By Ben Parish

So we’ve come to the end of another term of Alpha, and each course never disappoints! You’ll remember that we had a really powerful Launch Sunday back in September with Shane Taylor speaking about how God broke into his life whilst he was in prison and totally transformed him. You couldn’t have failed to have been inspired by his honest story. As a result of people signing up from the Launch Sunday, and also from personal invites from many church members, we welcomed 17 guests onto the Alpha Course. This was so encouraging, and whilst not every guest was able to make every evening of the 8 weeks, they all have had an opportunity to hear something of the life-changing message of Christianity.

At each evening we have a meal together, hear a testimony from someone in church about how they became a Christian and the difference that knowing Jesus has made in their lives, watch a talk from the recently released “Alpha Film Series” and then over a hot drink have the opportunity to ask questions and have discussions. The great thing about hanging out with people exploring Christianity is that over the weeks you can really see how God is at work in their lives and the journey that they’re on. Here is some typical feedback from one of the guests; “I have had many of my questions answered and discussions which have helped me to understand the faith. I have enjoyed spending time with everyone on the table, all of whom have been very helpful and made me feel very comfortable to be open with my concerns. The videos have been really good at explaining the topics and the topics have been really relevant and have targeted the core issues for me.”

This term we also, for the first time, ran Alpha Plus alongside Alpha. This is aimed at people who have already done the Alpha Course and would like to explore further, looking at subjects such as prayer, the Holy Spirit, church and how God guides us. We had 8 guests on Alpha Plus and they all have said that it has been a really helpful follow-on from the initial Alpha course and the highlight was having some of our prophetic team come along and pray with the guests on the evening of “how can I be filled with the Holy Spirit?”.

So, a massive “well done” to everyone who invited a friend, to those who helped set-up and pack-down the room, to those who cooked and washed up, to those who hosted the tables, to those who gave their testimony and to everyone who has been praying for us. Our next Alpha Launch Sunday is on Sunday 30^th April, why not now be praying about who to invite along?

Ben