Alpha-type Courses

"Tell them and they will forget. Show them and they will remember. Involve them and they will learn."  Chinese proverb

The Alpha concept

In one sense, there is nothing new about the Alpha Course system. Yet it has been incredibly successful. Why?

Alpha started several years ago in a city church in London, UK. Yet it is now so widespread that a majority of UK churches have run at least one Alpha course, and the concept is growing fast outside the UK too. Many larger churches maintain a continuous rolling program of courses. The key features of an Alpha course:

• small seeker-friendly group Bible study which runs over a defined period of weeks.
• often held in 'neutral' surroundings – usually someone's home (though some churches have very successfully chosen a venue such as Pizza Express, thereby attracting others to join).
• aims to invite Christians and non-Christians (or very new Christians) in approximately equal numbers to join the whole course of studies.
• social interaction and friendships between the group built up over shared meals.
• usually an opportunity for the group to get away for a day or weekend retreat halfway through the course.
• offers a framework of lessons for the group leader to use, with advice available on how to run the course.
• answers from the Bible are arrived at through non-threatening discussion and interactive sharing, rather than a preaching method - the principles of permission evangelism.

Sure, there is nothing unusual or revolutionary about this concept. Down the centuries, Christians have used many of these aspects in outreach, and they also reflect many of the insights resulting from research into adult learning. The difference is: a tried and tested package with literature and training is offered to Christians ready to use, and it has been amazingly successful. It can also be very flexible, with 'Youth Alphas' and 'Senior Citizen Alphas' being offered. Although widely accepted across the evangelical church, it is only fair to mention that although endorsed by some reformed leaders such as R T Kendall, others have criticized elements of the content. Interestingly, even those who offer criticisms nevertheless commend the methodology, and others have created similar courses using the same approach.

The Alpha site explains the concept in greater detail, and how to start (or locate) a church Alpha course.

Adapting the concept for the Internet

Paul Boag, a British Christian working with an Internet outreach fellowship, found that in dealing with questions from inquirers through web-site or chat-room witness, the same questions were arising again and again. He hit on the idea of inviting a small number of inquirers onto a closed 'email list' (i.e. it was only open to those invited), along with a small number of mature, prepared Christians. (An email list allows each member to initiate an email which goes to the whole group, and each person can reply to the whole group.) He adapted Alpha sessions for the Internet using this format:

• subjects covered follow roughly the Alpha course pattern, though may be modified in terms of order and content according to the needs of the participants.
• each new subject launched with a plain email of around 500 words.
• email discussion invited around that subject, with the whole group participating.
• discussion on a particular study lasted two weeks, then the leader introduced the next topic.
• about 12 topics were covered, so the course has the potential to continue for six months or more.
• members were also encouraged to get to know each other by email, and to interact socially if they wished.

The result of this first course, which was comprised of eight non-Christians and four Christians, was that one person came to faith, and another was brought very near.

Paul and the team have now moved on to other areas of ministry, and these 'online Alphas' have not continued. Nevertheless, the concept has huge potential for touching inquirers.

Using the concept

While the Internet should never replace face-to-face witness, the use of the Alpha concept online should be seen as a method it its own right, rather than a replacement for a face-to-face Alpha course. It could be used by any evangelistic web-site. A local church could offer an online Alpha course to contacts made through their church web-site, or to others who for whatever reason would not wish or be able to attend an Alpha course or other outreach activities in person.

It would be possible to run several courses concurrently, with staggered starts, so that new contacts could start the course from the beginning. It is not appropriate for someone to join an existing group part-way through. The Christian members and leader could of course take part in more than one group.

Free interactive email lists are available from many providers. In return for the service, some may include advertising on all emails sent out.

There are also technically advanced distance-learning options available. Although these are often used in both secular and Christian education, no-one is applying the technology to interactive evangelistic Bible study. There could be enormous potential here, with an integrated learning site combining self-study, interactive study and discussion, video-clips, and more.

Be aware that although the Alpha organization permits minor variation in the way their own material is presented within the copyright rules, major changes should not be branded as an 'Alpha' course. If you follow the same concept but with different study material, you should probably call it something else.

The concept working in Dutch

Dutch evangelical broacasters Evangelische Omroep have pioneered the Alpha concept in Dutch with great success: Wa@rom Jezus (English summary). It is hoped to translate the material into English – so watch this space.

Similar projects

Other offline studies similar to Alpha include:

Christianity Explored is highly recommended by many, and is available from mail-order bookshops.

JesusWalk is a similar but broader online study concept in operation, aimed primarily at Christians but very much open for non-Christians to join. When you join, you can choose categories: 'Investigators and Inquirers', 'Christians' or 'New Christians'. This is an interactive email small-group Bible study. Why not join, and see how a group study can operate online? A new study is emailed every Saturday.

Feedback

If you try this concept, please tell us. Your shared experience of ways to do things and pitfalls to avoid can be built into this page to help others.

There is a real need for someone to develop the concept into an online course with a manual for leaders and members. Such ready-made 'off-the-shelf' material would be a wonderful service to the whole church. It would provide many evangelistic ministries with an essential tool. Customized versions could be designed for particular groups according to their culture, interests, age-range or religious background. Translations into other languages would widen the scope even more.

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