“[Using the Alpha Film Series] was a big step for us as a church, because it meant that we could run Alpha anywhere and anytime.”

From running five Alphas a week in Stockport to combining courses in South London, church leader Jon Lindsay-Scott shares how a pragmatic approach to Alpha empowered him to have a fruitful church outreach.

Effective church outreach can take many forms – just ask Jon Lindsay-Scott, who’s been experimenting with what Alpha can look like over the last few years. In November 2017 Jon became minister of Springfield Church in Wallington, South London, after working at St Chads Church in Romiley in Stockport. At both churches Jon’s used Alpha as a way to evangelise to his local community.

We sat down with Jon and asked him to share his story and the lessons he’s learned along the way.

1. Get the whole church involved

When Jon was tasked with running outreach at St Chads, he knew that he wanted to use Alpha but quickly uncovered a challenge that was preventing engagement. ‘The general populous of the church were excited about Alpha, but not inviting people to it,’ he says. The root cause of this disconnect was simple. ‘If you’re inviting somebody to something you’ve never done, it’s harder to be enthusiastic about it – and harder to sell it.’

Their solution was to run Whole Church Alpha. ‘We promoted it as something for the whole congregation,’ Jon explains, ‘especially for those who had never tried Alpha before.’ They advertised their course with the strap line ‘for you and your friends’ – encouraging members to both try Alpha for the first time and also invite their peers.

The scale of engagement was unprecedented – with five Alpha gatherings running each week and 250 people attending their Alpha Weekend. ‘For a parish church on the outskirts of Manchester, the response really was significant.’

They also ran Alpha Youth with their young people and kids groups, ensuring that it truly was a whole church affair, from top to bottom. All in all they estimated that two thirds of those who attended were church members and one third invited from outside the church.

For each of their gatherings they used the Alpha Film Series. ‘That was a big step for us as a church,’ says Jon, ‘because it meant that we we could run Alpha anywhere and anytime.’ They took advantage of this newfound flexibility with their five gatherings timed to suit different demographics and schedules, from a Wednesday lunchtime course for parents, following their baby and toddler groups in the morning, to a Tuesday evening course for young professionals.

‘It was definitely a step of faith,’ Jon admits. ‘It quickly became apparent that we either go all in on this or don’t bother.’ He attributes much of the success of Whole Church Alpha to the level of commitment that the leadership showed. ‘My learning’s been that if you run Alpha as an add on, you miss out on so much fruit – but people can really get on board with something when they realise the church is taking it seriously.’

2. Combine courses and resources

In November, Jon took on his new role at Springfield in Wallington. Running Alpha at a new church presented Jon with a new set of challenges, but he took on board the lessons learned from his experience of Alpha in Stockport – and again got creative with how to get the most out of the course.

A key difference between the two churches is that Springfield don’t own their church facility, Sunday services are run in a local school. In the past, the church had run Alpha once a year using another church’s building just down the road as their venue – but this time around they decided to take the collaboration one step further.

‘They had a new vicar as well and he and I got talking,’ Jon explains. ‘We were both really keen to run Alpha, so we decided to run it together.’

Working together the two churches were able to combine resources and volunteers. They ran joint training sessions with members of both churches, clubbed together for the Alpha weekend and continued to host the course at their partner’s building. While some resources were simply combined, they also managed to ease some of the logistical pressures of running a course – ‘each church took it in turns, every other week, to provide food for the session.’

Combining with another church bolstered Jon’s ability to run Alpha for his congregation, and for both churches it enabled a bigger course. There were small challenges that arose from combining courses admits Jon, such as slight differences in theology and some difficulties in knowing which guests would be invited to whose church after the course. But altogether it was an experience that gave both churches a greater capacity to share the gospel in their shared local community.

3. Run Alpha anywhere, for anyone

Despite the broad enthusiasm for their first ever combined Alpha, there was still a need within Jon’s church, and a familiar request was made by not one, but three members of his team.

When his youth pastor approached him and asked him if he could start running Alpha for Youth, he said: ‘Absolutely, go for it.’ Then his young adults home group leader got in touch; the timings of the combined Alpha wouldn’t work for them, so the young adults home group decided to run it together. Then his seniors minister, who had attended and been inspired by the recent joint training, suggested that she run it for older people in a local care home.

aBefore he knew it, at the start of 2018 the church were running four simultaneous Alphas. ‘I’m building up a reputation for this,’ jokes Jon, ‘but it’s all out of recognition that with the option of using videos you can effectively run Alpha in any living room!’ The combined church Alpha and the young adults group used the Alpha Film Series, the youth group played the Alpha Youth Series and at the care home they found that the Alpha with Nicky Gumbel videos were most effective for their audience.

