Personal History

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 work which became known as Ellel Ministries, 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. The full remarkable story of how God used Peter’s lifelong interest in classic cars to birth the ministry that became his life’s work, is told in his book of motoring adventures, One Life, Many Cars – a full-colour, hard-back book, also containing over 220 fascinating historic photos.

Peter prayed daily into this vision for sixteen years before God brought it into being in 1986.  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 grew very steadily – with each centre around the world running a continuous series of healing retreats, training courses and schools.

Under Peter’s leadership the world-wide teaching and ministry team saw God move dramatically in many people’s lives to bring salvation, hope, healing and deliverance.  In a relatively short period of time, God built a work of international significance.

In April 2022, Peter stood down as International Director of Ellel Ministries after thirty-six years in leadership, and Peter and Fiona entered a new season of their lives and ministries.

Gates of Hope International was established in 2023 and is already providing hope and healing to people in many different countries.

Books and Writings

Peter has written many books, most of which were published by Sovereign World Ltd, the publishing house owned by Ellel Ministries. In 2024 the Ellel Trustees decided to close down the publishing arm of the ministry and in February 2025 Peter established PHP Books (Peter Horrobin Publishing) in order to keep his and Fiona’s many writings in print and continue to be available to the Body of Christ worldwide. Please see www.phpbooks.world)

In parallel, Peter also established Peter Horrobin Resources as an online training facility so that Journey to Freedom and other courses could be available on-line throughout the world.

Marriage and Family

Peter was first married in 1968.  It was a great sadness and disappointment to him that this marriage irretrievably broke down. This was eventually followed by divorce after five years of living apart.   The work, however, continued to be blessed by God and survived those very testing days with the help of a very dedicated team of committed workers.

In 1994 Peter married Fiona, who had also gone through the trauma of a painful divorce. Through their marriage God has brought great healing to them both and they have been privileged to serve the Lord together now for over thirty years. Their four children are all involved in Christian work.

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 edition of which was originally compiled for Billy Graham’s Mission England in 1984.

Peter is also an enthusiast for fishing and Alvis cars. His Complete Catalogue of British Cars, first published in 1975, has long been a 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 Peter 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.

Fiona’s book Healing Through Creativity is a ground-breaking and life-changing work bringing healing to many who rediscover their relationship with the Creator as they grow in the use of their creative giftings.

For details of all the currently available books written and published by Peter and Fiona Horrobin, please click on the Books tab.

History Summary and Timeline