[1] The church was established on 16 April 1924 by the Schmutzer family, who owned a sugar factory in the area.

It is built on 2.5 hectares (6.2 acres) of land and in addition to the church has a parking lot, temple (candi), residence for pastors, and other maintenance buildings.

[2] The main church building is a joglo and is decorated with 600 square metres (6,500 sq ft) of traditional Javanese carvings, including parallelograms known as wajikan and wooden pineapples.

[6] The land on which Ganjuran Church is now located was once part of a sugar factory, run by the Dutch brothers Joseph and Julius Schmutzer.

van Driessch, a member of the Society of Jesus who had taught at Xaverius College in Muntilan, began giving sermons and working to establish a Catholic community in the area.

[6] Three years later the congregation began construction of a 10-metre (33 ft) tall Hindu-styled temple (candi), resembling the one at Prambanan Temple;[7][11] Iko set statues of Mary and Jesus as Javanese royalty and teachers, which were adorned with batik motives.

During the Indonesian National Revolution the sugar factory was razed, but the schools, church, and hospital survived.

[3] Activities at the church include regular Mass, economic programmes, and celebrations of special events.