The Emmanuel congregation was founded as the Cambridge 'Great Meeting' in 1687, at Hog Hill, the original building being there, on what is now the Old Music School in Downing Place.

[4] The old chapel was put to use from 1881 as the Balfour Biological Laboratory for Women, for female science students in the University of Cambridge.

In the years leading up to the merger, Emmanuel organised regular Sunday worship and a programme of community activities in the recent past: a volunteer-staffed fairtrade cafe, a series of lunchtime music recitals and a share in Hope Cambridge's Churches Homeless Project.

[1] The St Columba’s site has been extensively renovated as part of a £3.3 million project led by Archangel Architects.

The Emmanuel building was sold to Pembroke College, Cambridge across the road in Trumpington Street, who intended to retain it as a lecture and performance area as part of their Mill Lane redevelopment.

The final service in the Emmanuel building took place on 26 July 2020 and all church activities at Trumpington Street have ceased.

Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson, biblical scholars sometimes known as the "Westminster sisters" attended St Columba's[31] and are commemorated by a plaque.