Jon describes the Alpha Weekend as ‘critical’ to any Alpha. This year they used the Alpha Weekend as an opportunity to bring their combined church Alpha and smaller living room Alpha groups together. ‘There was a sense that this was special, there were more people, more buzz.’ At an Alpha Weekend ‘you break the cycle of evenings,’ says Jon. ‘You break the cycle of just cerebral listening and talking, and it brings experience and the Holy Spirit into the equation.’

All four courses just came to a close, and Jon describes them all as big successes for the church, but for all of them the Alpha sessions were just the beginning.

4. Make a plan for after Alpha

‘One thing we knew that we wanted to get right was to address the question of what to do after Alpha,’ explains Jon. His solution has been to keep the groups meeting together and to transition out of Alpha sessions to discussing notes around their church sermon subjects. By doing this Jon hopes to make the transition between Alpha and church as easy for guests as possible.

So far this tactic seems to be working with 90% continuing to meet together after the course finished. ‘Frankly, the groups that are meeting now are meeting because they like talking with each other – they’re meeting because they want to meet.’ Keeping the framework of the groups and the timings has managed to provide a space for guests who’ve finished Alpha but aren’t yet ready or able to join the church as guests at Sunday services.

Altogether, Jon’s experience of running Alpha can be summed up as pragmatic – sometimes it’s worked to run Alpha as a big collective event, other times the familiarity and flexibility of airing the Alpha Film Series in someone’s living room has proved best. One thing is consistent though, which is his belief that commitment is essential for fruitful church outreach – ‘you’ve got to go all in or don’t bother.’

Do you need some ideas on how to make Alpha more engaging? If so this article may help: 9 tried and tested ways to make Alpha fun

“The aim is to make sure that every event the church runs is enjoyable and in a location that people will want to come to.”

Looking for ideas on how to make your Alpha as fun as possible? We’ve got you covered. Here are nine top tips from Dave Larlee in Texas that will keep your guests engaged, entertained and coming back for more.

Having run forty-two Alphas – twelve in his current home of Texas – Dave Larlee has been around the Alpha block! From his experience at All Saints Dallas we pluck nine top tips on how to find the fun…

1. Go location shopping

In a city with more Bible Studies than coffee shops, Dave wanted to differentiate their church outreach. Having initially run Alpha in their building’s ‘horrific’ basement, Dave realised it was key to frame the course in an environment that was fun. ‘We didn’t want going to Alpha to be synonymous with going to church,’ he explains, ‘We wanted it to be like, ‘Why don’t you come for a fun night out?’ so we started to look for a location where guests would feel more engaged.’

2. Break expectations

What better place to invite friends to a night out at than a wine cellar? We can’t think of many. That’s where Dave and his team decided to host Alpha. ‘All of a sudden, everything started to change in a positive way. When the first question you ask people is ‘Red or White?’ they’re caught off guard, because here in Dallas that’s quite counter cultural. After three courses being run in the cellar we outgrew it and once again we’re on the search for a location that would be equally appealing to our guests!’

3. Make every penny count

There’s no two ways about it, the processes of thriftiness and budget management don’t get many of us excited—but if you know what you have and how you can spend it, a little budget can go a long way! ‘I have someone on my team who knows that for $10 a head we can do this, for $12 we can do that,’ Dave explains, and they didn’t stop there, they even carried research out into the flow of business on a Tuesday night in the city so they could approach the right venue, haggle on price and run the best Alpha possible on their budget.

4. Go big or go home

One of Dave’s team works as an events planner and once they’d outgrown the wine cellar he suggested a venue where he’d recently thrown a fundraiser. The venue was one of Dallas’ most popular nightclubs and, after running one Alpha in the function room, they rented the entire club. ‘Our ceiling jumped from 65 guests—which was the most we’d ever had—to 110 at the course we just finished. It just took off!’

5. Get invitational

An invitational culture is essential for effective evangelism. At All Saints Dallas, they’ve been making a conscious effort to encourage their congregation to feel comfortable inviting their friends. ‘We noticed that the church is very welcoming, however, welcoming does not mean inviting.’ The solution? Three years ago they set up an annual church Christmas party where members could invite their friends and everyone could have a good time together. ‘It’s given our members confidence that they can invite their friends to a church event and it will be good.’

