ALPHA FOR ALL
By Christopher Quah
The Alpha course is a very popular evangelistic tool that has been used by many churches to introduce the Christian faith to those who are curious to know more about the real meaning of life, whether they are non-believers or nominal Christians. Originating from the Holy Trinity Brompton, a Church of England parish in London, the Alpha course has now gone worldwide and are being used by various Christian denominations. Among them is Full Gospel Assembly in KL who have been running the Alpha course for over ten years and have come up with their own customised unique activities for their Alpha courses.
Pastor Kia Sing, one of the pastors involved in Alpha, shared with Asian Beacon the story of how Alpha came to Malaysia.
“This is our 26th season of Alpha since it started roughly around 15-20 years ago. It began when one of our church members, Michael Ho, a Malaysian Airlines air steward was on an overseas trip to London. Usually he would visit churches around there to worship. In one occasion he happened to visit Holy Trinity Brompton church, where Nicky Gumbel, who was the main spokesperson of Alpha was preaching. Finding the Alpha course very good, he brought it back to me, and asked for the church to embark on this course. We also went to the Alpha Asia Pacific Conference to learn more about the course and the vision of Alpha. At this conference Nicky Gumbel himself came to talk about the course. After that we started our first Alpha course. It was held in a home fellowship conducted by Michael Ho, and Foo Lai Wei. A proud fact is that Lai Wei is now the Regional Development Director of Alpha Asia Pacific,” the pastor recalled.
He added that Alpha FGA has gone from leaps and bounds since then. He states that at the beginning there were only 10-15 people. But as time went by, the course went well and grew after two to three rounds.
“From home fellowship, we then shifted the Alpha course to the church. Alpha in English was the first course to run in FGA. But as time went by Alpha Senior and Alpha Tamil also emerged. We also have Alpha in prison, Alpha in home fellowships, and Alpha at workplaces,” Pastor Kia Sing explained.
Different Alpha’s For Different Needs.
Sharon Theng, who is the FGA Alpha Administrator for over ten years since 2008, explained the uniqueness of each of these Alpha ministries that have sprung up from the main Alpha in the English group.
“The English Alpha course follows the original Alpha modus operandi from the UK, which is divided into three components; coming together for food, watching a video together, and having a short discussion in a small group. While we conducted the Alpha course in English, we found out that there was an age gap between the adults who were working and those who were retired plus the elderly. They had different topics of interest which they would like to hear and discuss. For the younger adults, it was about Christian values in the workplace, family, finance and so on. For the seniors, their focus was on questions like the afterlife. So Alpha Seniors was founded in 2012 for the elderly to get them together to discuss issues that were relevant to them. At first it was also an all English course. But then we noticed that many elderly people were conversant in Mandarin and Cantonese. As such in 2014, Alpha Senior was also conducted in Chinese. This allowed the seniors to communicate and share in Alpha more efficiently with the language they were more familiar with. In order to cater to the Indian community, we also started Alpha Tamil in 2012. As you can see, we allow the Alpha courses here to adapt to the groups that we are targeting,” Sharon explains.
Another unique activity which Alpha Seniors have unlike the other Alpha courses, is that Alpha Seniors also conducted an exercise routine called the Praise Dance, a sort of morning warm up exercise which begins around 9:30am. It is conducted by Peter Ang and Linda Lee. Praise Dance is a series of light warm-up aerobic exercises accompanied with music to help the senior’s stretch-out in the morning.
“Senior Alpha has been using praise dance for 8 years. Praise dance is not just a simple dance. We use worship music instead of worldly music as we see it as a form of worship. As such we feel that it compliments Alpha Seniors as they can warm-up and worship at the same time,” Linda Lee explains.
Linda adds that they adopted the praise dance routine from Taiwan 10 years ago. Prior to Alpha Seniors, she and her husband have been instructors teaching Praise Dance at NSK in the morning to those interested.
Interview With The Leaders
Tracy Tee, course leader for Senior Alpha for over 16 seasons explains that Alpha Senior is much more-easy going compared to that of the other Alpha Courses.
“It is more verbal (discussion) instead of doing written work, as being seniors, it can be hard to read and write. The syllabus is also in English. As such it is easier for them to learn through discussion, as they can ask questions when they are not sure of something,” Tracy states.
Lee Kum Quan, who is in charged of the Alpha English courses, serving for 9 years says that one of the reasons why Alpha ministries has kept going throughout the years, whether it is the main English Alpha, Senior or Tamil is because of its effectiveness for both those who attended it or lead it.
“Alpha is very rewarding for me personally. I saw people being saved, and their life changed throughout the years. There is a genuine transformation and the videos have helped a lot. Even those who have been Christian for some time, got closer to God through Alpha. Besides being an effective tool, Alpha helps create a sense of belonging and family through food and fellowship. This makes the guest bolder to talk, and ask questions about life. I remember there was a guest who never said anything at all, but he accepted Christ at the end of the course. He is also now one of the Alpha leaders. These are the things which we Alpha heads see, and spur us on to continue,” Lee explains.
Rajoo Nagarasu, Advisor of Tamil Alpha gives his explanation on why he helped start Tamil Alpha as well his experience with Alpha Tamil.
“It happened roughly five years ago. I was assigned to take care of a Tamil speaking group. I decided to pioneer this as I saw the Alpha course as a very good tool to reach out to non-believers. The reason is that it focused less on religious things like ceremonies, church events but talked more about life questions. This makes it easier to reach out to the Indian community. Alpha is not forcing one to hear a sermon or preaching but a very simple and systematic explanation approach to why they have to accept Jesus. After the video explanations and discussions, many Indians have a different conception of Christianity. Before this, they thought that Christianity is just another religion. Initially they were afraid that we were trying to convert them. Then Alpha course helped them understand the life of Jesus, and Jesus Himself as well as how this applied to their life. The topics slowly made them understand about Jesus, The Holy Spirit, and God. They learned to talk to God one to one, and were touched by the Holy Spirit. They have never experienced this before. Many staunch Hindus who once saw Jesus as one of the many other gods they worshiped now see Him as the only God thanks to Alpha. Because of that, many came to know the Lord. In fact, Alpha Tamil is so effective that even non-believers can’t wait to attend Alpha every Saturday,” Rajoo says.
What Next After Alpha?
Pastor Jeremy Hendricks another pastor of FGA helping with Alpha explains that this is not the case.
“We have another group call Connect, which is one step after Alpha. It is for those who have finished Alpha, and have decided to take the journey further. The reason for the Connect group is that those who have received salvation during Alpha, still want to gather among themselves.
Although we have cell groups, those from Alpha have already formed a very close bond, and can grow together much faster. They also can check up on each other in terms of spiritual development. Connect is important so that new believers from Alpha would not fade away from the faith,” Pastor Jeremy explains.
In ending it is the hope of all those involved, that Alpha FGA continues to grow and adapt to cater to the needs and wants of the ever-increasing types of people, who are seeking the truth about Jesus.
