From The Telegraph-There's a rumour – which Lambeth Palace is neither confirming nor denying – that next time Archbishop Welby visits Pope Francis he'll take with him his old friend the Rev Nicky Gumbel, Vicar of "HTB", the evangelical parish Holy Trinity Brompton. If so, it's a smart move. Gumbel (like Welby, an Eton and Trinity Cambridge man) is the arguably the most dynamic leader in the Anglican Communion. He didn't invent the Alpha Course, an introduction to Bible-based Christianity, but it's thanks to his influence that it has now been done by 20 million people around the world.
When I first encountered HTB, 20 years ago, it was regarded by its enemies as a "happy-clappy cult" of upper-class evangelicals with a habit of poaching Catholics. If there was some truth in the caricature then, that's no longer the case. I interviewed Nicky Gumbel for the Christmas 2012 edition of the Spectator, soon after the announcement that Justin Welby, a long-time worshipper at HTB, would be going to Canterbury:
More here-
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100267015/pope-francis-to-meet-nicky-gumbel-of-htb-englands-most-dynamic-vicar/
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