All Saints' Garrison Church was the first rural church to be built in Canterbury and the fifteenth church to be built in the province. Before this church was constructed, local Anglican services were held in houses and woolsheds. Richard Bethel, a local landowner, donated the land for the church and churchyard in November 1863. The church was designed by the Reverend H. W. Harper, the first curate of the parish of Waimakariri and Burnham. The church opened on 17 April 1864 and was consecrated two years later on All Saints' Day by Bishop Henry John Chitty Harper (1804? - 1893).

The 1870s was a time of growth for the surrounding district, and seven other Anglican churches were built within a ten mile radius of All Saints'. As a consequence, attendance there declined. In 1901 the Church offered the building to the Burnham Industrial School on the condition that it continued to be used as a church. The school accepted the offer and the church was moved to its current site, reopening on 5 November 1903. At this time the building was extended, reroofed and repainted, a contemporary newspaper article stating that all the work had been undertaken by the boys at the Industrial School under the supervision of the instructor in carpentry.

When the Industrial School closed in 1918, the Department of Defence acquired the Burnham grounds and buildings. The church officially became the 'Garrison Church' in July 1923. Since the Second World War other denominations besides the Anglicans have held services there and it continues to be used for worship today.

All Saints' Garrison Church is significant as the first rural Anglican church to be built in Canterbury, and because of its continued use as a church for over a century, albeit by various denominations. Its continuing association with the New Zealand Army and its stained glass memorial windows are also notable.