Holy Trinity Brompton Church
Encyclopedia
Holy Trinity Brompton with St Paul's, Onslow Square ("HTB") is an Anglican church in Brompton, London, United Kingdom
. The church consists of three church buildings, HTB Brompton Road, HTB Onslow Square and HTB Queen's Gate, as well as being the home for Worship Central
, St Paul's Theological Centre
and The Alpha course
. It is where the Alpha course was first developed and is one of the most influential churches in the Church of England
.
The church buildings accommodate Alpha, other courses, conferences and meetings during the week and ten services each Sunday. With total Sunday service attendance at around 4,000 people and the Alpha course attracting several hundred guests during the week, HTB oversees a diverse range of activities. HTB's vision statement is the "evangelisation of the nations and the transformation of society".
HTB's aim is for an Alpha course to be accessible to anyone who would like to attend the course, and in this way HTB seeks to spread the teachings of Christianity
.
Nicky Gumbel
, the pioneer of the Alpha course
, took over as Vicar
from Sandy Millar
in July 2005. Nicky Lee was appointed Associate Vicar in July 2007. He had been a curate at HTB for 22 years previously.
of Kensington
which was served only by the nearby St Mary Abbots
church. In the early 1820s the area was in the midst of a substantial population increase so a decision was taken to purchase land and construct a new church.
The church was a Commissioners' church
, receiving a grant from the Church Building Commission towards its cost. The full cost of the church was £10,407 (£ as of ), towards which the Commission paid £7,407. The architect was Thomas Leverton Donaldson
. Holy Trinity is a Grade II listed building.
After three years of construction the Holy Trinity Brompton church was consecrated on 6 June 1829.
The same building stands today, although having been considerably modified. At some point a portion of HTB's land was sold to the Roman Catholic Church
in order for them to build the London Oratory
. This created a long driveway from Brompton road at the end of which HTB manages to gain relative tranquillity.
The most recent major modification was during the 1980s when the crypt was rebuilt to provide meeting rooms and the space for the bookshop. Also during this time the pews were removed and replaced with chairs to allow greater flexibility in seating arrangements, which became imperative as Alpha grew.
The substantial growth of the Alpha course in the last 18 years has seen this course become the main focus of HTB, with its recent history reflecting this.
The St Paul's church in Onslow Square
was opened in 1860. In the late 1970s, the parish of Holy Trinity Brompton merged with the neighbouring parish of St Paul's Onslow Square
. St Paul's was declared redundant
. An attempt by the diocese to sell the building for private redevelopment was thwarted in the early 1980s when local residents joined with churchgoers to save the church. In the late 1980s, the Parochial Church Council requested that the redundancy be overturned which allowed curate Nicky Lee and his wife Sila to plant a congregation there as well as undertake some building structural maintenance work. At its peak in the 1990s, this congregation had grown to several hundred.
In 1997, the congregation at St Paul's divided into three, with some going with curate Stuart Lees to plant a church in Fulham; others returning to Holy Trinity with Nicky and Sila Lee; and others forming the St Paul's Anglican Fellowship and remaining based at St Paul's with John Peters. This last group left in 2002 to plant into St Mary's, Bryanston Square
.
During 2007, after plans by HTB to rebuild the 1960s offices were withdrawn following difficulty in getting support from local residents, HTB decided to undertake some renovations and to resume services in the church. St Paul's launched 9 AM and 6 PM services in September 2007 and followed with an 11AM service on January 20, 2008 and a 4PM service on September 28, 2009. In December 2009 the upstairs balcony was recommissioned for worship, having previously been used for administrative offices (the office occupants having moved to HTB's nearby office building purchased in 2008).
Services at St Augustine's, Queen's Gate began to be administered from Holy Trinity Brompton following an invitation by the Bishop of Kensington in 2010 where Nicky Gumbel was made Priest-in-charge.
at HTB who over a period of twenty years kept adapting the programme in accordance with feedback until in the early 1990s the Alpha course started gaining worldwide attention. As Alpha grew it became the main focus for HTB as it sought to support Alpha's spread and growth.
