UK Alpha Conference to Raise Evangelism to New Levels

'Alpha Course' is known to be a very successful movement in evangelism over the past decade, and now in the UK, where it originated, it has moved to a higher level.

The Alpha Conference UK announced that a new ‘two-track’ Alpha conference for existing Alpha course leaders as well as those starting out is to be launched in the UK in November. The Alpha Conference has up to now been mainly directed at those who have not run an Alpha course before. The conference will equip participants with essential leadership skills and knowledge about starting an Alpha course. However, the newly launched ‘two-track’ Alpha conference will put more focus on those who are already running the alpha course.

The conference is a response to the huge demand from course leaders for help in attracting more people - particularly young people - to their courses and to improve the way they are run, according to Alpha Course UK.

Tricia Neill, Executive Director of Alpha International, said, “We have seen the need for extra training for those already running Alpha. That is why we are planning a pilot two-track conference in November, which will be ideal for existing course leaders to attend with their teams. There will be different main sessions and a wider selection of seminars spread over the two days.”

Existing course leaders in the UK are being encouraged to attend the second track of the conference with members of their church teams. They will learn the 15 best ways to attract new people; the seven most common mistakes; new ways of developing an existing course; and the secrets of building a strong leadership team. There will also be seminars on worship, administration, prayer, daytime Alpha, Youth Alpha, Alpha in the Workplace, and a large number of other subjects.

UK is the second country in the Alpha International to run this “two track” conference following the similar two-track event in Washington DC, USA, in April, where 1,100 delegates attended.

Since 1990, 13 years after the first Alpha Course was founded by an Anglican Pastor at Holy Trinity Brompton, London, Alpha Course has developed into a central feature of the church’s life, with the number of participants regularly totalling around 100 people on each course.

MORI poll of British adults reveals that more people are learning about the Alpha course each year. In September 2000, it was 4.2 million people; now it is 9.5 million.

Alpha Course has also supported by many top Christian leaders in the UK. The Bishop of London commented, “It is probably, arguably, the most successful evangelistic programme of our time.”

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey of Clifton described Alpha as an “impressive, lasting and honourable initiative that I was anxious to support.” He said it had “caught the imagination of thousands of churches and influenced thousands of lives.”

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Roman Catholic Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, wrote of his desire to see the “re-Christianisation of Scotland” in a letter to delegates attending the Glasgow Alpha conference in June. He wrote of the increasing numbers of people “seeking for a real meaning for their lives” and added, “An Alpha course is one of the great ways at the present time in which people can gather together to learn from one another, to share with one another, and to deepen in their knowledge and love of Jesus Christ himself.”

The UK’s first two-track conference is to be held at Holy Trinity Brompton, London, from November 25-26 and the principal speakers will be Sandy Millar and Nicky Gumbel.