No excuses

Alpha’s new resources challenge Christians to send embodied invites

IN CONSULTATION WITH church leaders across the country, Alpha Canada has launched Life Shared (www.AlphaCanada. org/LifeShared), a set of free resources encouraging Christians to invite their friends, neighbours and loved ones to discover Jesus.

“Historically we’ve created promotional material for guests [or attendees], such as billboards that sit outside churches,” says Jon Bryars, head of marketing and communications. “But we’ve now created videos directed to the congregation to ask, ‘Who will you invite?’”

Alpha is an 11-week course designed to help people know and experience Christ through a shared meal and discussion. Officially Alpha is in 101 countries – in churches as well as workplaces, prisons, universities and coffee shops.

Last fall Alpha had 40,000 guests, but hopes to double that through a focus on “the invitational Church.” Early this year, Alpha spoke with church leaders and heard challenges of declining church attendance and a need for evangelism, especially among the 30 and under group. Their response was to produce a series of videos, prayer cards and additional resources for the weeks leading up to Alpha.

The Life Shared Small Group Series also stimulates discussion, prayer, and encourages church community groups to share their faith with those who don’t know Jesus. The series includes three 15-minute videos with biblical teaching as well as leader and discussion guides. The resources, Alpha leaders hope, will motivate the Church to urgently pray for the people in their lives – many of whom are looking for meaningful connection.

“Eighty per cent of people come to Alpha because of a personal invitation, not a social media post,” says Bryars. “Alpha creates an embodied experience where people get to meet the Church and see it for what it is.”

Different personalities have different evangelism hangups, says Bryars. Personally his fear came in putting the relationship in the hands of the program and other people. To overcome this, he suggests running a “mock Alpha session” for the church community to ease their comfort level and better understand the program.