Serving generations: 160 years of children’s ministry in inner-city London

by Nick West

George James, founder of Kentish Town Ragged School

“In 1866 a Mr. George James felt called of God to start a work amongst young people commencing in a Workshop over a Cowshed in Rochester Place. It was called Kentish Town Ragged School Mission.” (Kentish Town Mission Courier)

This was the beginning of a children’s ministry in West Kentish Town that has continued uninterrupted for 160 years, in an area of inner-city London with a desperate need for the love and ministry of Jesus. An article issued around the same time helps sets the scene:

“The children who first came were barefooted and very poorly clad and the homes they lived in were bereft of any comforts whatsoever. In the first Report of the work in 1867 it was recorded that many of the fathers were in prison and others were habitual drunkards, so it can be imagined what courage, energy, patience and love were needed to deal with this type of child. A Sunday School was commenced - also a Day School (these were days before Board Schools commenced) - a Sewing Class for girls, a Women's Meeting and Soup Suppers twice a week.”

This neighbourhood has a rich history. Home to one of London’s oldest street markets, it’s also where the UK curry brand Patak’s first started out, making and selling Indian sweets and snacks, and where John Sainsbury opened the second branch of what is now the nationwide supermarket chain.

Despite that, it was also a place of high deprivation. In the 1890s, residents were described as made up of ‘many railway employés [sic], and artisans, and some shopkeepers, mixed with labourers, some of the latter in struggling poverty’ [1]. Today, many in the neighbourhood still face similar financial hardship - it was ranked amongst the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods in England (2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation), and placed in the bottom 3% for the borough of Camden (English indices of deprivation 2025). Whilst gentrification and many community initiatives have seen a downward trend in crime statistics, many of West Kentish Town’s young people are impacted by the gang activity, drug use, drug dealing and antisocial behaviour in the area.

History to present day

The ragged school moved to a railway arch in Wilkin Street in 1926, and from there to Bassett Street where, in 1932, the children’s work continued as a part of the Kentish Town Mission in Queen’s Crescent. One of the founding members of the mission was the Phillips family; Bob and Amy Philllips served as Sunday School teachers, and their daughter Ruth Phillips later followed in their footsteps, also becoming a teacher - she passed away only last year.

Filling the pews in Bassett Street: children attending the ragged school run by the Kentish Town Mission

Following the spiritual outpouring of the 60s and 70s, New Life Church, North London was born out of a group of passionate students. In the 1980s, New Life Church began to minister to children in the West Kentish Town community through what became known as the ‘J Team’, partnering with Kentish Town Evangelical Church (KTEC), the church now housed in the Bassett Street building.

For forty years, New Life organised an annual kids and youth camp in the Kent countryside called ‘Carroty Wood’. Many children from lower income families are able to attend at a low cost due to much sacrificial giving within the church, with the camp often being their sole opportunity to leave London in a year. Over 60 children attended the 38th ‘Carroty Wood’ in July 2026, learning about Running the Race for Jesus.

Generations of Sunday School Teachers: Bob and Amy (left) and daughter Ruth Phillips (left in photo right)

2021 marked a new chapter in the history of children’s ministry to Kentish Town West, when KTEC invited New Life to join with them to become one church. At the same time, a group from Revelation Church London who love the community also joined this new venture – and ‘The Church in Bassett Street’ was born and joined Relational Mission.

The coming together of three church families into one has created new opportunities and released more people to reach local children, teens and their families with the good news of Jesus – still ministering out of the same building in Bassett Street that housed the Kentish Town Mission from 1932.

Drawing in, going out

Little Gems, a parents and toddlers group launched in 2024, is one such opportunity. The church volunteers not only plan and run each session but proactively seek to form friendships with the parents who attend. They have connected with many local unchurched parents over the years, seeing some attend Alpha, start coming to services, and give their lives to Christ.

As well as welcoming children to our building, we also want to be ministering in the community. Recently, the church has been invited hold monthly assemblies in a local primary school in partnership with a ministry called Cross-Teach. We are teaching the story of the Bible to children who are mainly from other faiths, and sharing the wonderful message of the Good News of Jesus Christ with them. What a privilege!

And in December this year, around 60 children from the local school are coming to attend Christingle Services at Bassett Street Church, which is very exciting for us, and we look forward to welcoming them!

Make it Fun, Make it Spiritual

The watchword of the children’s work has always been: “Make it Fun, Make it Spiritual”. This has fuelled the vision behind the ministry activity that has affected hundreds of children over many generations. Through camps, weekly Sunday School groups and other events, generations of children and teens have been reached, many of whom have found Jesus for themselves and gone on to lead in local churches.

We have also recognised that prayer is the engine room of all the work we do. It was exciting to uncover many historical photos when New Life moved into the building in Bassett Street and discover how it had hosted many revival prayer meetings over the years. One photo we found perfectly captured the place of prayer our own present-day ministry: “Young Christian workers, do you want revival? Now is your opportunity! Come and pray for it”.

Prayer continues to be a driving force of the work today and it is exciting to see many children attending their own prayer meeting (in greater numbers than the adults prayer meeting!) often pressuring their parents to get them there (!), the children themselves lead the prayer meeting each week.

Praying teens: a ministry of all generations

Children at the Front of the Harvest

Jesus said: “Lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest…I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.” (John 4:35-38 ).

Many years ago there was a prophecy of a coming spiritual harvest – and of children being at the front of the harvest. This has never been more true than for us now, in Kentish Town. We realise we stand on the shoulders of praying servants from generations past, and today we are still blessed by faithful workers at every level of the ministry, caring for babies right through to teenagers.

We are excited by what God is doing, but we continue to pray for more labourers, because truly a great harvest is waiting for us – and children are at the front of that harvest.

[1] Life and Labour of the People in London by Charles Booth (1892)