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Monday, November 24, 2003
ALPHA - THE BEGINNING
By Ramon Williams
Special for ASSIST News Service
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (ANS) --
The Australian National Alpha Conference, held
November 17-18 in the Hillsong Conference Centre, Baulkham Hills, in
Sydney, Australia, explained perfectly how to begin Alpha courses and
how to conduct them in a variety of locations, from business premises
to prisons and even nursing homes for the aged.
 The guest speakers,
the Rev. Nicky Gumbel and the Vicar, the Rev. Sandy Millar, are both
from Holy Trinity Brompton, an Anglican Church in London, England, the
same church where the Rev. Charles Marnham first started Alpha courses
in 1977. Their years of experience in sharing the whole concept and
professional communication skills, enabled those present to better
understand what was possible and practical in sharing Christianity with
others. (Pictured: Nicky Gumbel).
Other
guests included Tricia Neill, the Executive Director of Alpha
International and Emmy Wilson, who began Alpha for Prisons, and
musician Andy Piercy.
 Approximately 2,000 representatives attended
from across Australia, as well as from a variety of overseas countries,
to participate in the main auditorium meetings, as well as work shops
and seminars. (Pictured: The packed
auditorium).
The
delegates' packs contained handbooks, helpful literature and campus
information, thanks to the team led by Mona Carter, the National
Director of Alpha Australia.
Main meals and refreshments were served in a professional
manner, with military precision, so that even those with special
dietary needs were catered for. Based on past experience, the caterers
even allowed for an extra 300 "unregistered delegates".
Pastor
Phil Pringle, the Senior Minister of the Hillsong Church, welcomed the
guests, supported by the Rev. Professor James Haire, President of the
National Council of Churches in Australia, and the Rev. Tim Costello,
the former National President of the Baptist Union of Australia.
Mr.
Costello closed his comments with the statement: "Thank you for being
here. Take it seriously!"
Mr
Millar, who is known for his experience in church growth ministry,
explained that the reason Alpha had been so successful was because;
"the Holy Spirit has adopted it". It has proved its positive attributes
in 80% of the prisons in the United Kingdom and has been used by every
mainline denomination to explain Christianity to those who do not
attend churches.
Mr. Gumbel, who took over the running of the Alpha
courses in 1990, stated, right at the very beginning, that the aim of
an Alpha Course is to "introduce people to the Lord Jesus Christ - and
Him crucified".
The
lectures that followed over the next two days, dealt with "The
Principles of Alpha"; "The Practicalities", a "Model Alpha Evening",
"Small Groups and Pastoral Care", "Ministry on Alpha", Questions and
Answers and "Integrating Alpha into the Church".
 Some of the practical issues included ideas on
how "hosts" ("do not call them teachers") should welcome "guests" and
finishing with the subject, "How Can a Person be Full of the Holy
Spirit". (Pictured: One to one answers
were available during breaks).
On Day
1, Seminars were led by experienced leaders who shared information on
Prayer on Alpha, Administration on Alpha, Alpha in Prisons, Business
Alpha, Youth Alpha and Alpha in a Roman Catholic Content.
Seminars on Day 2 included Worship on Alpha, Developing
an Existing Alpha Course, Caring for Ex-Offenders, Student Alpha,
Expanding our Horizons - which dealt with Alpha for the Deaf, in
Nursing Homes and a variety of outreach projects. The most popular
seminar was Linking Alpha with the Marriage Course, which had
participants standing in every available space.
The
team then moved on to New Zealand, where a National Alpha Conference
was held November 24-25, in Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell Auckland.
Following New Zealand, guests at a Lunch with Nicky Gumbel in the
Fullerton Hotel, Singapore could judge for themselves: "Christianity:
Boring, Untrue and Irrelevant?"
Such is
the drive and determination of the Alpha personnel, helping churches to
reach out to those who are interested in knowing what Christianity is
all about.
For
further information, contact Alpha National offices around the world.
ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126
USA
E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com, Web
Site: www.assistnews.net
| Ramon Williams is an
Australian photographer and journalist living in Sydney, Australia,
with his wife Dorothy. They served as WEC missionaries in Java,
Indonesia from 1959-1967. Ramon photographed the 1968 Billy Graham
Crusade in Sydney when he found that nobody was taking photos for The
Religious Media in Australia. He has photographed every Crusade since,
including those of Franklin Graham, Dr John Haggai, Leighton Ford, Bill
Newman and Brian Willersdorf. He has photographed cyclones in Darwin,
Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands; earthquakes, floods and fires.
His reports of events have been heard over radio for UCB Europe and the
USA Radio Network. His aim is "To tell others what others are doing for
the Lord". His ministry is known as Worldwide Photos Ltd - The
Religious Media Agency, PO Box 494, Padstow NSW 2211, Australia; rigmedia@ozemail.com.au |
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