Tips on running a successful Alpha Course

Pastor Dave Housholder
Hosanna! Lakeville, Minnesota
Early 2001

This is a copy of something I posted on a GenX listserv where lots of pastors were asking questions about Alpha.
 
Granted, a lot of it is just my opinion, so feel free to disagree with parts or all of it. But some of it may be helpful. Feel free to modify and use it in any way you'd like.
 
Our next course starts January 14 [2001] and I am praying for over 400.

1. Go to a conference. Many courses fail unnecessarily because a pastor thought s/he could launch without going to a conference. Going to a conference answers tons of questions and raises others you couldn't have thought of. Hosanna! has gone to 5 conferences so far. And we will send a team to at LEAST one a year until Jesus comes back.
2. Bring a team to the conference. If you come back all by your lonesome with your hair on fire no one will listen you you and they will try to change everything before starting.
3. Do not soft-pedal the Holy Spirit stuff on the course. This is a big temptation. Courses that do, die. Simple as that.
4. Work out the theology with your team. Prepare to spend some 5 hour meetings before you launch your first course just working through the touchy stuff--especially the gifts of the Spirit (tongues, words of knowledge, healing). Expect this to go badly for a while.
5. Find a "flagship" course within driving distance where you can take your team for a site visit during a typical Alpha evening. Be on the phone with them every week for advice.
6. Get "The Amazing Adventures of Mr. Bean" for the first night (Christianity: Boring, Untrue, Irrelevant?) and show the sketch on "Mr. Bean goes to church" This sets a tone of joy and laughter for the rest of the course.
7. If at all possible do live teaching. I don't know of a truly "great" course of any size that does the tapes. Others may disagree with me on this.
8. If you go live, you MUST have a zany teacher. Seriousness will KILL the course.
9. If you can't go live, Nicky's videos are very strong.
10. If you do go live, use ONE basic teacher. They need to build rapport with someone so they can build trust. Have an apprentice do the talk: "How does God guide us?" which has the strongest of all the outlines. Have the senior pastor of your church do "What about the Church?" Have the apprentice also do "What does the Holy Spirit do?" during the middle of the weekend so the main teacher does not get over-exposed.
11. Law of the Medes and the Persians: Never start a course at any other time than after Rally Day, after Christmas, and after Easter. These are the three big events of the year that draw the unchurched and there needs to be a big invitation at those events with a clear path of involvement laid out.
12. If at all possible, provide child care.
13. Provide (for free) Bibles and course books for taking notes.
14. The speaker should write his/her speaking notes IN the course participant notebook so people can easily follow along. This also keeps you close to the original talks, which is essential.
15. Use power point if you have it. Connect with visual, audio and kinetic learning styles.
16. Do worship/praise music similar to what you use at your normal church services. Otherwise going to church will be a shock for them. Others will also disagree with me on this, but I think it's important.
17. Find Cursillo people to help. They already get the "eating and praying together" thingy and need minimal training.
18. Don't let Bible Marines be group leaders. By far the best leaders are new Christians.
19. Expect 30 to 40% attrition by the end of the course. If you don't get that, you are not working far enough afield.
20. Expect a handful of people to get offended (even angry) on the course, for whatever reasons. Do NOT change the course based on these offenses. Jesus did not chase after the rich young ruler.
21. Never project a prudish or PC image. People expect prudishness in church. Surprise them. Be earthy. Have fun.
22. Use props. Here are the ones we came up with:
    • Bowling ball and pins--actually bowl in the aisle. Point: Keeping out of the ditches of being insensitive or fearful in sharing your faith.
    • Sponges; the flat ones that get big when put in water. Illlustrating how the filling of the Holy Spirit changes us. Then you throw it at people.
    • Champagne. Illustration: Shake it all through the weekend whenever you mention the Holy Spirit. Then pop the top off when you get to Acts 2 in the lesson. Spray people. Do NOT use dark colored champagne. :-)
    • The tripod with adjustable legs. Illustration: the Trinity and how all the legs should be equal in length.
23. Remember that Alpha as a course nothing special in itself. Its power lies in the fact that it is pure and simple New Testament Christianity (Acts 2:42).

Dave Housholder, Lakeville, Minnesota, USA — 1-888-392-4832 ext: 291-298-6234

• Teaching Pastor, Hosanna!
• Alpha Regional Advisor
• Lutheran Renewal Team
• Going to Heaven?

We are indebted to ARM Canada for passing this on.