Today this involves the production of advertising material and course material such as videos, books and tapes for each Alpha session and leader training material. Alpha is now run as a separate enterprise with separate fundraising and accounting but it remains closely tied to HTB, with most of Alpha's staff being accommodated in HTB's offices. The clergy of HTB also share Alpha duties such as overseeing Alpha conferences and training events in the UK and overseas.
Since the mid-1990s the Alpha course programme has remained largely unchanged allowing the energy of the church to develop other initiatives which fit with the Alpha course such as creating courses on marriage preparation, parenting teenagers, bereavement and recovering from divorce as well as publishing new books.
HTB itself runs Alpha courses three times a year and with these attracting 300-400 guests during each course they require all of the available space in the church buildings.
Pastorates consist of 20-50 people who, through meeting at least once a fortnight, can form strong friendships and support each other in care as well as developing individual gifts and ministries.
HTB has quite a transient congregation caused in part by its location in London, a city which itself has quite a transient population, that HTB attracts a large student population often only resident in London during their studies, and that the Alpha course brings in a number of people who are either visiting the home of Alpha or have completed the course and then quickly move on to other churches or ministries. In order to reach out to this substantial number of visitors, HTB is somewhat extroverted in welcoming newcomers and providing various means for them to get involved.
Liturgy
and a regular choir. The informal services centre on a longer period of contemporary worship
, a longer talk, and close in a reflective prayer section that is left to run beyond the end of the service.
St Paul's church extends its informal nature to the seating arrangements, most of the congregation sit on carpet while some couches, cushions and bean bags are also provided. Some services reuse the same talk and song list from a service earlier in the day.
from Soul Survivor, the Bishop of London
Richard Chartres
, Frog and Amy Orr-Ewing and Pete Greig.
Since 1985, HTB has been actively involved in a process called Church planting
whereby struggling churches in London are boosted by scores - sometimes hundreds - of people committing to move from HTB to the identified church for at least a year. This also involves at least one member of HTB's clergy similarly moving to the new church to help lead worship, form Pastorates and run local Alpha courses. Over the years nine churches have been planted in this way, including St Gabriels, Cricklewood
, with some of these churches going on to make Church Plants of their own. The most recent such plant was to Holy Trinity Swiss Cottage in October 2006.
HTB also has thriving children's and youth ministries. Other notable activities HTB undertakes are services twice a year involving the large HTB choir - at Easter
and Christmas
- and several free classical concerts that utilise the church's pipe organ that was refurbished in 2004 as well as drawing on the talent of the nearby music colleges.
In September 2005 HTB started providing the talks given at the Sunday services as free downloads from its website and through the iTunes
podcast directory. These downloads, which HTB has termed HTB Podcasts, have proved popular and more recently other talks specifically provided for the HTB Podcast community have also been offered, including answers to questions sent in by listeners. Each month the total download count from this catalogue of talks is over 40,000, with some talks making it into the top ten in the Religion and Spirituality section for iTunes.
HTB is also home to:
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The church consists of three church buildings, HTB Brompton Road, HTB Onslow Square and HTB Queen's Gate, as well as being the home for Worship Central
Worship Central
Worship Central is a Christian school of worship from Holy Trinity Brompton , the church who also pioneered the Alpha Course. Worship Central launched in 2006. The school is led by Tim Hughes and Al Gordon. The aim of Worship Central is to 'encounter God, equip the worshipper and empower the local...
, St Paul's Theological Centre
St Paul's Theological Centre
St Paul's Theological Centre is a British centre for theological learning, based at Holy Trinity Brompton in South Kensington, London...
and The Alpha course
Alpha course
The Alpha course is a course which seeks to explore the basics of the Christian faith, described as "an opportunity to explore the meaning of life" . Alpha courses are currently being run in churches, homes, workplaces, prisons, universities and a wide variety of other locations...
. It is where the Alpha course was first developed and is one of the most influential churches in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
.
