About us

Welcome to Ascension Balham Hill

Ascension is a dynamic, creative church community, based near Clapham South tube station. There's a real mix of people and activities, but at the heart of it all is a passion to go deeper in knowing God, loving each other and serving people's needs.

A little of the story

The Church of the Ascension was built in the 1880s when the area to the south of Clapham Common was being developed. The church has been through many changes during the intervening years.

The Ascension in its present form is the product of a 1993 church graft, when around fifty members of St. Mark's Battersea Rise came to join a similar number of people who then made up the congregation at Ascension. Six years later the present vicar, Stephen Hance, was appointed.

Stephen and Jacqui Hance
Vicar and Co-Pastor

Stephen and Jacqui Hance

Stephen and Jacqui have led the team at Ascension since 1999, when they moved here from North London, together with their children Natalie, Simeon and Isaac. They are the authors of two books, In The Beginning (together) and Beyond Confirmation (Stephen alone). They love theatre, music, travel, and welcoming people into their home.