Alpha International Annual Review 2020

annual review 2020 Alpha International

our mission 03

We passionately believe everyone should have the opportunity to explore a personal relationship with Jesus, regardless of their background or where they are in the world, for free.

There is so much we have learned during this last year.

During the pandemic, many people experienced a renewed interest in exploring the meaning of life and large numbers turned to Alpha Online.

Our mission is to equip and serve the church in its mission to help people discover and develop a relationship with Jesus.

I used to say I didn’t think Alpha would work very well online.

But I have been proved wrong.

Alpha works far better online than we ever believed possible, not least because of the simple convenience of engaging from home.

And the Holy Spirit is not confused

by Zoom – he still works powerfully remotely and at a distance! People have been healed, found faith and been filled with the Spirit at their kitchen tables.

I had no Christian background, so I had a lot of questions. Going from Alpha in person to going online was good for me. I don’t know what it was, but I was definitely way more vulnerable and open online. Jesus became so real to me.

February 2020, I wasn’t a Christian, so it’s crazy to think that I’m telling my story now. Alpha has shown me that I will never walk alone again.”

E r i n , A l p h a O n l i n e gu e s t, C an ada

Nicky Gumbel Chairman of Alpha International

And every kind of church has been involved. We’ve heard stories of Alpha courses running on a 2G network in India and an entire Catholic Diocese doing Alpha Online in France. At the start of the pandemic, ‘Church of the City’ in New York started an Alpha course every single night of the week.

So this past year has been one of immense learning and surprise.

The Marriage Course has also seen extraordinary growth online. More than 5,500 couples attended the Marriage and Pre-Marriage courses at HTB Church alone during 2020.

We have been able to help couples who are facing huge challenges in this season with tools to strengthen their relationships. Never before has the timing felt more relevant for these courses to be so readily accessible.

Amid one of the biggest crises of a lifetime, people are coming to know Jesus, they are being connected to their local church, finding community and being discipled.

So it has been a really exciting 12 months – as this review shows.

We cannot thank you enough for your prayers and support which make all this possible. We are hugely grateful and really excited to see what God will do in the year ahead.

With very best wishes, Nicky Gumbel

A N N UA L R EV IEW 2020

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letter from the chairman

2020 The Year that Changed Everything

2020 was a tough year.

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2020 was a hard year for the church.

Before today, I didn’t even think it was possible to do a digital Alpha Course. Wow! This could work, and even better, widen the reach to friends and family of guests from out of town.

It is comforting for us to know your team is looking ahead and able to fabricate solutions so very quickly when a disaster like this hits.

What a great opening this scary evil virus is giving us to reach into people’s minds and emotions and declare the hope of Jesus!”

R o g e r S toesz , S ub stance Church, U n i te d S tates

Churches worldwide had to close their buildings and pivot to doing Sunday services, discipleship and outreach online. Even now many are navigating how to open their church doors again and

And yet, 2020 was a year of great opportunity.

Despite the challenges that 2020 brought, we saw God move in a way that we could not have begun to predict. He turned the crisis into an opportunity for Alpha to be used as a tool to bring so many more people into his Kingdom.

Alpha came alongside the church to help them navigate the digital space and make the transition to going online. Churches also reached out to their communities in an unprecedented way – feeding the hungry, reaching the lonely and sharing the gospel with those who don’t know Jesus.

love your neighbour What started as an emergency food bank at Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) in response to the COVID-19 crisis, quickly evolved into a network of 2,264 churches and other organisations delivering over 8.2 million crisis meals, debt advice, employment support and other provision to help people most in need across the UK. At HTB, the food hub worked with volunteers and partners to deliver over 1,000,000 meals in London to some of the most vulnerable groups in the city – including families in vulnerable circumstances, refugees, and the homeless.

>1million

meals delivered in London

A N N UA L R EV IEW 2020

The onset of COVID-19 turned the world upside down. Cities and entire nations shut down, leaving people isolated, cut off from loved ones and community. The global pandemic also shone a light on a huge spiritual hunger in the world, raising our awareness of mortality, fear and loneliness. Many people were faced with questions about life, death and beyond.

acknowledging that life is still far from what we knew as normal.

In the first week of lockdown in Scotland, the Alpha team sent out a message to churches offering support to those who needed it. 65 churches took up the offer, including one ageing Church of Scotland Minister who had recently come out of retirement to serve in a small church. The team came alongside him, firstly helping him to set up an email account and then going on to help the church connect online with the community during a time of crisis.

taking Alpha online 07

26,000

churches and organisations ran Alpha in 2020

Over

1.3 million people did Alpha in 2020, which is a 15% increase from 2019

With the acceleration that 2020 brought in all things digital, Alpha was perfectly positioned to respond in such a time as this.

