Reverend Emmy Wilson
Emmy Wilson spent 14 years training and practising as both a State Registered Nurse and a Registered Sick Children’s Nurse, culminating in 3 years nursing those affected by HIV and AIDS. Emmy ended her nursing career when the Lord dramatically changed her heart, prompting her to take the Gospel to those in society whose lifestyles made them most vulnerable to this disease. This resulted in her joining the staff of Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB), London, in 1985 to begin the work of
‘The Earl’s Court Project’ - a Christian ministry responding to AIDS, prostitution, drug addiction, alcoholism and homelessness.
Given a prophetic word that she would be a “key to many people whom themselves could no longer be free,” accompanied by a significant power encounter with the Holy Spirit, Emmy became involved in Prison work in 1991, helping as a part-time volunteer in the chaplaincy team at HMP Holloway, the largest women’s prison in London. Then, as a direct result of the impact of the Holy Spirit outpouring that began in Toronto, Canada in January 1994, in December 1994 she was emboldened to take teams to other prisons in the UK to support chaplains who wanted to start using the Alpha course, as well as speaking and leading teams on the Alpha Holy Spirit day.
This work grew rapidly and an Alpha for Prisons department was created at Holy Trinity Brompton in July 1997. There are now many prisons running Alpha in the UK, and worldwide. She is passionate that the Church would not only have a heart for broken people but also embrace this ministry and care for people leaving prison so that the recidivism rate is reduced.
Since 1995 Emmy has visited prisons and spoken about her work at Alpha conferences and Alpha Prison Trainings all around the world, including Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, Ireland, Rwanda, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Botswana, Trinidad and Tobago, Grand Turk, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Colombia, Panama, Argentina, Brazil, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, France, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Russia, Poland, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, India, China, Japan, Taiwan, and Guam.
In 2006 she spent 7 months working on a large council estate in Chelsea, London.
She was ordained by Bishop Johnson Gakumba in Northern Uganda in 2011 as Chaplain to the Worldwide Prisons, and is based in London, now worshiping at St. Paul’s Hammersmith.
As well as the prison ministry, Emmy has led Prayer Ministry and Listening Prayer Trainings and corporate prayer meetings at Holy Trinity Brompton since the early 1990’s.
She also enjoys speaking at evangelistic events and is a member of the College of Evangelists.
She has become involved in the fight against human trafficking - having visited brothels in Calcutta and Mumbai and, as a Trustee of (https://youcanfreeus.org/) is passionate not only to raise awareness about this vital work, but to help those enslaved to find freedom.
She retired from HTB’s staff on her 70th birthday in February 2023, but is keen to continue to serve the wider Church internationally whenever the opportunities arise, having been appointed as a Global Ambassador for Alpha, and has since spoken in Australia, Singapore, West Java, Malaysia, Switzerland and France.