In the early 1980s, Lover's Lane United Methodist Church conducted a research project to determine which demographic in the Dallas area had the greatest unmet needs for service. They discovered that homeless, runaway and at-risk youth, especially in the Oak Cliff area, had the greatest need for help in all of Dallas. As a result, LLUMC devoted their energy to this underserved population: they bought a large blue house in Oak Cliff, and in 1984, Promise House was born.

The agency began as a 16-bed emergency shelter for youth in crisis. However, in 1996 the visionary leadership of Promise House broke ground on a new building, which allowed for a drastic expansion in the services offered. The emergency youth shelter moved into the new building in early 1997, leaving the original blue house vacant. With the space for additional residential programming now available, the Wesley Inn Program was created, allowing homeless teen mothers and mothers-to-be a place to learn to raise their children. Additional residential programs and non-residential, community-based programs were added over the years to come. Today, Promise House is an independent 501(c)(3) organization encompassing nine major programs.