Penge was without a church until the building of St. John's, although a chapel had existed since 1837.

Prior to that Penge had been part of Battersea parish but for convenience the few inhabitants had used Beckenham church.

In 1848 John Dudin Brown, who had already donated land for the Waterman's Almshouses, gave a neighbouring plot in what is now High Street for the new church, which opened two years later.