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ince 2017 we have been investing heavily in digital, identifying it as one of our ‘global game-changers’ in order to reach the emerging generations with the gospel.

This investment meant that when the global pandemic struck, we already had the tools to take Alpha Online.

Our 2020 undertaking became ‘adapt fast and innovate hard’, to ensure that every church had the means and the content to run Alpha Online.

As a result, we saw over 26,000 churches and organisations run Alpha in 2020 and saw 5% more courses and 15% more guests compared to 2019. Encouragingly, an estimated 9,000 churches were completely new to running Alpha!

What’s more, with Alpha now being easier to access and run in a personal context, we also saw over 3,000 individuals run Alpha Online with small groups of friends and family, separate from a church.

Youth lead the way on online evangelisation When it comes to innovation, Alpha Youth have always been early adopters and it is no different when it comes to Alpha Online.

In Africa and Latin America where populations are younger, we saw exponential growth in the number of Alpha courses run as young people adapted easily to the enhanced digital world.

Catholic churches grew in online mission In the Catholic context we also saw a rapid response to running Alpha Online. Alpha works in partnership with the global ministry Divine Renovation, which envisions and equips Catholic parishes to move from ‘maintenance to mission’ and encourages them to use Alpha not only as their tool for evangelisation but also to shift the culture of the parish towards mission. This partnership has helped the growth of Alpha in the Catholic church (by 23% from 2018 to 2019), and in 2020 saw us working together to help Catholic parishes respond to the challenges presented

by COVID-19 with a missionary spirit. We estimate that over 2,500 Catholic churches ran Alpha Online around the world in 2020.

“I prayed a simple prayer and I felt Jesus walk through the door that I had opened for him. I’ve never had that feeling before in my life …. If it had been anywhere else other than Zoom, I would have not been convinced.

I would have thought it was the environment. But knowing it was in my home, nothing spectacular happening, and something so grand to come from it. I think that’s why it works – it eliminates the possibility of it being something else.”

H a r vey, A lph a O n lin e g u e st , UK

As Alpha courses ran online globally, we discovered that it works. We saw three promising trends emerge: More people came No longer facing the restrictions of needing to travel to get to an Alpha course, people were able to join at the click of a button from home. Alpha became more accessible to a wider audience, who previously would never have done it had it not been online.

Globally we heard stories of Muslims who would not physically set foot in a church, single parents who wouldn’t be able to get a babysitter for 10 weeks, people with disabilities who struggled to get to a church and city workers who were able to stay at their desk and move from work to Alpha without a commute.

People were more relaxed For many, the familiar environment of being at home meant they let their guard down and were more open to new experiences.

What happened was extraordinary – as Alpha weekends ran online, we began to hear stories of people being filled with the Holy Spirit by themselves in their living rooms or in their bedrooms. People were moved to tears just on a laptop, responding to a prayer online of ‘Come Holy Spirit’.

People were more open The global pandemic has been a universal experience which has affected every individual in some way. As a result, people were more vulnerable earlier on in the course and there was a closer connection among participants.

A N N UA L R EV IEW 2020

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Beatriz, aged 69 from Colombia, has always had a passion to share the love of Jesus with those around her. In 2020, she ran eight Alpha courses online and helped 59 people discover a relationship with Jesus!

what’s different about Alpha Online?

what’s on the horizon? T

As we begin to look ahead, beyond the immediate effects of the global pandemic to what the future of evangelisation looks like, it is clear that the church will have to adapt and change. he acceleration in digital has opened up a new world of access to online content – from podcasts, to online teaching to blogs. However, we know that digital content itself is not enough.

Last year, more than any other time in our lifetime, people found themselves needing a place to share their heart and connect with others. Alpha Online provided a safe space for people to meet, make new friends and ask the big questions of life.

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Out of the tragedy of 2020, something exciting has begun. A new digital wave of evangelisation has been set in motion that has the potential to see the spread of the gospel beyond anything we’ve seen before.

When this happens, people who don’t know Jesus have the opportunity to experience God’s presence in community.

And this, perhaps, is the future of what it means to fulfil The Great Commission in the extraordinary times we are living in.

Alpha Online has overcome vast distances and shrunk India in a way we had never witnessed before.

