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Anyone for Alpha? - Evangelism in a Post-Christian Society

Alpha meets OFSTED

ANYONE FOR ALPHA? -
Evangelism in a post-Christian society
By Dr. Stephen Hunt
Darton, Longman & Todd. 121 pages. £7.95.

In 1991 only four churches were running the Alpha course, today there are thousands, but how much impact is it having on our secular society? Anyone for Alpha - Evangelism in a Post-Christian Society attempts to answer this question. The data for the book comes from extensive interviews with Alpha course members and leaders, as well as a questionnaire survey of 304 people who have completed the course.

Alpha in context

Alpha has been developed over several decades by the team at Holy Trinity Brompton in London. As it evolved it has been influenced by evangelism strategies, and spiritual events from other parts of the world, including the ministry of John Wimber and the Toronto blessing. Hunt rightly points out that these influences make it more natural for Charismatic churches to use the course, quoting both conservative evangelicals who are suspicious of the course content, and liberals who feel that it tackles all the wrong issues. For them, Alpha represents the 'MacDonaldization' of Christianity; repackaging something multi-faceted and complex into a tightly controlled easily marketed package.

There are some errors of fact in the first half of the book. For instance, there is no such thing as the Beta course, even though it is described in some detail on page 45. I am also dubious about the simple connections made between the influences mentioned above and the format of Alpha. Neither is it true that the content of the course is as tightly controlled as a MacDonalds hamburger. Nicky Gumbel himself has said, 'The best way to do Alpha is for someone to read the book (Questions of Life) and reproduce the talks in their own words. I still think that the ideal is to have a live speaker adapting the material to his audience'. The fact that Alpha runs in over one hundred prisons, and in Knightsbridge is evidence of the amazing adaptability of the course.

The numbers game

The middle section of Anyone for Alpha? presents the numbers generated by Hunt's questionnaires.

* 77% of Alpha course members are already attending the church, so he concludes that fewer unchurched people are being reached than has been claimed.
* 50% would have liked a session on the issue of suffering, so he feels that the most relevant subjects are not being addressed.
* Most of the course members were white and middle class, so Alpha does not reach far outside the church ghetto.

In fact these figures are of limited use, because the sample size was too small (304 people returned questionnaires). So when he writes that, 'one percent of respondents only came because their spouse had signed up', you need to remind yourself that he means only three people! The sample was drawn from only four churches; two from Maidenhead (one of the most affluent towns in the country) and two from Reading. This small slice of Christendom in deepest Berkshire is not really representative of the country as a whole and it is no surprise that most respondents were white and middle class.

It is worth comparing Hunt with independent figures published recently by Christian Research and published in the latest Alpha News. They measured the growth of 1,866 churches using the Alpha course against others; a total sample of 8,681 churches. They found that churches who ran Alpha only once or twice saw little growth, whereas those who ran the course for three to six years grew significantly. However, only twenty six percent of the churches using Alpha regularly are growing, but twenty percent are static and fifty four percent are shrinking. The latest edition of Alpha News was very upbeat about these figures, concluding that 'Alpha is good for churches'. Yet both Stephen Hunt and Christian Research agree that most of Britain's churches are still failing to impact their communities with or without Alpha.

Not the answer

That is not a criticism of Alpha, just confirmation that it is a tool and not The Answer. Run the course in a church with a team of people who are committed to truth, and passionate about reaching the lost and it will have a huge impact. In an environment where the spiritual atmosphere is less optimal, the effect of Alpha will be correspondingly reduced.

Anyone for Alpha confirms some observations of my own. Outside the churches very few people have heard of Alpha, and national advertising campaigns have little impact on the ground. Significant numbers of Christians use Alpha as a nurture or 'refresher' course and many Alpha converts were nominal Christians or backsliders to start with. Hunt recognises that taking part in Alpha has deepened the spiritual lives of many lukewarm Christians, though some have become 'Alphaholics', returning to do the course again and again!

Anyone for Alpha is a small survey dressed up as a big one, nevertheless the final conclusion is fair enough; Britain is far more secular than most of us realise and Alpha has not made the kind of impact that is likely to change this; not yet anyway!

Dave Burke, Houghton-le-Spring