The church buildings accommodate Alpha, other courses, conferences and meetings during the week and ten services each Sunday. With total Sunday service attendance at around 4,000 people and the Alpha course attracting several hundred guests during the week, HTB oversees a diverse range of activities. HTB's vision statement is the "evangelisation of the nations and the transformation of society".
HTB's aim is for an Alpha course to be accessible to anyone who would like to attend the course, and in this way HTB seeks to spread the teachings of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
.
Nicky Gumbel
Nicky Gumbel
Nicholas Glyn Paul Gumbel is an ordained Anglican priest, vicar and author. He is most famous as the developer of the Alpha course, a basic introduction to Christianity supported by churches of many Christian traditions....
, the pioneer of the Alpha course
Alpha course
The Alpha course is a course which seeks to explore the basics of the Christian faith, described as "an opportunity to explore the meaning of life" . Alpha courses are currently being run in churches, homes, workplaces, prisons, universities and a wide variety of other locations...
, took over as Vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
from Sandy Millar
Sandy Millar
John Alexander Kirkpatrick "Sandy" Millar is an Anglican bishop who, in 2005, 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 July 2005. Nicky Lee was appointed Associate Vicar in July 2007. He had been a curate at HTB for 22 years previously.
History
Prior to the construction of Holy Trinity Brompton, the present site was a part of the large parishParish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
which was served only by the nearby St Mary Abbots
St Mary Abbots
St Mary Abbots is an historic church located on Kensington High Street , London at a prominent intersection with Kensington Church Street. The present church was built in 1872 by the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott in neo-Gothic Early English style. It was the latest in a succession of churches...
church. In the early 1820s the area was in the midst of a substantial population increase so a decision was taken to purchase land and construct a new church.
The church was a Commissioners' church
Commissioners' church
A Commissioners' church is an Anglican church in the United Kingdom built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Act of 1818 and 1824. They have been given a number of titles, including Commissioners' churches, Waterloo churches and Million Act churches...
, receiving a grant from the Church Building Commission towards its cost. The full cost of the church was £10,407 (£ as of ), towards which the Commission paid £7,407. The architect was Thomas Leverton Donaldson
Thomas Leverton Donaldson
Thomas Leverton Donaldson was an English architect.He was born in Bloomsbury Square, London, the eldest son of architect, James Donaldson...
. Holy Trinity is a Grade II listed building.
After three years of construction the Holy Trinity Brompton church was consecrated on 6 June 1829.
The same building stands today, although having been considerably modified. At some point a portion of HTB's land was sold to the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
in order for them to build the London Oratory
Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, popularly known as Brompton Oratory, is a Roman Catholic church in South Kensington, London...
. This created a long driveway from Brompton road at the end of which HTB manages to gain relative tranquillity.
The most recent major modification was during the 1980s when the crypt was rebuilt to provide meeting rooms and the space for the bookshop. Also during this time the pews were removed and replaced with chairs to allow greater flexibility in seating arrangements, which became imperative as Alpha grew.
The substantial growth of the Alpha course in the last 18 years has seen this course become the main focus of HTB, with its recent history reflecting this.
The St Paul's church in Onslow Square
Onslow Square
Onslow Square is a garden square in South Kensington, southwest London, England.The square lies between the Old Brompton Road to the northwest and the Fulham Road to the southeast. To the north is South Kensington tube station. To the south is the Royal Marsden Hospital...
was opened in 1860. In the late 1970s, the parish of Holy Trinity Brompton merged with the neighbouring parish of St Paul's Onslow Square
Onslow Square
Onslow Square is a garden square in South Kensington, southwest London, England.The square lies between the Old Brompton Road to the northwest and the Fulham Road to the southeast. To the north is South Kensington tube station. To the south is the Royal Marsden Hospital...
. St Paul's was declared redundant
Redundant church
A redundant church is a church building that is no longer required for regular public worship. The phrase is particularly used to refer to former Anglican buildings in the United Kingdom, but may refer to any disused church building around the world...
