The first regular Methodist preaching to take place in Lerwick was in the early 1820s, when local Methodists led by the Rev Samuel Dunn rented rooms in the town. The local congregation purchase a site on Mounthooly Street in 1823 and they opened their first chapel there the following year. As their numbers grew, they eventually purchased the site in Hillhead Street in 1870 and the current church there opened in August 1872

Built in a “Byzantine style” by its Liverpool-based architect William Paslow, the church was located on a raised position on the juncture between Lerwick’s older and emerging Victorian new town. It was specially designed to house a large school room beneath a commodious sanctuary that was fitted out to comfortably seat 500. The new church was named in memory of the Rev Adam Clarke, a prominent theologian and three time President of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference who greatly encouraged the development of Methodism in Shetland.

The sanctuary possesses a stained glass window in memory of William Goudie, a Shetlander designated President of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference in 1922, who died before taking office. Following substantial storm damage in 1992, the building underwent major refurbishment, reopening in March 1994.