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lpha Online has overcome vast distances and shrunk India in a way we had never witnessed before. Through launching Alpha Online, the small national team has connected with churches in every nook and corner of the country, reaching rural and remote places that were difficult to ever explore physically. In some states in the north east of the country, people are joining courses with only a 2G connection and having an incredible experience, week in, week out.

Our experience of Alpha Online has been a blessing in a very specific and big way. In a city like Bombay, it’s really hard to get people to come, travel long distances after work, week after week and so we’ve had low numbers generally and had a high dropout rate. So, it has been a pleasant surprise as we’ve done Alpha Online to see so many people coming because they can come from wherever they are. In the current Alpha we are running, we have finished seven weeks and we haven’t had a single drop out and it’s been absolutely amazing!”

Pa sto r Ud ay R a o, H ig h way C hu rch , M u m ba i

A N N UA L R EV IEW 2020

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overcoming distances in india

Inviting the globe to try Alpha

serving the church in a time of turmoil As the world experienced a pandemic lockdown, our desire was to respond to the needs of the church as quickly as possible. We pivoted to helping churches run Alpha Online, focusing our efforts on the following areas:

Driving innovation

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In August and September, a global campaign was launched targeted at churches exploring running Alpha. The aim was to unite churches around the message ‘This is a moment to advance’ and encourage them to engage with and run Alpha Online.

A key focus has also been to grow Alpha as a leading voice on evangelisation, positioning Alpha as a culturally relevant resource for this generation. In November, the Leadership Conversations with Nicky Gumbel podcast was launched to encourage, equip and inspire Christian leaders, bringing hope and vision during a time of global complexity.

Working as one global church One of Alpha’s values is that we are ‘by the church, for the church, through the church’. One of the ways this is outworked is through our Hub Church Strategy. Hub churches are uniquely positioned to influence other churches, are committed to running best practice Alpha courses and have the vision to help other churches run Alpha.

At the end of 2020, there were 253 Alpha Hub churches globally.

In 2020 we held various events, both online and in-person, bringing

together strategic church leaders to connect, develop relationships with one another, share learnings and insights from running Alpha and offer prayer ministry.

GLeN, The Global Leaders Network for emerging leaders of strategic churches, was run online for the first time in June and then again in October. This forum provided a series of curated conversations with the world’s most influential thinkers and church leaders.

Speakers included Nicky Gumbel, Mark Sayers, Nona Jones, NT Wright and Glenn Packiam.

Offering high-quality and bespoke training When the pandemic struck, churches across the world began asking us, “How do we take our Alpha that’s been running in person

and make it work online?”. We began to work closely with churches, training them on how to adapt to this new way of running Alpha.

We watched and learnt from churches that pivoted fast, many of which were Alpha Hub churches, and we used this insight to craft new Alpha Online training.

These materials were made freely available on MyAlpha, a digital platform that launched in November 2019, to provide churches with everything they need to run Alpha well.

In September, we also rolled out the Post Alpha Survey across 45 countries. This survey allows us to find out how Alphas are being run around the world and, as a result, tailor and contextualise our training according to regional and national needs.

We’ve been in a feedback loop with the churches who are piloting the platform so that we are on a continual improvement journey.

We have a rigorous process to continue piloting and testing the platform, with a launch and roll out plan from September 2021.

The relaxation of lockdown restrictions in the summer of 2020 also allowed us to complete the filming of new vox pop (street interview) sequences. Filming took place in London and Brighton and these sequences were edited into the series, trialled at Holy Trinity Brompton during the autumn term and have now been approved for use globally.

Alpha Asian Film Series Across Asia it is increasingly challenging to be a Christian, with one in three Asians facing a high level of persecution for their faith1.

In order to serve the church in Asia, we have undertaken an innovative project to contextualise the Alpha Film Series for key Asian countries – seeing millions more people have access to the gospel in a

We’ve also begun work on an Alpha Online Mobile App for guests – work that was brought forward from 2021 in order to be able to run Alpha Online through the app in low-bandwidth countries.

Giving the church our best One of Alpha’s values is that ‘the church deserves our best’. The Alpha Film Series serves remarkably as an online resource to share the good news of Jesus during a time when many are unable to get to a local church.

1 Christianity Today, ‘Asia Rising: the top 50 countries where it is hardest to follow Jesus’, www.christianitytoday.com

way that is relevant, relatable and compelling.