“For guests, a social event before Alpha can inform them about the course and give a small taste of what to expect.”

6. Make fun part of your wider church culture

For Dave and his team, the culture of fun runs deeper than just Alpha. He describes the three key values they endorse as ‘Love, listen and fun.’ ‘We don’t run many programmes, but we do run a lot of events. For instance, we don’t run a newcomers’ class, but we do have a newcomers’ Happy Hour’ he explains. The aim is to make sure that every event the church runs is enjoyable and in a location that people will want to come to.

7. Try the Alpha Film Series

There are many different ways to present Alpha—with live talks, video talks, or with the Alpha Film Series. All Saints in Dallas decided to show the Film Series to take a fresh approach. The series of episodes travel around the world, with a mixture of stories, animations and interviews that all explore a different question around Christianity. Find out more about the Alpha Film Series.

8. Connect outside of the course

As part of the Alpha course, Dave and his team run an Alpha Day or Weekend where the group spend a block of time together. But what they also do is invite everyone back for an After Party in the evening, outside the course structure. It’s a chance to spend time, have fun and socialise together without a set programme.

9. Get former guests involved

A team who are passionate and excited to be involved with Alpha can make all the difference! At All Saints it’s a requirement that everyone who helps has experienced the course themselves. ‘If someone’s enjoyed it, I’ll often invite them to come back as a helper,’ explains Dave. If you build your team with people who know what it’s like to try Alpha, it can help narrow the gap between helpers and guests, and lead to great friendships being formed.

As a leader, you can set the tone for how engaging and welcoming Alpha can be. Dave’s experience is a reminder that spending time focusing on handpicking the location, food, course format and team members who help run Alpha, empowers you and your team to make Alpha a fun experience for those attending.

“Don’t just pair [leaders and helpers] because you need to—think about how their personalities match because that will affect the whole group.”

We know that encouraging guests to come back to Alpha week in week out can be a challenge. We also know that maintaining a motivated team can be just as hard. Adrian who runs Alpha in Kuala Lumpur talks to us about how he limited the drop off and fought the Alpha fatigue.

The church of HTBB in Kuala Lumpur has run Alpha for eleven terms in a row since they started in 2015. Adrian has overseen it since their fourth course and we ask him to share some of his top tips for creating great group dynamics that will keep guests coming back every week…

Prepare the team

Training the entire team that will run the sessions every week is essential to the success of any Alpha. It’s no different at HTBB. ‘First, we start off with a very good foundation of training – we ensure all our leaders come to training the week prior to Alpha starting’ explains Adrian. As well as preparing the team, training is a good time to make sure everyone is motivated and feels useful, ‘it’s important that we let them know how valued and appreciated they are, and how integral they are to their small group’.

Create a support system

At HTBB, around 80% of those involved in running Alpha do so after finishing their day job in the city. Adrian admits it can be challenging to make sure that the team are able to cope with the dual demands of a busy work day followed by Alpha in the evening.

Their solution? They created WhatsApp groups as a support unit for leaders where they send out any information and encouragement in the days before Alpha. The WhatsApp groups help leaders support each other as they can all connect and communicate directly on the platform. ‘What we’ve found,’ says Adrian, ‘is that when a leader feels that they’re well supported, it builds their confidence for leading a small group as well.’

Keep everyone in the loop

As well as using a WhatsApp group for leaders, on the day of each session HTBB also send out an email to the team where they outline the session’s topic, which highlights the themes and discussion topics for the week. ‘That way, even if they’re running late to a session, they will still know what the subject matter is and have something to contribute to the group discussion!’

Maintain relationships

When you run Alpha as frequently as they do at HTBB, a common challenge to come up against is leaders feeling the fatigue of consistently dedicating their time and energy to the course. The way to deal with this challenge is relational says Adrian, ‘it’s important to sit down face to face and to make sure they feel appreciated and that they know how important their contribution is’. It’s also important to listen to each host and helper and to understand the stage they’re at in their own lives in order to be able to offer them the support they need.

Pair on purpose

The relationships of those leading Alpha small groups can have a huge impact on the dynamic of the group itself – ‘when the team gels, it translates to the group’.

Adrian stresses the importance of having leaders and helpers who complement each other, ‘if the pairing is right, you get a good group dynamic’ he says. ‘Don’t just pair because you need to – think about how their personalities match because that will affect the whole group.’ A pre-existing relationship between leaders and helpers can help get the group off to a good start. To find Alpha leaders, Adrian approaches leaders of their church connect groups and then asks them if they can think of anyone in their group to join them at Alpha.

