Noarlunga’s Alpha Course ‘giving people permission to be real’
BY KIRRALEE NICOLLE
A corps in the southern suburbs of Adelaide has found an innovative way to offer the Alpha Course within their faith community, growing it in both size and depth of faith engagement.
Noarlunga Corps Officer Auxiliary-Lieutenant Deb Strapp observed that her community held diverse levels of understanding when it came to faith and Christianity. She said this presented challenges when preparing sermons to deliver to the large group.
“One of the things that makes it hard when you’re ministering to a congregation is not quite knowing where people are at spiritually,” she said. “We can assume a lot of things, without really knowing. My heart for our people is for them to know Jesus intimately and for us to be a united body of Christ.
“The desired outcome is for people to love Jesus and each other more.”
With this goal in mind, but also an awareness that time was limited for both the ministry team and the church members, Deb was prompted to launch the Alpha Course with a difference. She said that while she always aims to make her language and sermon illustrations relatable to all, she was aware that many new people coming into their congregation had little or no knowledge of the Christian faith or of church itself.
She encouraged those who were strong and faithful Christians to embrace Alpha through the mindset of “What wisdom and understanding do I have to impart, and how can I encourage others?” This gave seasoned Christians the opportunity to step up and disciple others, with the desired outcome of fostering greater unity amongst the body of Christ.
She also believed it would serve as a reminder to the faithful of some of the fundamentals of Christianity, which she said we can easily lose sight of along the way.
Besides, this wasn’t the first time Deb had done something of this kind. When she was previously in ministry at Marion Corps, she ran a similar Alpha program on a Sunday morning.
“I felt God absolutely leading us in this,” Deb said. “I brought my leadership team together and shared what I felt that God wanted us to do.”
“It’s [about] creating a level foundation for us all to grow. If they’ve got missing parts, how can their faith grow? If they don’t know the foundational truths of the Christian faith, how can they learn to trust a God that they can’t see?
Deb’s leadership team embraced the idea, and together they set about planning how the Alpha course would be delivered.
They decided to mix the Sunday congregation of between 60-70 people into groups of seven to nine per table, creating groups containing both newer Christians and mature Christians, all from a variety of ages and backgrounds.
Noarlunga’s youth were not overlooked through this process, with Youth Alpha being facilitated concurrently by two young adult leaders in the neighbouring hall.
Since there is not a specific children’s program in the Alpha Course, the team came up with a backpack system, where the young children of attendees were given a backpack at the commencement of the course which stays in the church until the end of the Alpha program. Each week new activities are added for them to work through during the morning service.
“The Lord has brought in five new people over the past seven weeks who have been regularly attending, and a further four people who have attended more than once,” Deb said.
This number includes one dedicated Noarlunga Corps volunteer who had been invited in through their established relationships in the corps. Deb said that integrating them all into Alpha had been surprisingly seamless, with people being very open to engage with the program and a different “style” of church.
She said the space has become one of sacred sharing, where participants have felt free to openly discuss difficult parts of their lives, and their struggles with faith. Deb also said there is an increasing love of God among participants, with attendees revealing that they have felt compelled to accept Jesus and have a greater understanding of the peace which comes from salvation.
“It is giving people permission to be real,” Deb said.
“Alpha has brought to our Sunday congregation not only a greater knowledge and understanding of the Christian faith, but also a greater understanding and love for each other.
“It has far surpassed simply learning about the Christian faith. It’s having a way bigger impact than that. It is truly transforming lives, and as such transforming our church,” Deb said.