In 2020, significant progress was made on filming the Alpha Asian Film Series despite challenges caused by COVID-19. The production team leveraged their deep industry experience to develop COVID-19 filming protocols to keep both the crew and contributors safe. This included using virtual technology to enable local film crews to film while being guided live by the Executive Producer based in Malaysia.

Vox Pop filming is almost entirely complete and filming of experts and testimonies, both in Asia and the U.S., and animation work is also underway.

Project Pentecost Thanks to the generosity of our supporters who invested significantly in 2020, we were able to launch Project Pentecost – an initiative to streamline the way Alpha’s materials are translated and contextualised. The name is inspired by the first Pentecost when the Holy Spirit made it possible for everyone to hear the gospel in their own language at the same time. Thanks to this project, millions of people across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and beyond will now have the opportunity to do Alpha and The Marriage Courses in their own language.

A N N UA L R EV IEW 2020

While churches globally have adapted different video technology platforms effectively for Alpha Online, there have been drawbacks in each solution. In 2020, a focus team at Alpha was dedicated to developing a new Alpha Online platform which aims to make it as easy as possible for churches to run Alpha Online and virtualise the hospitality which features as a core part of Alpha’s DNA.

Casting a vision for evangelisation

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In an effort to support churches in reaching their communities in times of physical isolation, we tested social media campaigns to invite people around the globe to try Alpha. Resources were created for churches to invite guests to Alpha, and we were also able to test how best to reach communities at this time. Many people in 2020 joined Alpha Online courses because of social media, and the churches we worked with were delighted to have support in promoting their Alpha courses while they were otherwise busy adjusting their approach to reach their communities.

2020 saw some exciting updates to the film series. While COVID-19 prevented us from filming any new material, we were able to refresh the content and a new version of the film series was released in March 2021. Running concurrently to this refresh was a project to insert discussion breaks into the videos, in the same way that has been done with the Alpha Youth Series. Evidence suggests that in some regions churches and groups prefer this format to running Alpha.

This project was also launched in March 2021.

africa

Releasing young leaders to share the gospel

kenya spotlight The Alpha Youth Marathon

From March 2020, Africa went through various stages of strict lockdown. From curfews, bans on social gatherings to the closure of schools and churches, the continent was heavily impacted by measures to control COVID-19.

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49%

of all Alpha courses in Africa were hosted for young people

497

churches ran Alpha for the first time

>60,000

people were reached in Sub-Saharan Africa

Having a robust digital platform in place enabled us to take an ‘adapt fast and innovate hard’ approach. In a space of just a week, the team in Africa pivoted from in-person to online engagements with churches. We were able to respond to the needs of the church through praying with them on calls, leading weekly webinars to share ideas, and hosting online trainings that were continually enhanced to help churches host Alpha Online.

With all the support provided, many churches began to host Alpha Online on various platforms.

Alpha courses ran with hundreds of guests on Zoom, broadcasts on YouTube, groups hosted live on Facebook and small groups gathering on WhatsApp chat and video. Learning with churches and being able to witness the creativity

Reaching young people with the gospel 49% of all the Alpha courses run in 2020 in Africa were hosted for young people. In Kenya, 70% of guests were youth. This was largely a result of the Alpha Youth Marathon, a campaign which saw hundreds of churches in Kenya running Alpha for youth simultaneously.

New churches stepping out in evangelisation Hundreds of churches ran Alpha for the first time: 325 churches in Kenya and 172 churches in South Africa.

Over 60,000 reached in Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa saw an 11% growth in churches running Alpha in 2020 – the highest percentage growth of a region in Alpha globally. In total, 1,032 churches ran Alpha in Sub-Saharan Africa, with 47.9% from South Africa and 37.9% from Kenya, reaching over 60,000 people with the opportunity to encounter Jesus.

After schools were completely shut down in Kenya, the Alpha team wanted to create space where the thousands of young people affected by the pandemic could gather in person or online to explore questions about life, faith and God. This gave birth to the idea for a campaign that would activate over 200 churches to simultaneously host Alpha using the Alpha Youth Series. 208 churches joined the campaign, providing a space for 2,595 young people to discover and develop a relationship with Jesus! 75% of the courses were hosted online, with 40% hosted over WhatsApp. Following the Alpha Youth Marathon, many young people have volunteered to be Alpha Champions (volunteers) and share Alpha with many more young people in their schools, churches and communities. The team is hosting a number of volunteer training events in 2021 to equip these young people.

Our prayer is that this initiative will unleash an army of young people empowered by the Holy Spirit, as spiritual ambassadors going out to reach their generation.

