The story of London City Mission is of men walking the poorest streets of London, getting their hands dirty as they reached out to people in need with the message of the Gospel and their unique brand of practical help. Rather than writing a consecutive history of London City Mission, the authors selected areas of the work and told the story of each. The story takes a different turn as it enters the 20th C. From being the capital city of an empire, London became a city at war with itself and then with others. LCM missionaries were right in among the revolutionaries.

What comes out in the story of LCM is that missionaries were men (until the late 1980s) whose hearts were full of compassion for the lost and the needy. The Mission is still looking forward to the challenge of the 21st Century LCM may be an old Mission, but it is not resting on its laurels; rather it is grappling, as it always has, with today's London, and planning for the needs of the London of tomorrow.

Irene Howat is an award-winning author who has many titles, for adults and children, to her name. She is married to a retired minister and they have a grown up family. She is also a talented artist and now stays in Ayrshire, Scotland. She especially enjoys letters from children and replies to all of them!