This weekend we participated in an Alpha Training Lab. What in the world is that, I wondered. Never heard of it before. Turns out it has been around since the 70s, and now is in 169 countries, includes 112 languages and works with churches in 127 demominations and impacts millions of people. Wow, how did I not know about them?
Why Alpha? Here are some statistics.
Nearly half of Millennial practicing Christians say it is wrong to evangelize.
Almost two in five practicing Christians say they have no non-Christian friends or family members.
The top qualities non-Christians would look for in a person with whom to talk about faith is someone who "listens without judgment" (62%) and "does not force a conclusion" (50%).
It is clear we have a crisis on our hands, as faith is important to human well being, but we are not very good at sharing it. Alpha offers content and guidance for churches, ministries, and individuals to create a space for honest and open conversations about life’s biggest questions. Everyone is welcome and no questions are off limits. The video quality is outstanding and the content is very interesting.
Check them out at alphausa.org. We took the training on how to organize and lead an Alpha group just to see what it was all about, and now feel it would be worth doing. They even have a youth version. Check it out. Let me know what you think.
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