The Church of the Free Port is one of several churches built with funds raised by the Society for the Construction of Small Churches in Copenhagen. The organization was founded at the initiative of Dorothea von Ripperda, a young noblewoman who learned about the severe shortage of churches in the new districts of Copenhagen at a meeting in the mission house Bethesda in 1886. She was later joined by many other young women who participated in the collection of money for the cause.