Revd Paul Cowley
Paul Cowley was born in Manchester in 1955. At the age of 15 he was expelled from school, lived on the streets for a short while and then moved into a life of crime. This led to a prison sentence and, upon release, Paul joined the Army, throwing himself into his army career for the next 15 years. During this time he was involved in six tours in Northern Ireland, two in the Falklands and was attached to Special Forces. He left the army in 1991, at the rank of Sergeant, after serving in the Army Physical Training Corps. His career continued in the work of fitness training where he ran two fitness centres in London.
Paul became a Christian after doing an Alpha course at Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) in 1994. He became involved in prison ministry as a volunteer in December 1996 and then in July 1997, due to an increased demand for the Alpha course, he joined the staff at HTB as Staff Pastor for Prisons. The same year an office was set up to develop a strategy and move the work forward. This later included developing the charity Caring for Ex-Offenders which aims to reintegrate ex-offenders back into society upon their release.
In 2002 Paul discovered that Alpha was being run in the Armed Forces and in May 2003 Alpha for Forces was launched to help support and encourage the use of the Alpha course in the Armed Forces.
Paul is now the Executive Director of Alpha for Prisons, Caring for Ex-Offenders and Alpha for Forces. He and his team support and co-ordinate the growth and organisation of these ministries across the country and increasingly around the world. In addition Paul also heads up the various areas of Social Transformation that HTB is involved in, including The Regeneration Trust which works on The Worlds End estate in London.
Paul is married to Amanda and has two children, Clinton (aged 29) and Phoebe (aged 8). In June 2002 Paul was ordained by the Church of England after completing a three year degree course at Oakhill Theological College.
