Marking 190 years since the founding of London City Mission, Graham Miller, LCM Chief Executive, reflects on an ever-changing London and the unchanging nature of God’s mission.
London is magnetic. It pulls in people from all walks of life – artists, entrepreneurs, students. It was the same in 1835 when David Nasmith founded the Mission – and it’s never been truer than today.
The city is now home to nearly 10 million people – and more diverse than ever. There are almost one and a half million Muslims, half a million Hindus, and displaced people forced to leave their homes, fleeing war and persecution from Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Iran.
The result is a city like no other – an ever-changing, multi-sensory patchwork of people and cultures. “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life,” English writer Samuel Johnson said over 200 years ago. If he were to walk through the city today, he’d be even more convinced.
A beautiful, broken city
But alongside the culture and vibrancy, there’s also a weariness. In Nasmith’s day, poverty was brutal and visible. The Londoners David Nasmith and fellow missionaries went out to meet were exhausted by life. Living in horrific conditions, scourged by cholera and other diseases, with little hope of leaving the communities marked by severe deprivation.
Today, poverty is less obvious, but still pervasive. Next door to the high modern skyline and old heritage-listed buildings, are people whose everyday experience is one of rejection, helplessness and often shame. Facing daily challenges, often invisible to others – lacking resources, forced to get by from one day to the next. But it goes deeper than that.
They lack status, connections, community… options.
And, tragically, just as it was in for those living in Dickensian London, they are still the ones least likely to hear the gospel. Unlikely to have a Christians friend. Unlikely to feel comfortable stepping into a church.
Today, poverty is less obvious, but still pervasive.
It’s clear throughout the Bible that God has a heart for people on the margins – and he calls us as Christians to share good news with the poor. To bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort all who mourn. (Isaiah 61)
And so, this is where we continue to go out to – to meet people in their need and hopelessness, and to offer true hope.
In the past our missionaries would run Bible studies in pubs, visit Asian sailors at the docks, and help railway workers by sharing the gospel and drawing alongside them in times of trouble.
We are no longer setting up “ragged schools” to support children excluded from education, but now we go into schools to speak of Jesus’ hope and forgiveness in areas scourged with knife crime. We no longer have a home for Ayahs – women hired for domestic service and nannies from Asia, but we go into hostels and share the gospel with isolated families who have been forced to flee their homes.
As we did in 1835, we still go door-to-door, meeting eternal souls, listening to their stories, and bringing the precious life-giving news of Jesus.
The real story in London
In the midst of all the noise, the excitement, the colour and the pain of this hugely influential global city, sits the most significant, the most exciting reality.
The local church.
To the outside world it can look unremarkable. But it’s here, in and through the local church, that God is doing his eternal work in the city. It is the church that carries the only message that lasts forever. It is the church that Jesus is building and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
And it is the church which is called to reach out with the good news to people on the margins.
So, it is the church that we serve to fulfil its purpose – building up missional teams to go into the community around them, to build lasting connections and to share the gospel in a personal and relevant way. All so that the church might grow in number and diversity, to become more beautiful and attractive to those looking in.
Across the city, there is a bigger story that the Lord is unfolding through his church.
In a halfway house for people recovering from addiction, there is a weekly Bible study led by a local church supported by LCM. Thanks to the good relationship developed with the manager of the project, every week a missionary and a church volunteer can go to read from the Bible and share God’s character. The studies can be unpredictable. Some weeks, conversations drift wildly off-topic. But God’s word is being read. The seeds of hope are being planted.
In East London, a project helps newly arrived migrants settle into the UK well. Church volunteers offer consistent care – and through that, people glimpse the love of Jesus. Some come to faith. God is at work there too.
Hundreds of stories like these are happening across the city every week. Last year we supported church to make over 20,000 new connections with the people around them.
Magnetic church
Despite the hardship, or perhaps because of it, spiritual openness is growing. The cost-of-living crisis has driven people to seek a more profound hope. Baptisms across some London churches have reached new highs. Sometimes, God saves families through one knock on the door. Explore our YouTube channel and you’ll come across Ruby and Georgina’s story. One knock on the door, one gospel conversation, led them to church where they found Jesus. Their decision also saw Georgina’s family coming to Christ.
Young people are praying more. They’re more likely to believe in heaven and hell than their parents. The Bible Society reports that more young men from Generation Z are now going to church. They also point to increased interest in Scripture and spiritual things post-COVID.
Jesus is building his Church – across cultures and languages.
London has always been a city in transition – in the years to come it will be even more connected to the world. The 2021 census showed that over a third of Londoners were born outside the UK. More than ever, we have a glorious opportunity to reach the nations with the gospel right here on our doorstep.
We are seeing real signs of growth – especially among diaspora churches. One of the churches we work with in North London had five Iranian Christians eight years ago. Now that number has grown to 50 people who have left Islam to follow Jesus.
Jesus is building his Church – across cultures and languages.
The fields are ready for harvest!
As we give thanks for the years gone by and look to the years ahead, we are excited for what God will do through his church.
Our vision is to ignite a movement of mission in the local church.
We cannot embark on this adventure without you – your prayers, your support, your partnership in the gospel.
And yet throughout this time, there was another influence – my mentor from my youth group at church. Every week he would check in on me, even when I wasn’t coming to church. It was annoying at the time, but in a strange way, it was also an encouragement knowing he was there.
When I hit rock bottom, it was him that I called. And he said, “Why don’t you come back to church?” That was the turning point that led me to where I am today.
Unlike influencers who will pass away, Jesus is in it for the long run. And we as Christians must mirror this commitment to our young people. To be there week after week as a church. And to show all-powerful and all-loving Jesus as the only one worth following.
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This article is featured in the 2025 Spring edition of Changing London, our free magazine that shares the incredible things God is doing across London.
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