Nicky Gumbel. Photo: Alpha.org
Nicky Gumbel is vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, a prominent Anglican church in London.
He studied law at Trinity College, Cambridge and practised as a barrister from 1977-1983. In 1983, he went to Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, to read theology and to train for ordination in the Church of England. He joined Holy Trinity Brompton as curate in 1986 and took over the running of Holy Trinity Brompton's Alpha course - a practical introduction to the Christian faith - in October 1990. The course grew rapidly and attracted wide interest. The first Alpha conference was held at Holy Trinity in May 1993 and in 1996 the Bishop of London appointed Nicky as an 'Alpha Chaplain'. In 2005 he was appointed vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton in succession to Sandy Millar.
More than 11 million people have completed the Alpha course world-wide. It is now running in 163 countries. There are over 7,000 courses running in the UK and over 35,000 world-wide.
Nicky Gumbel has written a number of best selling books. Questions of Life - the Alpha course in book form - was published in 1993 and is the Alpha course syllabus in book format. It was declared ‘Christian Book of the Year 1994' at the Christian Booksellers' Convention and has sold more than a million copies world-wide.
Nicky speaks regularly at national and international conferences. He is married to Pippa. They live in central London and have three children, Henry, Jonathan and Rebecca
Nicky is one of Tearfund's Vice Presidents. He says:
'Poverty and inequality now exist on an unprecedented scale in world history. Tearfund’s passion for overcoming global poverty by working through local churches is clearly a work of the Holy Spirit. Millions of lives around the world have been transformed through the work of this remarkable agency over the last 40 years. I have been privileged to see Tearfund’s work at first hand in Africa and am so grateful for the leadership and experience they provide in what is probably the greatest moral and ethical issue of our day. I feel greatly honoured to be invited to be one of its Vice Presidents.'