About Peter Horrobin

Family Background

Peter was born in 1943 in Bolton, Lancashire, and was later brought up in Blackburn, also in the north of England.  He has remained a life-long supporter of Blackburn Rovers Football Club.

His parents gave him a firm Christian foundation for life with a strong evangelical emphasis.  His early grounding in the scriptures was to equip him for future ministry.  After living in the south for a while he eventually returned to his native county after periods of time spent in Surrey, Oxford and Manchester.

Career

After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in chemistry, he spent a number of years in College and University lecturing, before leaving the academic environment for the world of business.

He founded his own publishing and bookselling companies and then, after fifteen years of writing, publishing and bookselling, the doors opened for the ministry to be established at Ellel Grange, a country house just outside the City of Lancaster.  Throughout his university and business career Peter had known that he was only ‘marking time’ until his true calling, into some form of Christian ministry, would come to fruition.

The Call to Ministry

Peter first knew this calling as a young teenager, but he had to wait nearly thirty years before his life’s work was to begin!  In his twenties he started to restore a vintage sports car (an Alvis Speed 20), but discovered that its chassis was bent.  As he looked at the broken vehicle, wondering if it could ever be repaired, he sensed God asking him a question, “You could restore this broken car, but I can restore broken lives. Which is more important?”

It was obvious that broken lives were more important than broken cars.  So, in 1970, the beginnings of a vision for seeing people healed and restored was birthed in his heart.

He prayed daily into this vision for over ten years before God brought it into being.  Many Christian leaders affirmed the vision and gave it their support.

The Work of Ellel Ministries

After the establishment of a Prayer Support Group, the purchase of Ellel Grange was completed in November 1986.  Since then Ellel Ministries has grown very steadily – there is now a full-time team of over 300 people, running a continuous series of healing retreats and training courses and schools in all the Ellel Centres around the world.

Other Interests

Outside of Ellel Ministries, Peter was the originator and one of the compilers of the amazingly successful and popular Mission Praise, the first volume of which was originally compiled for Billy Graham’s Mission England in 1984.  The 25^th Anniversary Edition of Mission Praise was published in July 2009.

Peter is also an enthusiast for fishing and Alvis cars. He still hopes, one day, to see the Alvis Speed 20, through which God gave him the vision for his life work, restored and back on the road!  His Complete Catalogue of British Cars, which was first published in 1975, has long been the standard reference work on the history and technical specification of every model of every make of British car, manufactured between 1895 and 1975!  During his years in academic life he also wrote and edited books of specialist technical interest about different aspects of building science and technology.

Through her pioneering work in seeing how God can bring great healing through the rediscovery of people’s creative gifting, Fiona herself discovered a talent for water-colour painting.  Some of her paintings have now been turned into art cards and can be seen and purchased at www.fionahorrobinart.com

It started with a car…

It all started with a car; a 1933 Alvis Speed 20 Sports Tourer and a young English man called Peter Horrobin who loved classic cars. He especially loved old Alvis cars, but he couldn’t imagine being able to afford a Speed 20 of his own. Not until one glorious day in 1970, when a friend from the Alvis Owners Club phoned to ask, “Would you like to buy an Alvis Speed 20 for £50?” Oh yes he would!

But why was it so cheap? Well, unfortunately it had been stolen, crashed, vandalised, set on fire and dumped in the River Mersey! But the friend had arranged its rescue, recognising it for the special car that it was, even in that broken state.

Peter was thrilled to purchase his own Alvis Speed 20 and began to strip down the car to the bare chassis. At about 4.00am one morning, after a night working in the garage, he made an awful discovery – the chassis was bent. The car could never be driven safely with a bent chassis and he began to think that he would never be able to restore this lovely old car. And then, out of the blue, at that moment of terrible realisation, Peter became very aware of God speaking to him, there in the garage.

Cars or people?

Quite clearly, Peter heard the Lord say “You could restore this broken car, but I can restore broken lives. Which is more important? Broken cars or broken people?” Peter wanted to say the broken car! But he knew that was the wrong answer! His compassionate heart responded to what God was saying and he never forgot the moment when God said to him “I can restore broken lives”.

Over the next ten years or so, he ran his own publishing company and among other things became Chairman of the local Inter-Church Fellowship. As a child Peter had sensed a call from God to serve Him in full-time ministry, but somehow the Lord didn’t seem to open any doors or lead him to be ordained. He even started to wonder if he had missed the destiny God had for his life.