R ev. S te ph e n K in ot i Ma ra ng u , You t h & JCTM Pa stor, Met hodist Chu rch, Ru a ra ka , Kenya

A N N UA L R EV IEW 2020

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ith connectivity challenges and high data costs, moving online felt daunting for many churches. Some large churches were faced with the additional challenge of not having contact details for everyone in their church.

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and innovation of the church was, and still is, inspiring. We were astonished and encouraged by the number of churches running Alpha Online. It has been a swift and seamless adaptation which we can only attribute to the abundant grace of God and the generosity of all those who support our work.

Wow, if I look at the way that the year has ended, I have a lot of thanksgiving for Alpha. I don’t know what I would have done.

Church was no longer church as usual. We had everyone scattered into their homes, but somehow we were able to reach 85 teens every week!

Asante (Thank you).”

malaysia spotlight

asia pacific Serving the church in the time of greatest need 15

Asia was the first region to be hit by the global pandemic and as such endured the effects of the crisis the longest compared to other parts of the world.

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020 was a year of learning fast and sharing insights quickly to help churches both within Asia and across the rest of the world.

When church doors were shut, the immediate priority was not to pivot to online services but rather to serve the community.

Large numbers of people in lowincome jobs were being made redundant and struggling to feed themselves. Churches focused on providing food and support as best they could. Some church leaders were unable to feed themselves and we have heard reports of church leaders having to find regular jobs to provide an income for their families.

Once things stabilised, the Alpha team across Asia Pacific focused first on helping church leaders learn how to take their services online. At scale, many church leaders did not know how to use the virtual tools available.

After Alpha I started to see how beautiful it is to try and understand God. I see the beauty in our struggles ... Alpha changed my life.

Jesus loves me and this I know.”

O ’ N e i l , A l p h a g u e st , M a lay sia

Our network across Asia allowed us to learn quickly and share knowledge on what was working well for other churches. We produced a series of “how to” guides and “how to” videos, and the number of resources increased by 400% as compared to the year prior.

Only after churches had established regular online services did the team then help churches pivot to running Alpha Online. Uptake was better than expected because church leaders appreciated the prior help from Alpha staff on how to take their church services virtual. These were the fruits of placing the church leaders’ needs above our own.

Many of us take reliable internet connection for granted, however that wasn’t the case for Nosiah.

Nosiah is part of a small church in her village in East Malaysia.

She had been participating in the SINAR conference, a Bahasa Malaysian conference designed to envision and equip local church leaders and congregations to share the gospel in their communities. When Nosiah couldn’t get a strong enough internet signal at home, she climbed up to a little hut on a hill to be able to stream the conference from her phone.

SINAR gave me an opportunity to explore evangelism in a way I never have before. What I learnt changed and shaped my spirit in a new way in viewing the work of expanding God’s Kingdom online.”

Nosia h, Ea st Ma laysia

400% Increase in resources

A N N UA L R EV IEW 2020

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From a little hut on a hill

In March 2020, limits on large gatherings started to be imposed across North America, abruptly changing the rhythm of church life.

north america Helping the church turn outward again

We believe that God positioned Alpha to come alongside the church to serve them and help them turn outward again.

In Canada, the team invested more time praying for church leaders in the difficult season, through national prayer calls, webinars for senior church leaders and cohorts of pastors and course administrators. The team communicated directly with over 800 Canadian pastors to pray with them.

In a year when many of the younger generation have been largely disillusioned with the church and uninterested in what the church offers, we saw an encouraging uptake with young people aged 13-18 across the region.

In the U.S., there was a 21% increase in Alpha Youth participants, and in Canada, of the over 2,100 online Alphas that were run in 2020, 25% of them were for youth.

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48%

more people described themselves as following Jesus after attending Alpha

“At first I didn’t think that kids would want to come out, would want to punch in that Zoom ID and jump into a room full of people that they haven’t really met before face-toface. Seeing the number go from 40 to 50 to 60 to almost 100 students… I would have never had a hundred new students in my church... ever!”

Pas tor f rom Toron to, O n tar i o

Results from a 2020 Barna Study in the U.S.2 showed that 83% of people who participated in Alpha described themselves afterwards as “following Jesus,” up from 56% before participating in Alpha. Given the 27-point increase in participants describing themselves as “following Jesus” after attending Alpha, we are excited to think about the thousands of people who could have made a decision to follow Jesus in 2020!

