Alpha (An Introduction)
As some of you may know (and many of you won’t) I have been interested in Christianity for years. At Hills Road, a few of my friends were Christians (namely Val, Ben, Claire D etc), and we had endless, not always friendly debates about some of the more pressing issues surrounding the faith. Not surprisingly, I tended to come away feeling like I had more questions than when I started.
In the past couple of years, other things have got in the way of my explorations. But what with Ben being Catholic, and my sister being Baptised in November last year, I decided that I really ought to know more about the faith that so many people in this country follow. So, I signed up for an Alpha course.
Alpha is the brainchild of a man named Charles Marnham, the then clergyman at Holy Trinity Brompton, in South Kensington. In 1977 he was looking for a vehicle by which he could teach the basic principles of Christianity to new Christians, in a relaxed and informal manner. Charles Marnham has since moved on, and the course has been led by a number of people, before it passed into the hands of Nicky Gumbel, the current leader.
It was in Nicky’s hands that the course direction changed. He found that the course was not only suitable for new Christians, but also for those with an interest in the faith, who want to find out more. With a few changes to the session content, Alpha as we now know it was formed.
It is an interdenominational course, although the exact content of the sessions is decided by the leader of the group, so each course will tend to lean towards the denomination of the church running it. The course I am on is run by Bishop’s Stortford Baptist Church, the church my sister is a member of.
I plan to write a series of entries, based upon my experiences of Alpha, and also to hopefully explain some of the issues we have covered in our meetings.
Information sources:
Course book - Questions of Life
Alpha Course website UK