	What Value Alpha?
	This is a question posed by many people who have not been on the Alpha course; it is not one that is asked by those who have. I have ‘done’ alpha twice now and I have found myself asking the question Am I getting anything out of this? The answer is definitely yes, but to try and identify and quantify what it is, is a particularly difficult exercise. I have always considered myself to be a Christian. Whether I am a good one or not is for other people to decide. Having come back to church, after many years absence, I thought that I would try the Alpha course as I realised that I knew very little about the faith I professed to have. Alpha is structured in such a way that you are encouraged to ask questions and to debate matters which give cause for concern and which are related to your own understanding of Christianity. You don’t always find the answer you were looking for, but in many cases the information you are given leads you to look at the situation from a completely different angle. Looking back over my first Alpha, the one thing that stands out for me was being told that to be a Christian one needed to ask Jesus into your life and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I spent the rest of the course trying to fathom out how one asked Jesus into one’s life and to mean it. What particularly impressed me was the fellowship and friendship of the other members of the group. It came as a bit of a surprise to learn that there were other people in a like situation to my own who were seeking answers to the same questions as me. My first foray into Alpha taught me a very valuable lesson in that everything you need to know about Christianity is contained within the Bible. This may be rather obvious to some people, but it will give the reader some idea of where I was in my understanding of Christianity. I found the Bible to be a very difficult book to read and understand; it seems to be full of contradictions and stories that are not to be taken at their face value. Many members of that first course were of a like mind and from this was born a home group which meets fortnightly to read and study the bible.	My second Alpha course has proved to be completely different in that I have felt much more at ease and able to put into words many of the thoughts and questions I have felt necessary. I think I have acquired a bit of a reputation because of the many questions I have put. The strange thing is that so often I don’t know where these questions have come from, but, from comments made by other members of the group, they are questions that they would have asked. I have also been able to talk about my relationship with God, what I find difficult to understand, and the lessons we are taught in the Bible which I find very difficult to put into practice. One of the sessions in Alpha is entitled Why and how do I pray? This is something that I have found to be particularly difficult. Some people seem to be able to rattle prayers off without any difficulty, but this is hard for me. The one thing that I have learnt as a result of these Alpha courses is that Jesus is alive. He is not some nebulous being up in the sky somewhere; he is here now! I came to this knowledge from reading a book I got one evening at Alpha in which it said that Jesus had died and had risen from the dead. In that moment it became glaringly obvious that if Jesus rose from the dead then he must still be alive. The Alpha course is a catalyst for an ongoing process of learning about Christianity. Some people are very quick learners and have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit after only a short time whilst others, like me, have their faith strengthened by the drip feed method. I still have a long journey in front of me, but, with the help I got from the Alpha course, the continued help of the church family and the grace of God I hope to get to where I feel I am being led. Norman Allen
	Norbury Parish Church, Hazel Grove, Stockport, Cheshire. Telephone: 0161-483 6325

What Value Alpha?

This is a question posed by many people who have not been on the Alpha course; it is not one that is asked by those who have.

I have ‘done’ alpha twice now and I have found myself asking the question Am I getting anything out of this? The answer is definitely yes, but to try and identify and quantify what it is, is a particularly difficult exercise.

I have always considered myself to be a Christian. Whether I am a good one or not is for other people to decide. Having come back to church, after many years absence, I thought that I would try the Alpha course as I realised that I knew very little about the faith I professed to have.

Alpha is structured in such a way that you are encouraged to ask questions and to debate matters which give cause for concern and which are related to your own understanding of Christianity.

You don’t always find the answer you were looking for, but in many cases the information you are given leads you to look at the situation from a completely different angle.

Looking back over my first Alpha, the one thing that stands out for me was being told that to be a Christian one needed to ask Jesus into your life and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I spent the rest of the course trying to fathom out how one asked Jesus into one’s life and to mean it.

What particularly impressed me was the fellowship and friendship of the other members of the group. It came as a bit of a surprise to learn that there were other people in a like situation to my own who were seeking answers to the same questions as me.

My first foray into Alpha taught me a very valuable lesson in that everything you need to know about Christianity is contained within the Bible. This may be rather obvious to some people, but it will give the reader some idea of where I was in my understanding of Christianity. I found the Bible to be a very difficult book to read and understand; it seems to be full of contradictions and stories that are not to be taken at their face value. Many members of that first course were of a like mind and from this was born a home group which meets fortnightly to read and study the bible.

My second Alpha course has proved to be completely different in that I have felt much more at ease and able to put into words many of the thoughts and questions I have felt necessary. I think I have acquired a bit of a reputation because of the many questions I have put. The strange thing is that so often I don’t know where these questions have come from, but, from comments made by other members of the group, they are questions that they would have asked. I have also been able to talk about my relationship with God, what I find difficult to understand, and the lessons we are taught in the Bible which I find very difficult to put into practice.

One of the sessions in Alpha is entitled Why and how do I pray? This is something that I have found to be particularly difficult. Some people seem to be able to rattle prayers off without any difficulty, but this is hard for me.

The one thing that I have learnt as a result of these Alpha courses is that Jesus is alive.

He is not some nebulous being up in the sky somewhere; he is here now! I came to this knowledge from reading a book I got one evening at Alpha in which it said that Jesus had died and had risen from the dead. In that moment it became glaringly obvious that if Jesus rose from the dead then he must still be alive.

The Alpha course is a catalyst for an ongoing process of learning about Christianity. Some people are very quick learners and have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit after only a short time whilst others, like me, have their faith strengthened by the drip feed method.

I still have a long journey in front of me, but, with the help I got from the Alpha course, the continued help of the church family and the grace of God I hope to get to where I feel I am being led.

Norman Allen

What Value Alpha?

Norbury Parish Church, Hazel Grove, Stockport, Cheshire. Telephone: 0161-483 6325