Robert Kemble, a young Minister, returned to London in the early 1980’s  following several years living in communities in the Global South. 

When he returned, he grew severely frustrated with the way churches were keeping thousands of people at arms-length. They were often new  to  London and the UK, they needed a place to reunite, form new communities, and express their faith and religion. 

Many of the people he had studied with before his travels had left the church and started to work with newly arrived people outside religious institutions.

Robert spent years trying to fundraise to create a new home for these communities, but all the doors he knocked  on were firmly shut. 

Meanwhile, he joined his fellow former students in their work with London’s new residents. 

When his father passed away, he used his inheritance to buy a 10-bedroom terraced house, 12 Goodge Place, in Central London. In Robert Kemble’s own words, “it was in a completely derelict state… I expect to start work on it myself this January [1981], hoping to attract the help of others to put it into a condition fit for people to use”.

But, Robert Kemble died on 16 May 1981. Fearing the worst during his illness, he had drafted a will where he left his possessions, including 12 Goodge Place, to a Trust that would act “as a focus for those concerned with the disadvantaged in inner cities”.

He had great ambitions for the trust – in his vision, it would also act as an international catalyst  bringing together people, ideas, and knowledge “of the need of world-wide communities”. 

He also envisaged that communities in London “would hopefully be drawn to it as a place of fellowship, informal meeting, prayer and work […]”.

The Trust was formally established on 6 June 1983. 

That was the day that Praxis was born - under its first name of Robert Kemble Trust.