1 2020 Barna Report: Five Changing Contexts for Digital Evangelism 2 Barna Alpha USA Impact Study, July 2020

the most important year of our lives Robert and Taylor attended Alpha Online as guests through Grace Church in Ohio in the Spring of 2020. They later served as hosts in Grace Church’s Autumn Alpha in 2020. They share their journey in their own words: “We first attended as guests. Through Alpha, we accepted the Lord and were baptised together! We then took a few more special steps together – we married, bought a home, and are pleased to share that we are expecting our first bundle of joy in May 2021!

For us, 2020 will be one of the most important years of our lives.

After all that excitement, we led our own Zoom Room [Alpha group]. We loved this experience, witnessing how the Lord works even when we cannot be in person. The friendships and trust that are built in Alpha is unlike any other experience.

A N N UA L R EV IEW 2020

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hurch leaders who were entrepreneurial and embraced change were able to pivot and continue church services and ministries online. For others, there was a variety of responses to the pandemic and the church struggled. Most churches across the U.S. experienced a 20-30% drop in attendance in 20201.

latin america

finding a place of love and belonging

Reaching communities where the need is greatest

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nd yet the church is doing the work of growing God’s Kingdom even in the midst of such difficulties. The number of churches running Alpha in Latin America in 2020 grew by 10%, with a 45% growth in adult Alpha participants! The significant number of young people in Latin America contributed to this growth as the emerging generations became quick adopters of Alpha Online. According to the UN2, the percentage of youth in the region is the highest it has been in recent history and the Latin American church has seen the incredible potential in reaching this demographic group with the good news of Jesus.

The Alpha Latin America team supported the local church though a marketing campaign, Alpha at Home (#AlphaEnCasa / #AlphaEmCasa), providing a toolkit for running Alpha Online as well as hosting the largest ever Alpha Online Conference with over 6,000 people joining in the summer of 2020.

The despair of COVID-19 has been transformed into hope as churches connect with those in desperate circumstances. When lockdown began in Buenos Aires, one church decided to reach out to their struggling community, inviting them to try Alpha Online via social media.

They saw an overwhelming response and ended up hosting 50 groups, with many new people joining the church after the course finished. As Pastor Eduardo shared, ‘All of our community is now only one click away’.

“Before Alpha I had a very different view of the church. I never imagined myself being part of one because I thought the people there were crazy. Alpha changed my perspective of church because I was welcomed in a very genuine way and I saw that the people cared about what I thought.

They showed me that the church is indeed a place of love and growth.

I was able to leave behind the wrong things I used to do because I understood for the first time that God loved me, a love I experienced through the Alpha leaders. I am very grateful to my small group host. Today I am part of the church and my life has been constantly changing ever since.”

Whether reaching our communities with Alpha Online in the favelas of Brazil or delivering Alpha USB sticks by dirt bike in Venezuela, the church is fulfilling the Great Commission all across this vast region.

+45%

1 https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/LATAM-POVERTY/nmopawazapa/ 2 https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/youth/fact-sheets/youth-regional-eclac.pdf

increase in adult Alpha participants

Alpha changed my perspective of church because I was welcomed in a very genuine way and I saw that the people cared about what I thought.”

C a r lo s, A lph a g u e st , Bra z il

A N N UA L R EV IEW 2020

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2020 was a year of tremendous challenge for Latin America.

According to Reuters, 52 million people in the region will fall into poverty and leave an additional 40 million people without a job in the coming years1. With connectivity challenges and high data costs, moving online felt daunting for many churches.

Carlos, aged 30 from Recife, northeastern Brazil, participated in Alpha Online through a missionary project run by a local church. He shared his experience:

europe Working in unity to reach millions with the gospel

As COVID-19 began to have a significant impact across the world, closing church buildings and preventing inperson gatherings, we had to pivot fast and learn new ways to equip churches to share the gospel in a time of pandemic.

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Churches from Ireland to Egypt began running Alpha Online, including those with wide-reaching influence. When Mozaïek church in the Netherlands, which broadcasts youth services to 90,000 viewers, promoted Alpha Online during a service in May, their youth started an Alpha Online which was attended by over 100 people.

We also saw amazing moments of collaboration across the region.

Churches have worked together to run Alphas hosted centrally, and the German, Austrian and Swiss National Alpha Offices hosted the “Next Normal” conference for German-speaking churches, inspiring them to run Alpha Online.

Digital content became more important than ever and in Egypt, over half a million unique users were reached on social media platforms with promotional videos and campaigns about Alpha.