Then one day he received another phone call. The caller was another member of the Inter-Church Fellowship – Sister Aine. She needed his advice. A woman had come to her at the hospice where she worked who was terribly distressed. Sister Aine didn’t know how to help. Peter agreed to come but the poor woman was sobbing so much that she couldn’t speak, so neither Peter nor Sister Aine had any idea what the real problem was.

However, as they prayed, God supernaturally revealed to Peter the exact nature of the problem and the distressed lady was amazed. They were able to pray for her effectively and she received both God’s healing touch and a glorious reassurance that the Lord really did know her and care for her. She had begun her journey of healing.

As Peter drove home that night, he again sensed the Lord speaking to him, saying “I want you to spend the rest of your life bringing healing to those in need and teaching others how to do the same”. In that moment he also remembered the night when God had spoken to him with the Alvis and suddenly it all began to make sense. It was the same voice. The call of God was unmistakable.

Are you willing?

He started to pray about the vision God had given but immediately encountered a problem. He couldn’t pray! It was as if heaven had suddenly closed its gates and prayer was no longer possible. After some time of frustration, he eventually came to the end of his own efforts and heard the still small voice of the Father saying, “Before I can let you pray into this vision, you need to know that walking with me in obedience may cost you everything you have and everything you are. Are you willing?” Slowly, step by step, the Lord took him through every area of his life – home, family, possessions, status, reputation, hobbies etc. God did not say he would lose any of these; He just asked whether he was willing to. It was only when victory had been won in every area that he was at peace and able to start praying about the call to bring healing to God’s people.

Praying every day

From that point on Peter prayed every day about the vision. He studied the Scriptures diligently, seeking for a biblical understanding of how to bring God’s healing. As he studied, he identified many of God’s key principles for healing, such as forgiving those who harm us, repentance from sin, God’s acceptance of us as his children, God’s heart for restoring us after failure, a Christian’s spiritual armour for protection and so on.

As Peter continued to seek God, a committed group of people eventually gathered regularly to pray with him for the establishment of this healing ministry which God had called him into. As they prayed, they felt the Lord wanted a Christian healing centre to be established in the northwest of England – and this vision burned in their hearts as they prayed for it year after year.

A home for the Ministry

The vision was finally realised in 1986 when agreement was reached with the owners to buy a large country house near Lancaster, called Ellel Grange. An appeal went out and many churches and individuals responded with gifts and loans.

One couple who knew nothing about Peter’s vision were given their own vision about a healing ministry that was going to be established in the area. The Lord showed them individually what the building looked like and they made their own drawings. But their drawings were completely different!  The next morning a copy of the Ellel Grange appeal brochure arrived in the post showing the very building they had drawn on paper. The wife’s vision had been of the rear of Ellel Grange while her husband’s had been of the front!
There were a number of such stories, including a lady who had a vision of the chimneys. She saw thick black smoke pouring out of them. God told her that the smoke represented all the dirt and mess He was going to clean out of people’s lives through the ministry that would take place there. Her vision was so detailed and specific that she drove all the way to Ellel Grange to compare the real chimneys with those God had shown her. They were exactly the same!

The team were greatly encouraged by these confirmations and continued to pray. On the completion date, when the full amount had to be paid to buy Ellel Grange, Peter sat at his desk to find out whether he had enough money. He could hardly believe what he saw! On one side of his piece of paper was a list of everything needed for the purchase, together with all the expenses to date, and on the other side was all the income received from gifts and loans. The income exceeded the costs by just £6! God had done it, Ellel Grange was purchased, and the work of Ellel Ministries started with great rejoicing on 31 October 1986.

What happened to the Alvis?

What about the Alvis? Was it dumped? Certainly not! Peter wrote to the manufacturers and obtained a copy of the blueprint from which the car was produced. Using this he was able to get the chassis heat-treated, straightened and restored. Peter’s time was largely taken up by the ministry, but he still managed to work on his beloved Alvis occasionally.

God restores people in the same way – we may believe there isn’t too much wrong with us, or we may even think we’ve been broken beyond repair. But our Father has the blueprint. He made you and He knows how to restore every part of you. It may take time, it may cost something, but each person is far more precious to God than Peter’s Alvis car was to him. The Alvis is just a picture of God’s desire to restore you, even if you are not in great shape right now! He gets right to the foundations, to the roots of the problem. He rescues, He restores and He makes new.