Worship and Life Events

Kilsyth & District Parish Church  is a new congregation created in 2026 following the union of Kilsyth Burns and Old, Kilsyth Anderson, Twechar and Banton congregations. We are part of  Glasgow Presbytery of the Church of Scotland.  

We meet on a Sunday morning at 11am for worship at 1 Kingston Road, Kilsyth, G65 0HR.

The Church of Scotland believes in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and proclaims Jesus Christ crucified, risen, and glorified. It receives the Word of God, which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as its supreme rule of faith and life.

Since 1647, the principal subordinate standard of the Church of Scotland has been the Westminster Confession of Faith which was more recently joined by other historic and contemporary statements of faith to form the Church of Scotland's Book of Confessions (opens as a pdf).  

The parish is in vacancy at the moment but our long standing and much loved locum Rev Kenneth D MacLeod (known as KD) from the Isle of Lewis conducts worship most Sundays.

Kenneth was born and grew up on the island of Lewis; on leaving school he began working for the family grocery business. However, after ten years, and following a conversion experience and call to serve the Lord Jesus, he returned to full time education, eventually graduating in 1987. 

Having completed his probationary period with Rev. Roderick Morrison at Stornoway High Church, he was called in 1989 to be minister of Bernera on the West side of Lewis and after ten years there, moved to Easter Ross, having received a call from the vacant charge of Invergordon. There he and his wife Kathleen were blessed with the birth of three children: David, Mairi and Ruth. 

He is well known for his love of Gaelic and frequently led the Gaelic monthly services in Dingwall and hosted the BBC Alba Gaelic Watch Night service. 

With retirement in November 2019 came a move to the central belt with a plan to take a six month sabbatical before embarking on providing Sunday supply or doing locum work. However, Covid soon put a stop to that idea. The old saying, ‘If you want to make God smile, tell Him your plans’ is so true.

It was suggested to our Interim Moderator at the time that KD was willing to take on the mantel of locum minister in a vacant charge not too far from his home and he has been here ever since.  

It is expected that the new joint church will be able to call a full time minister in due course.

A letter from Graeme Barrie, interim moderator of KDPC.

First of all, please allow me to briefly introduce myself - I am Graeme Barrie, an elder (and Session Clerk) of Easterhouse Parish Church in the east end of Glasgow. I am a member of Glasgow Presbytery and have been appointed by Presbytery to moderate/chair any meetings of Kilsyth & District Kirk Session, the Congregation, and when time arrives, to guide the nominating committee as it seeks to discern who the first minister of the congregation will be and until his/her induction.

I am aware, as I have been through the process of union in my own church and about to commence the process of linking with another congregation due to the retirement of our minister, of the upset, upheaval, uncertainty, sadness, frustration, and all the other emotions experienced when "losing" two church identities and creating a new church community and identity.

As we work together to create our united community, it is easy to talk about what the church should do. It is harder to remember that we are the church. There is no mysterious group of people somewhere else who are supposed to create the community for us.

The church becomes Loving as its people practice love; Welcoming as its people welcome; Generous as its people give; Deep as its people pursue maturity; Faithful as its people remain faithful. At some point the community we are looking for will require the contribution we have been withholding.

Many people will know that Burns & Old is a listed building within category "B" which means that no fixtures can be removed (eg pulpit, pews, stained glass etc). However, I can share the news that we can now remove the War Memorial plaque and War Memorial windows and have them installed within Kilsyth & District Parish Church. The Kirk Session will now need to consult with the General Trustees as to exactly where they will be installed, and ensure that the replacement window in B&O matches and is in the same style as the remaining windows. Whilst I am sure that this will be appreciated by many of you, I do wish to highlight that there will be some disruption whilst the installation work takes place, and that once this particular work is completed, it takes us another step closer to putting the building on the property market.

With every blessing,

Graeme Barrie

(Interim Moderator)