The Knightswood congregation (then known as Thornwood) was formed by Act of Assembly in 2001 by a union of four congregations, namely Glasgow–Briton Street, Glasgow–Partick Highland, Paisley and East Kilbride. Briton Street was itself a united charge, rooted in two Gaelic-speaking churches formed to serve the Highlanders who had come to Glasgow to work. These were Duke Street Gaelic Church, founded in 1798 within the Church of Scotland, and St. Columba Free Church, Govan, sanctioned as a pastoral charge in 1874. Partick Highland served a similar purpose in the West End and was sanctioned by the Free Church in 1924. East Kilbride was formed as a mission outreach from Govanhill Free Church in 1956 and Paisley as an outreach from Govan Free Church in 1961. The Dumbarton congregation was united with Thornwood by Act of Assembly in 2008.

Following the division in January 2000 the congregation worshipped in Thornwood Primary School. In October 2008 the congregation was given the use of the Knightswood Gospel Hall, erected by an Assembly of Christian Brethren in 1932 and vacated some weeks previously. In recognition of the new location the 2009 General Assembly agreed to change the name of the charge to Glasgow—Knightswood.

Although the huge council estate of Knightswood was only built from the late 1920s onwards the witness of the Free Church in the area extends much further back. An outreach was commenced in 1854 by Renfrew Free Church in what was then the countryside to the north-west of Glasgow, initially known as Hillhead and later as Jordanhill Free Church. The charge was sanctioned in 1855 and a church building erected in 1858, on the opposite side of Knightswood Road to the School, where the Academy Park estate now stands. Following the unions of 1900 and 1929 that congregation became Jordanhill Church of Scotland and now worships in a church on Woodend Drive.

Although many Free Church families were re-housed in Knightswood, most were happy to continue worshipping either in the relatively convenient Partick churches, or in those in the city centre, and until the present development no move had been made to plant a new Free Church witness in the area.