Getting A Taste Of Alpha

By Steve Petch on September 19, 2024

As part of our Autumn programme this year, we're inviting everyone in Welcome Church to attend one of our 'Taste Of Alpha' evenings.

I attended the first one last night 🙂

These evenings are a chance for us all to experience what the first evening of an Alpha course is like, building our confidence to make invitations to our Autumn Alpha course which starts with 'Try Alpha' on October 16th. (In case anyone is unsure, Alpha is an 8 week course that we run, and is intended for people who want to explore what the Christian faith is all about)

What I experienced

On arrival the front hall was packed with people from Welcome Church who'd signed up for the first Taste of Alpha experience. We were greeted with 'Mocktails', before being seated on pre-arranged tables, finding our name on a wedding style seating plan. Dub then welcomed us all and introduced Nnamdi, who led us through the full experience of the first night of an Alpha course.

The evening consisted of:

A excellent two course meal, with every table hosted by friendly table leaders who quickly got us chatting (my thanks to Edward and NG on my table)
A game of 'Kahoot!' - an interactive quiz, which our table sadly didn't win
Some contemporary live music from Steve B on guitar and vocals
A screening of the new style week 1 Alpha video
Some table discussions built around two thought provoking questions

We then finished with a short chat from Dub about what we'd just experienced, and the chance to pray together on our tables and to provide feedback on the evening.

My observations

As someone who's been very familiar with Alpha over a number of years, and who's even spoken on several past courses, I wondered if I really needed to be there - after all, I already know all about Alpha, right???

Wrong!

I came away with three key observations:

First: I'm incredibly proud of our team. The evening was well run and brilliantly organised in every aspect. There was high quality food, the seating had been well thought through and the whole 'production' was great. Everything was designed to put you at ease. I want to say well done to everyone involved in making it happen. If you'd brought a friend along, you really would be proud to say that this was your church.

Second: The Alpha videos have changed A LOT, and all for the better. They were always good, but no longer is it Nicky Gumble preaching at you for 30 minutes. The videos are bright, clear and well put together with a variety of people (including Nicky) communicating the message in different ways, with regular pauses for discussion on key questions. I found myself quickly drawn in and would have been comfortable for any friend I'd invited to watch them. This change of the style to the Alpha course's content is the biggest thing I spotted, and it's very positive change.

Third: It actually made we want to do Alpha again! It made me feel like, if I wasn't a Christian already, I'd definitely have wanted to book in for the actual course. I even found the questions and discussion times to be personally thought provoking again, and I went home with a few things to think about - I really didn't expect that!

In summary, any friends that we bring along to the 'Try Alpha' evening on October 16th are almost certainly going to want to sign up for the whole course. In fact, the biggest takeaway for me was this:

we can safely invite people to our church's Alpha Course with confidence that they will have a positive experience and we won't regret bringing them

To be honest, I think I knew that anyway, but now I've seen it and experienced it for myself.

What's next?

There are 3 more chances to experience A Taste Of Alpha, on each of the next three Wednesdays. If you haven't signed up yet, please follow this link to do so. One quick warning, the final evening is almost full.

And let's keep on praying for our friends so that we're ready to make lots of invitations to the actual Alpha course which starts with 'Try Alpha' on Wednesday 16th October.