Whether you are searching for a local church community or investigating the Christian faith for the first time, on this page you’ll find a snapshot of everything you need to know about the Church, the leadership team, what we believe and how you can get involved.

The Sunday Service is the main event at New Life Church Battersea. It’s where our diverse community gathers to focus on Jesus and his good news – the gospel. All are welcome!  

What can you expect?

Each Sunday we worship Jesus through song and praise, Bible readings and prayer. We also focus our time listening to a message preached from God’s word, where we expect God to meet us and change our lives through his living word! After the service we catch up over teas and coffees, and on the first Sunday of each month enjoy a big cooked community lunch together. All dished up by some of the best cooks known to Battersea!

What is there for children? 

Children are part of the family here, so are welcome in all of our services. Midway through a Sunday gathering, they’ll head out to a separate room for some age-appropriate teaching and fun. There’s also a room upstairs for nursing mums and babies, where the service is able to be listened to. 

God’s word is central to all we do in church life. We preach expository messages from the Bible each Sunday, and love to help each other read and understand God’s message of hope and help in it through the week. 

You can explore our archive of recent sermons, including full audio and video, as well as articles and blogs here: 

Following what is now a 200 year tradition in our little corner of Battersea, we offer a range of activities aiming to support families, children, the elderly, and those in need.

At New Life Battersea we believe in Jesus, and we take him at his word. We want everything in church life to be a tangible expression of our four core values:

1. GOSPEL: Everything centers on the good news of Jesus. We’re a messy bunch, and could never work our way into God’s good books. But we’ve come to believe the best news in the world – that Jesus loved us and died for on the cross for us, paying for our forgiveness and reconciling us to God, and rose again to give us forever hope.

ONE PEOPLE: London can be a lonely place, but in Jesus we are united into one beautifully diverse community full of people from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds, cultures, ages, and worldviews.

ON MISSION: We love Battersea! So want to be a church flowing out to our locality with love and good deeds, and to share the message of hope we’ve found in Jesus. 

DEPENDENT IN PRAYER: Life can be hard. We can feel so powerless. So it’s wonderful to be able to rely on our heavenly Father in prayer to provide for us, change our lives, and comfort us with his presence.

Summarising various topics across the whole Bible, our core beliefs can be broken down into these central doctrines, which are taken from our Co-Mission network’s statement of faith:

God – The Holy Trinity: There is only one God, who exists eternally in three distinct but equal persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is the almighty Creator, Saviour, and Judge, sovereign over all things.

The Bible: Every word was inspired by God through human authors. The Bible alone speaks with final authority and is always sufficient for all matters of belief and practice.

The Human Race: All men and women are created in the image of God and have inherent and equal dignity and worth. Every person is under the just condemnation of sin and needs to be reborn, justified, and reconciled to God in Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ: Fully God and fully man. On the cross he died in the place of sinners, bearing God’s punishment for their sin. He rose bodily from the dead, broke the power of death, and ascended into heaven.

Salvation: Entirely a work of God’s grace that cannot be earned or deserved. The elect are justified through faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone.

The Holy Spirit: The third Person of the Trinity. He indwells all believers, brings assurance of salvation, and gives gifts to build up the Church.

The Church: Made visible in local churches, which are congregations of believers committed to each other for the worship of God, the preaching of the Word, and the administering of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

The Future: The Lord Jesus Christ will personally and bodily return in glory. Unbelievers will be sent to eternal conscious punishment in Hell, and those who live by faith in Christ will be welcomed into eternal joy in the New Creation.

Our building sits on a rich social and spiritual history starting over 150 years ago with Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. Known as the “Poor Man’s Earl,” he established the Shaftesbury Society to set up missions in areas of extreme social need.

For generations, our local community knew our church simply as “The Mish” (The Shaftesbury Mission). In 1964, the Welcome Mission Centre opened at 2 Austin Road, situated between the Doddington and Battersea Park estates to serve as a lighthouse of Christian care.

A new era began in September 2023. The Shaftesbury Christian Centre underwent a “grafting” relaunch, partnering with the Co-Mission network to form New Life Church Battersea. Our logo has changed, but our vision to share the hope of Christ with our neighbours remains the same.