our story

Here's a little bit about our church's short history. Our journey began in the summer of 1998 in a small flat in Edinburgh's city centre. Angie and I were newly wed and had just moved to the city with a vision to start a contemporary Church in the heart of Scotland's capital.

Having outgrown the flat we moved our meetings into a local school, where the Church grew to about 60 people. At the beginning of 2004 we purchased our first property in Edinburgh, an old cinema in Leith (north Edinburgh). During 2004 the weekly church attendance grew through the 100 mark and in 2005 through the 200 mark. Now 10 years on we have over 400 people on a Sunday spread over our three packed services. To help us accommodate for this growth we reconstructed the balcony in summer 2006, giving us an additional 80 seats upstairs.

We are at an exciting stage of our adventure right now, having just moved into our second building, in Gorgie, on the opposite side of the city. Another old cinema, the venue when fully refurbished will seat 750-950 and we believe that it will prove to be a fantastic blessing in that area of the city.

At a time where church attendance in Edinburgh is dropping rapidly we see Scotland and Europe as our mission field. A recent report showed that 11.2% of the population of Scotland attended church on the average Sunday in 2002. The Church of Scotland declined 22% between 1994 and 2002. Roman Catholic attendance declined 19% in the same period. Between them these denominations account for three-quarters of all Scottish churchgoers. If present trends continue, the percentage of the population attending church on Sunday will drop to 8.7% by 2010 and 6.8% by 2020.

see: Scottish Christian Census

At Destiny Church we have a big vision for the future. We believe that the church has a vital role in introducing our generation to God and also in shaping the Scotland of tomorrow.

We are living our dreams, why not come and join us?

Best wishes,

Peter Anderson

Senior Pastor

Check out Peter's article describing our growth in The Journal , the Edinburgh student newspaper.