Alpha

Nicky Gumbel

Nicky Gumbel is Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, a Church of England church in central London. He has been married to Pippa for over twenty years and has three children.

Nicky practised as a barrister for six years, from 1977 to 1983, before training for ordination at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He joined Holy Trinity Brompton as curate to Sandy Millar in 1986 and took over the running of their Alpha course in 1990. In 1996 the Bishop of London appointed him as an Alpha Chaplain.

He speaks regularly at national and international Alpha conferences and is the author of several books including Questions of Life, which has sold over one million copies around the world.

Sandy Millar

The Rt. Rev'd John Alexander Kirkpatrick Millar (Sandy) practised for 10 years as a barrister before being ordained into the Church of England in 1976. He joined the staff of Holy Trinity Brompton as curate in 1976, becoming Vicar in 1985. He was Chelsea Area Dean from 1989-1994. He was installed as a Prebendary of St. Paul's Cathedral (Pancratius) in 1997. In October 2003, in a unique initiative for the Church of England, he was inducted into the additional role of Priest-in-Charge of the north London parish of St. Mark Tollington Park. After 20 years as Vicar of HTB, he stood down in July 2005 and moved to St. Mark Tollington Park to devote more time to his role at that church.

On 27th November 2005, he was consecrated in Uganda as an Assistant Bishop in the Province of Uganda, in a joint initiative of the Archbishop of Uganda, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London. In February 2006 he was licensed to act as an assistant Bishop in the Diocese of London at a major service led by the Bishop of London in St Paul's Cathedral. He now divides his time between his role as priest-in-charge of St Mark's Tollington Park and his role in the London diocese.

He is married to Annette and they have four children and two grandchildren.

Jamie Haith

Jamie Haith is an ordained Anglican minister on the staff of Holy Trinity Brompton. He has been involved with Alpha, both at home and abroad, for more than 14 years and is now the director of studentalpha, as well as heading up the HTB Student programme.

Jamie has been married to Andy for 8 years and they have two young daughters, Abby and Thea.

Having joined the staff of HTB in 1992 as assistant to Nicky Gumbel, Jamie remains involved in the running and development of the Alpha course at HTB: training teams, leading small groups, and teaching and leading worship on courses and conferences. As well as this, he is involved with the growth of the community of students at Holy Trinity Brompton.

Paul Cowley

Paul Cowley was born in Manchester in 1955. At the age of 15 he was expelled from school, lived on the streets for a short while and then moved into a life of crime. This led to a prison sentence and, upon release, Paul joined the Army, throwing himself into his army career for the next 15 years. During this time he was involved in six tours in Northern Ireland, two in the Falklands and was attached to Special Forces. He left the army in 1991, at the rank of Sergeant, after serving in the Army Physical Training Corps. His career continued in the work of fitness training where he ran two fitness centres in London.

Paul became a Christian after doing an Alpha course at Holy Trinity Brompton in 1994. He became involved in prison ministry as a volunteer in December 1996 and then in July 1997, due to an increased demand for the Alpha course, he joined the staff at Holy Trinity Brompton as Staff Pastor for Prisons. The same year an office was set up to develop a strategy and move the work forward. This later included developing the charity Caring for Ex-Offenders which aims to reintegrate ex-offenders back into society upon their release.

In 2002 Paul discovered that Alpha was being run in the Armed Forces and in May 2003 Alpha for Forces was launched to help support and encourage the use of the Alpha course in the Armed Forces.

Paul is Executive Director of Alpha for Prisons, Caring for Ex-Offenders and Alpha for Forces. He and his team support and co-ordinate the growth and organisation of these ministries across the country and increasingly around the world. In addition Paul also heads up the various areas of Social Transformation that Holy Trinity Brompton is involved in.

Paul is married to Amanda and has two children, Clinton (aged 28) and Phoebe (aged 8). In June 2002 Paul was ordained by the Church of England after completing a three year degree course at Oakhill Theological College.