Alpha courses a popular path into Christianity

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BANGOR – Corinne Dunlop-Everett came seeking the peace her grandmother found in Christianity.

Kelly Austin came to strengthen her faith.

Michelle Stevens came to spend time with her in-laws.

They were part of a small group at River City Wesleyan Church that took part in a 10-week course involving a simple regimen – a meal, a video and discussion – that belies its continuing popularity.

It was called an Alpha course and there are more than 3,000 of them running in the United States, according to Alpha USA. About a half-million Americans have participated.

Designed by an Anglican minister in the early 1980s, the course crosses denominational lines. Over the past year, Alpha courses have been offered in Episcopal, Baptist, United Methodist and independent churches around Maine.

Alpha is an acronym that is designed to explain the course:

. Anyone interested in finding out more about the Christian faith. Adults of all ages are welcome.

. Learning and laughter. It is possible to learn about the Christian faith and to have fun at the same time.

. People meeting together. An opportunity to get to know others and make new friends.

. Helping one another. The small groups give a chance to discuss issues raised during the talks.

. Ask anything. Alpha is a place where no question is seen as too simple or too hostile.

The course lasts 10 weeks. Each session begins with a meal, followed by a videotaped lecture and a small discussion group. The final session often includes a weekend retreat.

“We’ve found that getting to know people and feeling part of community is a major reason it’s been so successful everywhere and is growing,” said the Rev. Jon Stratton, associate pastor at Military Street Baptist Church in Houlton. “Through the course, people are getting to know people as friends and on a deeper level.”

While churches in other parts of the country have experienced membership growth through the course, not enough Maine churches have offered the Alpha approach long enough to document membership growth through the course.

Alpha began rather humbly 20 years ago at an Anglican church in London. The Rev. Charles Marnham, rector of Holy Trinity Brompton, devised what became the Alpha course as way of presenting the basic principles of the Christian faith to new Christians in a relaxed, informal setting.

Marnham’s talks addressed such questions as “Who is Jesus?” “How and Why Do I Pray?” and “How Does God Guide Us?” These topics still are discussed in an Alpha course, but it has a more intimate feel than it did in the early 1980s. When the Rev. Nicky Gumble took over Alpha in 1990, the barrister-turned-priest revised the program, taped his lectures, and began marketing the program worldwide.

Alpha statistics show that churches experience growth after the seventh offering of the course, said Charyl Stevens, who leads courses at River City Wesleyan, 1460 Outer Hammond St., in Bangor. Her church’s experience with attendance has been typical. The current course is the fifth time in two years it has held an Alpha course.

“The first couple of times we had about a dozen people who were mostly church members,” she said. “Then it started to dwindle. But as more people take the course, they will invite friends and family to attend and it will grow exponentially.”

Marie Keene has twice led the course at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Camden and is planning a new session in September. Ten people attended the first offering and 20 took part in the second.

“Alpha is a nonthreatening way to tell the world about the Gospel of Jesus Christ in that you discuss it on each person’s own terms. I think that’s why it’s working. Plus, the fact that it’s the truth and the Holy Spirit is there doing his thing.”

Military Street Baptist has offered the course seven times. The size of the group ranged from six to 15. Church members who have participated are beginning to bring friends to the Alpha courses, Stratton said. The course recently adapted the course for residents of area nursing homes.

“In some ways it is functioning as a doorway into a church community for some folks,” he said. “Two who have participated made decisions to follow Christ through the course and have become very active in the church.

“Our reason for starting the program was not for those within the church. We had plenty or opportunities for them. Our weakness was connecting with those outside people. We haven’t had people coming in off the street. Personal invitation does bring people in.”

Information is available at the Web site www.alphacourse.org. For information on church experiences, call River City Wesleyan at 990-1711; Military Street Baptist at 532-2783; and St. Thomas Episcopal at 236-3680.

Some church leaders have criticized Alpha for being too experience-driven and too negative about traditional churches. Martyn Percy, director of the Lincoln Theological Institute for the Study of Religion and Society of the University of Sheffield, England, has said that Alpha is “a package rather than a pilgrimage.” In an essay published in the mid-1990s, he wrote that it is “a confident but narrow expression of Christianity, which stresses the personal experience of the Spirit over the Spirit in the church.”

The Rev. Steven Sinclair, pastor at River City Wesleyan, said that in his experience Alpha gives people who want to investigate Christianity a nonthreatening environment outside the Sunday worship service in which to learn about Christ and his teachings.

And Keene said, “In Alpha courses, God is moving in any heart that is open and willing to receive him, regardless of denomination.”