. An attempt by the diocese to sell the building for private redevelopment was thwarted in the early 1980s when local residents joined with churchgoers to save the church. In the late 1980s, the Parochial Church Council requested that the redundancy be overturned which allowed curate Nicky Lee and his wife Sila to plant a congregation there as well as undertake some building structural maintenance work. At its peak in the 1990s, this congregation had grown to several hundred.
In 1997, the congregation at St Paul's divided into three, with some going with curate Stuart Lees to plant a church in Fulham; others returning to Holy Trinity with Nicky and Sila Lee; and others forming the St Paul's Anglican Fellowship and remaining based at St Paul's with John Peters. This last group left in 2002 to plant into St Mary's, Bryanston Square
St Mary's, Bryanston Square
St Mary's, Bryanston Square, is a Church of England church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Bryanston Square, London, just a five minute walk from any of Marylebone, Baker Street or Edgware Road tube stations...
.
During 2007, after plans by HTB to rebuild the 1960s offices were withdrawn following difficulty in getting support from local residents, HTB decided to undertake some renovations and to resume services in the church. St Paul's launched 9 AM and 6 PM services in September 2007 and followed with an 11AM service on January 20, 2008 and a 4PM service on September 28, 2009. In December 2009 the upstairs balcony was recommissioned for worship, having previously been used for administrative offices (the office occupants having moved to HTB's nearby office building purchased in 2008).
Services at St Augustine's, Queen's Gate began to be administered from Holy Trinity Brompton following an invitation by the Bishop of Kensington in 2010 where Nicky Gumbel was made Priest-in-charge.
Alpha and HTB
The Alpha course was founded by clergyClergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
at HTB who over a period of twenty years kept adapting the programme in accordance with feedback until in the early 1990s the Alpha course started gaining worldwide attention. As Alpha grew it became the main focus for HTB as it sought to support Alpha's spread and growth.
Today this involves the production of advertising material and course material such as videos, books and tapes for each Alpha session and leader training material. Alpha is now run as a separate enterprise with separate fundraising and accounting but it remains closely tied to HTB, with most of Alpha's staff being accommodated in HTB's offices. The clergy of HTB also share Alpha duties such as overseeing Alpha conferences and training events in the UK and overseas.
Since the mid-1990s the Alpha course programme has remained largely unchanged allowing the energy of the church to develop other initiatives which fit with the Alpha course such as creating courses on marriage preparation, parenting teenagers, bereavement and recovering from divorce as well as publishing new books.
HTB itself runs Alpha courses three times a year and with these attracting 300-400 guests during each course they require all of the available space in the church buildings.
Pastoral care
In order to address the problem of how to give pastoral care to such a large congregation as well as provide a means for new people to become a part of the church, HTB uses the Pastorate model.Pastorates consist of 20-50 people who, through meeting at least once a fortnight, can form strong friendships and support each other in care as well as developing individual gifts and ministries.
HTB has quite a transient congregation caused in part by its location in London, a city which itself has quite a transient population, that HTB attracts a large student population often only resident in London during their studies, and that the Alpha course brings in a number of people who are either visiting the home of Alpha or have completed the course and then quickly move on to other churches or ministries. In order to reach out to this substantial number of visitors, HTB is somewhat extroverted in welcoming newcomers and providing various means for them to get involved.
Services
HTB conducts ten services each Sunday. The family services include items aimed at children and child participation. The formal services have a more traditional Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
Liturgy
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
and a regular choir. The informal services centre on a longer period of contemporary worship
Contemporary worship
Contemporary worship is a form of Christian worship that emerged within Western evangelical Protestantism in the twentieth century. It was originally confined to the charismatic movement, but is now found to varying extents in a wide range of churches, including many that do not subscribe to a...
, a longer talk, and close in a reflective prayer section that is left to run beyond the end of the service.
St Paul's church extends its informal nature to the seating arrangements, most of the congregation sit on carpet while some couches, cushions and bean bags are also provided. Some services reuse the same talk and song list from a service earlier in the day.
