Its early days are very much associated with its founder, Price Hughes, a strong supporter of Britain's temperance movement.
The mission has been instrumental in teaching Methodism, and providing a spiritual and physical base from which such notable Methodists as Lord Soper worked.
Upon Lord Soper’s retirement the Mission moved its base to its current home at Hinde Street Methodist Church in Marylebone, from where it runs a number of specialist social care ministries.
Hughes wanted to tackle the poverty in the West End of London and to challenge the rich: both expressions of the Christian Gospel he preached.
A distillation of these is that it works with the socially and economically disadvantaged in West London, concentrating currently on people who are homeless, young, misusing alcohol or drugs and/or in trouble with the law.