There were fears locally that it might be sold for conversion or fall into disrepair. As the church is surrounded by a large graveyard it was considered important that locals and the wider community could continue to visit the graves .

The "Friends of St Peter’s" was set up as a charity to support the restoration and preservation of the kirk for the benefit of the community. Following an approach to national church preservation charity Historic Churches Scotland, a partnership was formed which enabled an offer to be made to the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland to acquire St Peter’s for £1. With Historic Churches Scotland assuming ownership of the building, and the Friends taking on the day-to-day running of the kirk, the future of the historic building, and public access to it, has been secured.