There has been significant growth in the Gulf region, with churches in Oman, Bahrain and the UAE starting to run online Alphas following several online webinars.

The first ever Alpha Youth in Saudi Arabia was run online, and one Hub church in Kuwait ran over 300 online Alphas in 2020.

This has huge potential for impact, as the Gulf is an international hub with church networks and a population drawn from every nation.

The first semester at the university, we were reaping the fruits of many years of work. We had an Alpha full of people we didn’t know at all. Everything was perfect. And then we hit lockdown just when we were about to have the Alpha weekend. Honestly, for us, it was a hard blow... Everything was going so well!

But if there is one thing we are clear about in our team in Santiago, it is that God wants us to do Alpha, and that call is not suppressed in lockdown. So, after assuming reality, we got down to business and decided to start Alpha at university online! People are the only thing that is essential to God, and there are no limits anymore. If we have the people, we have everything we need. Whenever an Alpha group is meeting, we have a simultaneous online intercession team praying for them.”

C r ist ina Cons, Alp ha St u dent Lea der, Sp a in

A N N UA L R EV IEW 2020

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e adapted quickly – our National Alpha Offices envisioned and trained churches to run Alpha Online on Zoom, modelling best practice via virtual conferences and webinars. During the first lockdown, Alpha France supported the Toulon diocese in hosting an Alpha Online course, which was attended by 1,000 guests from across France and catalysed Alpha Online courses being launched in local parishes nationwide.

the middle east

united kingdom

way more approachable online

Inviting the nation to explore the meaning of life

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lpha UK came alongside the church in an extraordinary way, and in the first two weeks of lockdown over 200 churches were trained to run Alpha Online. At the beginning of 2020, our hope was to train 900 church leaders to run high quality Alpha courses. Moving online increased the accessibility and value of these opportunities and through 2020 we trained 1,991 churches and organisations. This led to a total 8,193 Alpha courses being run, a 35% increase on 2019.

Alpha in Prisons struggled to continue in its normal format as inmates were placed on a 23-hour lockdown and we were unable to take Alpha online. Despite these challenges, Alpha still had a presence in prisons through prison radio, Christmas hampers and

1 Report: ‘UK Church in Action’, Barna, Commissioned by World Vision, 2018 2 Report: ‘Mapping Practicing Christians’, ComRes, Talking Jesus, 2017

“Alpha Online changed a lot for me; it may be one of the most important decisions I’ve made.

streaming the Alpha Film Series directly into inmates’ cells.

As many couples faced huge challenges of being isolated and having to home school children, the new Marriage Course series, launched in January 2020, saw an incredible response, with over 20,000 people taking the course in the UK alone!

Only one in five of those aged 16-29 identify as Christians in the UK1, and yet just 13% of church goers become a Christian after the age of 252. With this pressing opportunity to reach the emerging generations with the gospel, we have been developing products and training events that position Alpha as a tool that appeals to those in their early 20’s. Throughout 2020, Alpha UK trialled innovative ways of prioritising invitation, including a London outdoor advertising campaign and a UK wide digital marketing campaign across strategic cities. This campaign offered many learnings and resulted in 2,955,192 video views with an invitation to ‘Ask at Alpha’ across the UK.

I was really new to faith and so I had absolutely no idea how to pray. I was like, ‘I feel so stupid asking but, how do you do it? I have no idea how you do it.’ The people in my Alpha Online group were lovely and they helped me to figure out how you do it, why you do it and turns out it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be.

8,193

Alpha courses run in the UK

2,955,192

Video views across advertising campaigns

The fact that Alpha is online means you can come from work, sort out your dinner and then enjoy those conversations with people.

By it being online it makes it way more approachable.

C h a r lie, A lph a O n lin e g u est , U K

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As a national lockdown came into force in March 2020, churches across the UK were forced to close their doors and navigate how to take their ministries online.

the marriage course

The Bible in One Year

An interview with Nicky and Sila, Founders of The Marriage and Pre-Marriage Courses

The launch of the new Marriage and PreMarriage Course series in January 2020 was remarkably well timed.

What kind of pressures did couples face in 2020?

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For us, that’s what it’s all about – strengthening and supporting an individual couple.”

S i l a , Founder of the M ar r ia ge a nd Pre-M arr i age Courses

also from alpha

Sila: As couples we are different, and those differences get exaggerated when we are in such close proximity. Couples have had to ask questions such as, how can I best support my partner? What do they need?

Because that is probably different to what I need.

The new video series was launched online as a free resource, but then we also saw the courses being led and delivered online. What impact did that have?

