worship over coffee and croissants, any fifth Sunday of a month, Craigsbank halls, 10.30am.
  • You can also watch a reflection from our service online every Sunday morning on YouTube

As part of the restructuring of the Church of Scotland we are currently in discussion with the Old Parish Church in Corstorphine and look forward to working more closely with them in the future. This is an exciting and positive moment for both Churches.

Forward is our direction of travel.

Where Life is celebrated, Love is affirmed, Grief and Joy are shared.

Church of Scotland

Craigsbank Parish Church is part of the Church of Scotland family of churches. You can read more about this organisation – one of the biggest in the country with some 330,000 members – on their website.

Read more about our faith here.

Craigsbank is at a point of change. Our minister – Rev Alan Childs – was appointed late in 2019, just before the Covid pandemic hit the world. Together – while cherishing our history – we are working not only to reinvigorate church services but to increase our presence in the community and online. This is a chance to be a part of something new. Let’s change the story together.

Rev Alan Childs:

We are only human because of the relationships we are a part of

An ancient African saying

This saying reflects the core principle that Alan Childs holds dear. In his life and ministry he focuses on facilitating more and healthier relationships, because he believes this is at the heart of God’s being.

Alan has a range of ministry experience: ministering to students in a mega-church in South Africa; managing a multi-programme charity focused on community development and poverty alleviation; and planting a parish church in Dunfermline, Fife. Alan and his family were welcomed to Craigsbank Parish just before Covid struck.

At home on the cricket field or cycling the length of Hadrian’s Wall, his interests also include the health of the ecology, ancient history and student development.

Alan is serving the community as pastor to the parish and minister to the congregation. Looking to the future, along with the leadership of the congregation, he is facilitating forest church gatherings in the Cammo estate, nurturing the use of Craigsbank church centre as a performing arts facility, researching the possible upgrading of East Craigs church centre to include a community café, and looking onto pioneering a new ministry in the western expansion of Edinburgh

John Patterson:

John is our superb music director and through his work he inspires and uplifts the congregation (and beyond) every week. He brings music to the congregation through services, concerts, evenings of reflection, our singers, children’s groups and even via his phone in the open air of forest church. He splits his time between Craigsbank and The Manor School of Ballet where he is music director and admin manager.

Church Adminstrator

Our Church Administrator is Sarah Keith. Her office hours are:

Mon & Tue 9.00am to 12.00pm at East Craigs
Thu & Fri 9.00am to 12.00pm at Craigsbank


Pastoral care

Pastoral Care, 24/7, is at the heart of the work undertaken in Craigsbank Parish. The Minister, supported by Elders and District Visitors, offers regular Pastoral Care to all church members ­– especially at times of vulnerability and during the recent pandemic. Church members feeling lonely or isolated can reach out to those on the team who can offer friendship and extra support.

‘The regular cards and occasional visits from Craigsbank were appreciated by the family even when mum’s dementia meant that she could no longer take pleasure in them herself. It meant a great deal to know that she had not been forgotten’

Want to know a little more about our history?

A church is not a building, it is the people who make it. However, we do have two buildings in which we regularly worship and which sit at the heart of our community. Here’s a little more about them:

The parish of Corstorphine Craigsbank was established in 1937, in a then (as now) rapidly developing area of Edinburgh.

A hall-church was erected at that time and the present formal church followed in 1966 (building work having been halted during the war years). The interior of the church owes its style to ‘the church on the hillside’ – the old Covenanting Conventicle – and was regarded as a highly original concept. The great feature is its openness and its focus on the pulpit at its centre.

The buildings at Craigsbank have been adapted to allow for less-able persons although the number of steps within the sanctuary limits full accessibility.

In November 2002, Craigsbank Church including its Halls, was recognised by Historic Scotland a ‘A building of special architectural and historic interest and listed Category A‘.

East Craigs Church Centre was established in 1984 to cater for the expansion of residential housing in the wider parish. In 2015-7 the area immediately surrounding the centre was repurposed introducing new housing and a new parking area for the centre.

Forest Church –from time to time, we cross the door and take our worship outside to Cammo Estate. This is a chance to raise our voices in praise in the glorious nature that surrounds us.

During all of these years there have only been five ministers, one community minister and one associate minister, each inspirational in their own way:

  • Rev Graham Little, 1937–51;
  • Rev James Donald, 1951–71;
  • Rev George Grubb, 1971–2001;
  • Rev Robert Kerr (Community Minister), 1980–1983;
  • Rev Ann Inglis (Associate Minister), 1986–2001;
  • Rev Stewart Macpherson, 2003–2018;
  • Rev Alan Childs, 2019–present