The earliest Christian visitors to the Lochwinnoch area were probably Celtic monks in the sixth century. A preaching stone has been found in the village and the names of some local farms suggest that they are on old preaching sites. The earliest documents which refer to Lochwinnoch are charters in which the lands were passed from the King to the High Steward of Scotland and then to the monks of Paisley Abbey, in the twelfth century.
Although the section of the old church at the foot of Johnshill, now referred to as Auld Simon, dates only from 1729, there were earlier buildings on that site.
Around it had grown a settlement known as the Kirktoun of Lochwinnoch, dedicated to St John, and the road name Johnshill is a reminder of these times.
In 1808, the structure of the old church was unsound and it was decided that a new, much larger building be erected in Church Street, nearer to the centre of the growing industrial village.
At the Disruption in 1843, the Rev Robert Smith, who had been Parish Minister since 1815, walked out with about 400 of his congregation to form Lochwinnoch Free Church with a building behind the Parish Church. These two congregations were reunited in 1947. To mark the bicentenary of the present building, a book, Lochwinnoch Church, 1808 to 2008 was written and is available, price £5, from the church.