Life Stories

Nicky Gumbel

The Alpha course movement has been steadily growing both in Canada and around the world. Nicky Gumbel, Alpha's Chaplain, tells of one verse of Scripture that sums up Alpha's success and encourages him in his work.

Nicky doesn't consider himself to be a natural when it comes to evangelism, and yet the evangelism tool that he helped to shape - the Alpha Course - has been completed by an estimated six million people in 150 different countries. The secret to this success, according to Nicky, lies in Scripture.

"1 Corinthians 2:2 says 'For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified," says Nicky, "it sums up what Alpha is all about. Alpha is about Jesus, and Him crucified and risen from the dead. The context of it is very much what I feel speaking at Alpha courses and conferences."

Before joining the staff at Holy Trinity Brompton, where Alpha was first developed, Nicky practised as a barrister for six years. In 1990, he took over the leadership of their Alpha course and began to tailor the program to make it as attractive as possible to non-churchgoers.

Nicky's own experience may have helped him in this. He, himself, was not brought up in a churchgoing home. His father was a secular Jew, and his mother a nominal Anglican.

"I didn't become a Christian myself until my first year at university," he told Crossring.com, a Christian discussion website. "My best friend came into my flat one evening with his girlfriend and announced that they had both become Christians... I had to find out more, to find out what all the fuss was about. So I read the New Testament, and was subsequently converted."

Now, Nicky speaks regularly at national and international Alpha conferences and is the author of several books, including Questions of Life, which has sold over 800,000 copies and has been translated into 36 languages.

In spite of his now vast experience as a speaker, Nicky admits to nervousness at speaking engagements. "Weakness, fear, and much trembling summarize very much how I often feel when speaking," he says, "but I keep coming back to (1 Corinthians 2:2). I read it out at the beginning of every conference, because it brings me back to that focus that this is all about Jesus."

Nicky spoke at a packed conference in Canada in the Summer of 2003, helping to launch Alpha Canada's initiative to "Invite the Nation". The initiative helped double awareness of the Alpha Course in Canada.

"We are so excited about what's happening in Canada," he says, "We really loved our time there."

There are over 2,500 Alpha courses running in Canada, and about 750,000 Canadians have already participated.