A guide to Alpha

The Alpha Course is an introduction to the Christian faith which has seen extraordinary success at stimulating faith among those who are not churchgoers and also given a new dynamism to many existing Christians.

In recent years, many Catholic archbishops and bishops have recommended Alpha in their dioceses. Here the Rt. Revd Ambrose Griffiths OSB, Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle explains why he believes the course is an excellent introduction to the Christian faith…

Why am I keen on Alpha?

"We want to evangelise but we don't seem to have found the right method. I think that the Alpha Course offers easily the best method so far invented.…"

Why am I keen on Alpha? Why do I think Alpha is a good thing? In my own diocese, and there is no exception across the country, I cannot help noticing that our congregations are getting smaller and older and have been doing so for a number of years, if we take an honest look at our statistics. We do not seem to be attracting young people. We do not seem to be attracting many of the young families that put their children in our Catholic schools but do not themselves come to church.

Why is that? It can't possibly be that the message is wrong because we have the words of eternal life: Christ Jesus who is the Lord and who has the words of eternal life is the best message that has ever been, and yet somehow we don't seem to get it across.

We want to evangelise but we don't seem to have found the right method. I think that the Alpha Course offers easily the best method so far invented and I am immensely grateful to Sandy Millar and Nicky Gumbel for what they have done in developing this course and now in sharing it with us.

Why is it successful?

I think Alpha is very successful because it answers the questions that people are asking today. It is user-friendly. It is not a confrontational course. It is presented in every day language. It is full of excellent stories and illustrations so that the whole thing becomes fun. It is compelling but no one is pressurised.

It is given in the context of a meal and that, in fact, is what Christ did with so much of his teaching. Above all it enables us to come to know the Lord Jesus. When those first two disciples of St John the Baptist followed him he turned round and said, "What are you looking for? ... Come and see." They went and stayed with him and they became his disciples. That is what we are led to do.

Alpha meets people where they are. It befriends them. They feel affirmed and they enjoy it. Because they enjoy it and are enthused by it, they then invite their friends to attend the next course and so it grows. That is the experience in many churches. Alpha has spread widely over this country and indeed across the world. The numbers attending it grow and grow.

It was devised for a well heeled congregation in London but you may be amazed to hear that it works equally well with the simplest and poorest. They love it. Young people are inspired by it. They ask when the course will be run again.

Above all it is excellently designed to reach out to the young families who have placed their children in our schools but themselves are not committed beyond that. It is not that they haven't got any good will, but they know very little about the faith and very little about Jesus Christ. Perhaps they think that they do, but if they come to this course they will discover enormous riches that they never knew before.

Why should Catholics do it?

"It is essentially a basic introduction to Christianity and above all, brings us into contact, face to face with the Lord Jesus."

"This is a basic introduction but I think it has a great deal to give us. I am aware of churches where they have done it. They are growing. That is surely the testimony that we want."

The course has been criticised. There have been letters to the press and so on. It has been said that it is not Catholic. Why should Catholics do it? Well, if we looked at the teaching of Vatican II we are clearly told that we should seek whatever is good and true wherever we find it. I think that we should have the humility to learn from our fellow Christians and realise that they have a great deal to teach us and we have riches to share with them.

Alpha does not contain anything that is directly opposed to any Catholic teaching. It does not go as far in some aspects as we would want to. The nuances are not perhaps the same as we would give it in every case. But that doesn't matter to my mind. It is essentially a basic introduction to Christianity and above all, brings us into contact, face to face with the Lord Jesus. Once you become a friend, a disciple, of the Lord Jesus, everything else follows because Christianity is not a structure of rules. It is a discipleship of Jesus who is God. That is where it leads us.

I have been quoted as saying 'many Catholics have been sacramentalised but not evangelised.' By that I mean that they know about the sacraments and have been through the motions: baptism, first communion, confirmation and so on. But they have never somehow, amazingly in many cases, come to realise that Jesus is their friend, their Saviour, he is and can be the very centre of their lives. Once you know the Lord Jesus you are open to everything else. That is what this course helps us to do so I would very strongly recommend it.

Other people have asked why we should bother with this course when we already have the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). RCIA is an excellent course but those who attend it have already become interested in the faith. There are thousands upon thousands of people who would never in twenty years think of attending RCIA, but they can be attracted to an Alpha course and having attended Alpha they want to know more, they can then go on to follow a RCIA course to their great benefit. This is a basic introduction but I think it has a great deal to give us. I am aware of churches where they have done it. They are growing. That is surely the testimony that we want.

A final word

The final thing that I would like to say is that no course succeeds without prayer. One parish that I know of spends every evening backed up by people praying. Where there is prayer, there the Holy Spirit can work; there the Lord Jesus comes to people. Prayer is essential.

There should be complete freedom for everyone to pray totally quietly or as exuberantly as they wish. Let everybody be free. If only we would let people be free in the Church the Church would grow.

If Christ means a lot to us then we want to praise his name. This course helps us precisely to come to know the Lord Jesus, to become his disciples, then we long to go out and share that with other people. I hope that many of you will go back to your parishes and bring many people to know the Lord Jesus in a new and wonderful way."