About Us

Churches Together in Balham and Tooting expresses the commitment of local churches to work together for Christian witness and serve the community.

We're made up of 19 member churches from different denominations.

Our values

ChTBT complements the work of member churches. It looks for things that can be done better by churches working together than by individual churches. It seeks to look outwards and serve the community. It helps churches support each other.

What we do

ChTBT holds a wide range of events throughout the year, as well as regular meetings to catch up and plan for the future.

Each year on Good Friday ChTBT holds a United Service in the community space out Sainsbury's in Balham to tell the story of Jesus' passion, with readings, prayers and music in different traditions. This public act of witness builds on the 40 year tradition of a Silent Procession of Witness of around 200 participants from Balham Hill via ten 'stations' to Tooting Broadway.

The processions was started in 1979 by canon Charles Walker of the RC church, but ChTBT subsequently took responsibility for organising it. The procession is no longer possible because of traffic management measures introduced in Balham High Road and Upper Tooting Road.

You can watch the 2021 virtual walk here:

Other events include:

Concerts sung by CHanTOns!, our choir drawn from member churches as a prelude to the Holy Week and Advent seasons
Social, worship and learning activities during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity each year from 18th-25th January
'Get to Know You' Coffee Mornings
Community service such as refreshment stall at the annual Balham and Tooting Community Association Fun Day

ChTBT creates strong relationships between local churches. This leads to mutual support and learning, and fosters friendships.

How we work

Meetings and events are held at regular intervals and everyone is welcome. We are led by a Leadership Group, which includes:

Chair: Kate Allan, Holy Trinity, Upper Tooting kateallan00@gmail.com

Vice Chair: Peter Wright, St Anselm’s RC Church wrightpetere@gmail.com

Treasurer: Ellen English, St Anselm’s RC Church ellenenglish@hotmail.com

History

Churches Together in Balham and Upper Tooting (ChTBUT), as it was previously known, was formally established in 1990 after several years of informal cooperation between churches. It has regularly arranged joint services for annual events in the Christian calendar, such as One World Week and the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and supports the annual World Day of Prayer.

For many years the Good Friday Silent Procession of Witness was a focal point for ChTBUT. It was started in 1979 by Canon Charles Walker of the RC church, but ChTBUT subsequently took responsibility for organising it.

ChTBUT was established in the 1990s. It is linked to Churches Together in South London and Churches Together in England the regional and national coordinating bodies.