Alpha. It seems strange, when you consider its use in churches throughout the UK and the wider world, to think that this evangelism course, a product of Holy Trinity Brompton, is less than 20 years old. Indeed, it’s almost ubiquitousness in use and application seems make any questioning of its efficacy and appropriateness, especially in Evangelical circles, akin to denying the Incarnation.
Fortunately, this article is not going to write of Alpha entirely – many, many people have found God through Alpha and that is something worth celebrating. But I am going to suggest that we are a little too enthusiastic when it comes to its use and application, raising question as to whether we sometimes employ Alpha courses out of a loss of confidence in the church and the ability or likelihood of people to meet the risen Jesus within church in a powerful, experiential and life-changing way.
The thing is, Alpha just isn’t a substitute for this (and in fairness, most people if pressed would not try to make it so, even if the way we use it often suggests we think it is). If a person who has never had any experience with church or Christianity is invited to come along to Alpha, they will attend a course that takes them through a structured understanding of the Christian faith. Now, there is nothing wrong with the structured basics – in fact, history suggests that they are essential to avoid all sorts of strange movements within the church! But the question does have to be asked as to whether a logically argued case for the identity of Jesus, meaning of the cross or reliability of the Bible is immediately relevant or helpful to the average person in the street, who might be struggling with self-esteem issues, with the pressures of debt or relationships that aren’t working out, or with unemployment.
What’s more, the course often seems to be structured in such a way whereby people have to have an understanding of the basics before they get introduced to the experiential aspects of Christianity – the presence of God in the Holy Spirit away day and the idea of the church. It’s as if we’re not confident enough in our churches and our God to allow him to turn up unless the person is already to some degree signed up with the theory of Christianity.
The whole thing seems a marked contrast to the invitation of Jesus to “come and see” which is too open ended and leaves us vulnerable. After all, if God doesn’t turn up, at least we can say “oh dear. Still, here’s The Gospel” (capital letters, naturally, as The Gospel can only be expressed in a logical step-by-step format as to how we can be saved, not through the subjectivity of experience, which is far too postmodern for us . . . )
In a vain attempt to ward off those who would at this point wish to burn me at the stake (and studying in St Andrews, I can suggest one or two locations that have proved useful for such an activity in the past), I should point out I am obviously exaggerating the polarisation between knowledge and experience in Alpha.
However, there is a serious point here amid the five-pints philosophy of life. When I think of how I spend my life mostly in non-Christian circles, I do still believe the content of Alpha is appropriate or relevant for very few of them as-is, as it just doesn’t speak into the situations they find themselves. What is becoming more and more clear, however, is that God and church are relevant for many of them – many people find some healing and transformation and life and hope through attending church, through meeting God in times of ministry, through being in a community which, though flawed and human, selflessly loves and cares for people, that welcomes outsiders without being conditional on belief and which gets on unapologetically with the business of meeting God and being transformed – and invites others to join in.
Perhaps in our desire to be relevant and not intimidating with models like Alpha, we have missed what is most relevant of all – the experience of the risen Jesus who bursts into the present and changes lives. Perhaps we need to have more confidence in God’s church and invite others there as a first step and see what God is going to do – far less controllable, far less predictable or logical. But it could be good. Are we prepared to risk it?
As a footnote, I should say that many people I know who have met God through churches have then gone on to do Alpha courses, which have been incredibly helpful in providing a theology to inform and understand the experience of meeting God. It seems to me this is where Alpha works best – situated firmly in the local church.
The above is an unedited copy of an article I wrote for the Baptist Times.