Our Story

Our roots go back to a Pentecostal church in the 1970s, called City Temple.

In the late ’70s, the church went through a significant period of change which resulted in a formation of an independent church called Edinburgh City Fellowship (ECF) and much of what we now take for granted was birthed in that era: an emphasis on worship and presence of God; the belief that God speaks today; concern for the marginalised and the poor; multi-voiced church; a relational and non-hierarchical approach to leadership.  In those days, this was radical!

The church grew with lots of young people and students and started planting other churches outside Edinburgh.  It was also a hub for training and teaching, with many international teachers & preachers coming to the church.

There were some more difficult points in our history, especially in 2000 when a significant disagreement among the leadership means some folks left and we changed our name to Community Church Edinburgh (CCE). These painful points in our story have positively shaped who we are now, for example in our commitment to handling differences well.

More recently, we have transitioned leadership successfully, with Colin Symes handing on team leadership to Rupert Ward in 2014 and then retiring from his remunerated service in CCE in 2020.

Our story continues to unfold, led by the Spirit and a desire to be a relevant church for our time and context, but always built on the foundations all those years ago.