Other activities
Another important activity of HTB is its yearly church camp, named Focus. This takes place over a week at a seaside campsite where typically 3,000 people attend and involve themselves in the many seminars, workshops and recreational activities. The size also attracts some prominent speakers to speak on issues affecting the church and society. Regular such speakers include Mike PilavachiMike Pilavachi
Mike Pilavachi is a British charismatic Christian evangelist and author of Greek Cypriot descent. He is the co-founder and leader of the Soul Survivor charity based in Watford, United Kingdom. He is also the Senior Pastor of the Soul Survivor Watford church, based in North Watford, which he set up...
from Soul Survivor, the Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
Richard Chartres
Richard Chartres
Richard John Carew Chartres KCVO FSA is the current Bishop of London, a position he has held since 1995. Before this appointment, he was Bishop of Stepney and Gresham Professor of Divinity .-Early life:...
, Frog and Amy Orr-Ewing and Pete Greig.
Since 1985, HTB has been actively involved in a process called Church planting
Church planting
Church planting is a process that results in a new Christian church being established. It should be distinguished from church development, where a new service, new worship centre or fresh expression is created that is integrated into an already established congregation...
whereby struggling churches in London are boosted by scores - sometimes hundreds - of people committing to move from HTB to the identified church for at least a year. This also involves at least one member of HTB's clergy similarly moving to the new church to help lead worship, form Pastorates and run local Alpha courses. Over the years nine churches have been planted in this way, including St Gabriels, Cricklewood
St Gabriels, Cricklewood
St Gabriels, Cricklewood Church of England is an Anglican church in Cricklewood, Brent, United Kingdom. Its website describes St Gabriels as a vibrant contemporary church, active in the heart of north London....
, with some of these churches going on to make Church Plants of their own. The most recent such plant was to Holy Trinity Swiss Cottage in October 2006.
HTB also has thriving children's and youth ministries. Other notable activities HTB undertakes are services twice a year involving the large HTB choir - at Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
and Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
- and several free classical concerts that utilise the church's pipe organ that was refurbished in 2004 as well as drawing on the talent of the nearby music colleges.
In September 2005 HTB started providing the talks given at the Sunday services as free downloads from its website and through the iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
podcast directory. These downloads, which HTB has termed HTB Podcasts, have proved popular and more recently other talks specifically provided for the HTB Podcast community have also been offered, including answers to questions sent in by listeners. Each month the total download count from this catalogue of talks is over 40,000, with some talks making it into the top ten in the Religion and Spirituality section for iTunes.
HTB is also home to:
- Worship CentralWorship CentralWorship Central is a Christian school of worship from Holy Trinity Brompton , the church who also pioneered the Alpha Course. Worship Central launched in 2006. The school is led by Tim Hughes and Al Gordon. The aim of Worship Central is to 'encounter God, equip the worshipper and empower the local...
, led by worship pastors Tim HughesTim HughesTim Hughes is a British worship leader and singer-songwriter. He is currently Director of Worship at Holy Trinity Brompton, an Anglican church in central London, and heads up Worship Central, an international worship training and resource centre.- Personal life :Hughes is the son of an Anglican...
and Al Gordon; and - St Paul's Theological CentreSt Paul's Theological CentreSt Paul's Theological Centre is a British centre for theological learning, based at Holy Trinity Brompton in South Kensington, London...
, led by its Principal Graham TomlinGraham TomlinGraham Tomlin is a British theologian and author. He is the Dean of St Mellitus College, a new church training institution set up by the Bishops of London and Chelmsford, providing theological education across London and Essex...
.
External links
- HTB website
- Mystery Worshipper Report at the Ship of Fools websiteShip of Fools (website)Ship of Fools is a UK-based Christian website. It was first launched as a magazine in 1977. The magazine folded in 1983 and was resurrected as a website on April Fool's Day, 1998. Subtitled "the magazine of Christian unrest", Ship of Fools pokes fun and asks critical questions about the Christian...
- HTB Sound Design - A Story of Excellent Sound