Fighting loneliness, finding Christ

From The National Post:

Holy Trinity Brompton in London is very pukka. A gorgeous Gothic construction tucked behind the much grander Catholic Brompton Oratory, this Anglican church has served generations of dutiful Sloanes and aristos from the nearby cloisters of Knightsbridge and Kensington since 1829. When I was in London at the beginning of the 90’s, it was the one church, in the whole country, that was near impossible to get into on Sunday morning unless you showed up very early. Filled then too with young Sloanes and aristocrats, many were refugees from the party that was and is Central London. Desperate to stop tweaking, shooting smack or drinking away what was left of their heritage and health, or simply looking for relief, all of them were pledged, heart and soul, to the charismatic Oxbridge theologian and former barrister, Nicky Gumbel and the course he devised, which he called Alpha. A little more than 10 years later, six-million people in 120 countries, and from every schism and branch of the Christian faith, have taken the course Nicky Gumbel began at Holy Trinity. In Canada, you can’t have missed the ads. In bus shelters and magazines, right across the country, there they are: five shiny, happy multiculti people offering you a chance to “explore the meaning of life.”

Fascinating to read about HTB and the Alpha program on the editorial pages of The National Post.