St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church served its Ophir congregation from 1897-2009. The small Gothic Church sits on the main street of this small settlement that is recognised for its historic values.

From the 1860s, Presbyterians worshipped in the Blacks Schoolhouse. As early as 1890, parishioners talked about their desire for a church in the town. The minister Reverend Mr Gellie and his parishioners rallied round the call for a permanent place of worship in Ophir. They formed a building committee in 1895. Plans and specifications were drawn up and fundraising began. The Otago Witness reported that the building was to be opened on 14 March 1897.

Early photographs show a simple weather board church with a small single gabled porch, and a slightly larger vestry to the rear. A belfry is mounted on the front gable end of the nave. There are three evenly spaced Lancet windows down the length of the nave. The interior of the nave is match-lined with tongue and groove timber. The roof trusses are scissor trusses. The doors are heavy timber with diagonal timbers. The porch is also match-lined. The vestry, a later addition, is lined with board and batten.

The church facilities developed in the 1930s. Reverend Alexander Don, a prominent Presbyterian missionary and minister retired to Ophir in 1926 and agitated for the addition of a vestry. In 1931 the vestry was built on the rear of the building and was also used as a Sunday School. After 1931, the church was stuccoed and the belfry and finial detailing removed.

St Andrew’s later became part of the Alexandra Clyde Lauder Union Parish, a union of Presbyterian, Methodist and Church of Christ denominations. In May 2009 the congregation met to consider whether St Andrew’s Church should be closed and sold. The Otago Foundation Board of Property sold St Andrew’s in 2009. In 2012 the owners have opened the building as a collectibles shop.

The St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (Former) represents the history of Presbyterianism in small rural Otago townships. The history of the Church in Ophir contributes to the story of the importance of Christianity to settlers and represents the efforts of the Presbyterian community. More than fulfilling the religious needs of the local community, the Church also represents the religious requirements of Presbyterian congregation at the close of the nineteenth century.