Even the work schedule of leaders is considered when choosing who hosts groups together at HTBB. ‘Alpha runs in the most hectic work months,’ explains Adrian ‘so it’s important to combine leaders who don’t work in a similar place or type of industry – that way if one leader unexpectedly can’t make it, due to traffic or work, hopefully the other will be present’.

Get to know your guests

Just as with pairing your leaders, it can be useful to consider the personalities and preferences of your guests when choosing a group to place them in. ‘Try to have a conversation with your guests’ before selecting their group, suggests Adrian, ‘if a guest just says one or two words, you know they’re probably more of an introvert – but if they’re very chatty they may be more extroverted and would do better in a louder, more extroverted group’.

The most important thing is that Alpha guests feel comfortable and confident to contribute to the group discussion whenever they choose. Considering personality dynamics when setting up your small groups could make a big difference to your guests’ experience of Alpha.

Create the right atmosphere

‘One thing we’ve noticed is that if we set the right vibe in the hall – and around the building – people will come,’ he notes. The team also realised that once they break off into twelve small groups after the talk it was helpful to disperse into smaller more private locations – ‘that way everyone can hear each other, and that it creates an environment where everyone feels able to talk’.

As HTBB enter their twelfth consecutive course they are continuing to learn what works best and to tweak their tactics for building great Alpha teams – we hope Adrian’s tips give you some new ideas for running your next Alpha!

You’ve read about Adrian’s experience in Kuala Lumpur, now discover how Jon in the UK got creative with Alpha and got his whole church involved in the process!

Open, honest, and respectful discussion is the dream for every small group at Alpha. The discussion time is where guests get to share their response to the talks, ask questions and dig deeper into the content. We want every guest to feel valued and loved in these interactions and for genuine friendships to form.

While friendship is the fuel for open discussion at Alpha, there are also practical ways that the small group host can facilitate honest conversations from the very first week. Here we have some ideas for group guidelines and things that hosts can say to facilitate great discussion.

Share Group Guidelines

For the first three sessions of Alpha, it’s a good idea for hosts to give their group some guidelines that will help keep the conversation alive and facilitate open discussion. There are four specific points we recommend saying to help set the groundwork for the discussion time.

1. You don’t have to talk, but we’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts if you’re willing to share.
2. All comments and questions are welcome but please be respectful.
3. Different opinions are allowed and encouraged. There is a good chance that we won’t all agree at the end of each session. Open discussion is the goal rather than total agreement.
4. Everything said in the group should be kept confidential.

Ask Follow-up Questions

When a guest asks a question, a good strategy is for the host to ask the rest of the group what they think or feel about it. Sometimes if an Alpha host is quick to give their opinion, it can stop the discussion, because it’s viewed as “the final answer.” Other questions that can be used to keep the conversation going are:

1. Can you explain a bit more, or give an example?
2. Are you wondering if….(and then clarify or rephrase)?
3. Has anyone else felt that way too?
4. And how does that make you feel?
5. Can you share with us how that question came up for you?

Validate and Affirm

Validation is acknowledging someone else’s thoughts and feelings as being valid, understandable (eg. having doubts). Affirmation is encouraging and supporting someone (eg. for sharing thoughts). We can still validate and affirm Alpha guests without agreeing with or accepting their viewpoints. When people feel they are being listened to, they’re more likely to participate in the discussion. Here are some suggestions for what a host could say in response to someone who has shared:

1. Thanks for sharing/Thank you for sharing that.
2. I appreciate your honesty. Tell us more.
3. Yes, I can relate to that too!
4. It’s okay to take a minute to think about it. That’s what we’re here for. No rush.
5. It’s okay to have different opinions and disagree. Discussion helps us learn other viewpoints.
6. I’m glad you’re here.
7. I can see why you would feel that way.

At Alpha, the host doesn’t take on the role of a teacher like what you might find in a typical Bible study setting. Instead, the host is someone who helps to create a welcoming and safe place for people to share. Often people are not used to being able to disagree or say what they’re really thinking in a learning environment. Having the freedom to do so at Alpha creates an atmosphere that disarms people, so they begin to contribute to the conversation in a personal and meaningful way. And it’s through these heartfelt conversations that many guests move further along on their journey of faith and encounter Jesus for the first time.