The Alpha course is an evangelistic course which seeks to introduce the basics of the Christian faith through a series of talks and discussions. It is described by its organisers as "an opportunity to explore the meaning of life". Alpha courses are run in churches, homes, workplaces, prisons, universities and a wide variety of other locations. The course began in Britain and is run around the world by various Christian denominations.
South Kensington is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the railways in the late 19th century and the opening and naming of local tube stations. The area has many museums and cultural landmarks with a high number of visitors, such as the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Adjacent affluent centres such as Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Kensington, have been considered as some of the most exclusive real estate in the world.
Nicholas Glyn Paul Gumbel, known as Nicky Gumbel, is an English Anglican priest and author in the evangelical and charismatic traditions. He is known as the developer of the Alpha Course, a basic introduction to Christianity supported by churches of many Christian traditions. He was Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton in the Diocese of London, Church of England from 2005 to 2022.
Holy Trinity Brompton with St Paul's, Onslow Square and St Augustine's, South Kensington, often referred to simply as HTB, is an Anglican church in London, England. The church consists of six sites: HTB Brompton Road, HTB Onslow Square, HTB Queen's Gate, HTB Courtfield Gardens, as well as being the home of the St Paul's Theological Centre and the Alpha Course, HTB St. Francis Dalgarno Way, and St Luke's Earls Court St Luke's Church Redcliffe Gardens. It is where the Alpha Course was first developed and is one of the most influential churches in the Church of England.
Timothy David Llewelyn Hughes is a British worship leader, singer, songwriter, and Anglican priest. Formerly the director of worship at Holy Trinity Brompton, a large Anglican church in central London, he has since been ordained as a minister in the Church of England and appointed Vicar of St Luke's, Gas Street Birmingham. He leads Worship Central, an international worship training and resource centre. Hughes has written a number of songs that are sung worldwide, including the Dove Award-winning "Here I Am to Worship", "Happy Day", "Beautiful One", "Jesus Saves", "At Your Name", and "The Way".
Brompton, sometimes called Old Brompton, survives in name as a ward in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. Until the latter half of the 19th century it was a scattered village made up mostly of market gardens in the county of Middlesex. It lay south-east of the village of Kensington, abutting the parish of St Margaret's, Westminster at the hamlet of Knightsbridge to the north-east, with Little Chelsea to the south. It was bisected by the Fulham Turnpike, the main road westward out of London to the ancient parish of Fulham and on to Putney and Surrey. It saw its first parish church, Holy Trinity Brompton, only in 1829. Today the village has been comprehensively eclipsed by segmentation due principally to railway development culminating in London Underground lines, and its imposition of station names, including Knightsbridge, South Kensington and Gloucester Road as the names of stops during accelerated urbanisation, but lacking any cogent reference to local history and usage or distinctions from neighbouring settlements.
John Alexander Kirkpatrick Millar, known as Sandy Millar, is a retired Anglican bishop who, on 27 November 2005, was consecrated in Kampala as an assistant bishop in the Province of Uganda, in a joint initiative of Henry Luke Orombi, Archbishop of Uganda; Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury; and Richard Chartres, Bishop of London. He was subsequently licensed at St Paul's Cathedral, London, on 9 February 2006 to act as an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of London. He thereafter served as priest-in-charge of St Mark's, Tollington Park in North London until 2 February 2011 when he retired.
Martyn Layzell is a British worship leader and Anglican clergyman. Since 2020, he has been Vicar of St Mark's, Battersea Rise, a Church of England church in London. He is also a worship leader and has regularly led worship at major Christian events including Soul Survivor and New Wine. He features on several live albums from those events both as a singer and a songwriter. He has produced three studio albums, Reward; in collaboration with Tim Hughes, and Lost in Wonder and Turn my Face, with Lost in Wonder winning Christian Booksellers Convention Worship Album of the Year 2004.
St Paul's Theological Centre (SPTC) is a British centre for theological learning, based at Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) in South Kensington, London. It is led by its principal, the Reverend Russell Winfield.
William Railton (1800–77) was an English architect, best known as the designer of Nelson's Column. He was based in London, with offices at 12 Regent Street for much of his career.
Onslow Square is a garden square in South Kensington, London, England.
St Gabriel's, Cricklewood, is an Anglican church in Cricklewood, Brent, London, United Kingdom.
St Luke's Kentish Town is an active Church of England parish church on Oseney Crescent in Kentish Town, North London, closed from 1991 to 2011 and now hosting a Holy Trinity Brompton church plant. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building,
Roger Matthew Combes is a retired Archdeacon of Horsham.
St Jude's Church, Courtfield Gardens, Kensington, London, was designed by architects George Godwin and Henry Godwin, and built between 1867 and 1870; the tower and spire were constructed in 1879. It was built on the northern portion of Captain Robert Gunter's estate. The project was overseen by Reverend J. A. Aston, and financed by John Derby Allcroft, a wealthy glove manufacturer. The construction, not including the tower, pulpit, font and organ cost £11,300, and was undertaken by Myers & Sons.
St Augustine's, Queen's Gate, is a Grade II* listed Anglican church in Queen's Gate, Brompton, London, England. The church was built in 1865, and the architect was William Butterfield.
Richard Charles "Ric" Thorpe is a British Church of England bishop and an expert in church planting. Since September 2015, he has been the Bishop of Islington, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of London, and the "bishop for church plants". From 2005 to 2015, he led St Paul's Church, Shadwell, first as priest-in-charge and from 2010 as rector. From 2012 to 2015, he was the Bishop of London's Adviser for Church Planting. From 2015, he leads Centre for Church Multiplication.
Nicholas Knyvett Lee is an English Anglican priest and author. He served as associate vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton in the Diocese of London. With his wife, Sila, he founded the organisation Relationship Central, an umbrella organisation for The Marriage Course, The Marriage Preparation Course, The Parenting Children Course and The Parenting Teenagers Course. As of 2016, 7,000 separate courses were running in 127 countries, in 46 different languages.
The HTB network consists of churches planted by Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) or by HTB plants themselves. As such, it is a network of Anglican churches within the Church of England and the Church in Wales that are linked back to HTB.
Mary Constance Elphinstone Wemyss was an English novelist who published her work under the name of Mrs George Wemyss.