Nicky: We’ve heard so many stories. One church in the U.S. was planning to do a pilot course with 24 couples in-person. They went online and suddenly they had 300 couples! Another church in Canada had 400 couples on their course, half of whom were not church goers at all.

What has been the most exciting thing about the past 12 months?

Nicky: We’ve been so excited by the translations taking place and we are so grateful to those who have donated to make this possible. We heard one story of a course running in Italy with the newly translated films. They had around 30 couples doing The Marriage Course and each couple was invited to do Alpha as a follow up. Every one of those couples took up the invitation and they are now doing Alpha together!

This was part of our longing – that as we brought the Marriage and the Pre-Marriage Courses up to the standard of the Alpha Film Series – couples would easily be able to go from one to the other.

Sila: With all of these statistics and numbers, the most amazing thing for us is to hear stories of individual couples. For us, that’s what it’s all about – strengthening and supporting an individual couple.

The Bible in One Year continues to encourage people to engage with the Bible and deepen their relationship with God. We know that many of the people who use the app have previously attended Alpha, which means that new Christians globally are being discipled by the Word of God. Over 1.25 million users read or listened to Nicky Gumbel’s commentary through apps, email, book, ebook or email subscription in 2020, in eight languages. Three further languages are currently being translated by teams around the world and we have invested in a new BiOY app which will allow us to host these all together. Over the coming year, we hope to continue adding further functionality to this app, which also brings together the Classic, Youth and Express editions of BiOY for the first time.

One user commented ‘Your Bible app has deepened my relationship with the Lord and my walk with him.

This wonderful app has changed my life. I so look forward each day to reading the Word.’

This wonderful app has changed my life.”

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Nicky: For many couples there were a lot of new pressures in 2020 – being in a small, confined space 24/7, home schooling children and working from home. Couples have had to work out new routines for their day and talk about their expectations.

Sila: One of our hopes was to make the new series much more global. In 2020, that went beyond what we can imagine. With the series going online, over 6,000 courses were running in over 90 different countries, with well in excess of 100,000 people being able to do the courses.

It has been wonderful!

statutory accounts

financial review

Total funds 2020 (£)

Total funds 2019 (£)

Donations under Gift Aid

407,060

354,580

Other donations

10,673,717

10,883,598

Total donations

11,080,777

11,238,178

Income from resources, sales and conferences

629,629

1,297,330

Total income

11,710,406

12,535,508

1,018,147

755,051

1,812,108

1,927,790

974,619

1,021,594

2,616,868

3,454,025

3,840,289

3,956,152

285,340

453,786

185,088

80,810

335,823

1,130,571

Total charitable expenditure

10,050,135

12,024,728

Total expenditure

11,068,282

12,779,779

Net Income/(Loss)

642,124

(244,271)

Donations

Expenditure Fundraising Charitable activities

1

including allocated support costs

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Many donors saw the opportunity to invest for such a time as this, giving over and above their usual giving.

Encouragingly, 40% of donors in 2020 were completely new to Alpha.

There was also significant investment into the development of digital capabilities in 2020, including Alpha Online and Alpha’s new digital platform. We are so grateful for the generosity of all those who support Alpha, without whom nothing we are seeing would be possible.

Strategic Leadership & Enablement Global Strategy and oversight

UK Development UK hub costs

Digital, Media and Publications Technology and innovation

International Development Establishing localised infrastructure and training

Alpha Context Development Tailoring Alpha for different contexts

Other Ministries The Marriage Courses and Mission Giving

Conferences Equipping global leaders

40%

of donors were completely new to Alpha

1. Support costs make up 14% of expenditure The figures above are summarised from the charity’s draft accounts, audited by Moore Kingston Smith LLP, for the year ended 31 December 2020. A complete set of the accounts will be available later in the year from the UK charity commission website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission.

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Despite 2020 not being an easy year for many financially, we were hugely encouraged and grateful to see God’s provision even in the midst of a pandemic.

Income

alpha international

board of trustees Nicky Gumbel Nicky Gumbel is Chairman of the Alpha International Board. He is married to Pippa and together they pioneered Alpha, an introduction to the Christian faith. They lead Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) and write a daily commentary on the Bible in One Year.

Sandy Millar Bishop Sandy Millar practised as a barrister before being ordained and becoming Vicar of HTB in 1985. He oversaw the growth of HTB to the largest church in the Church of England and was involved in leading Alpha from a local to a global resource.

Tricia Neill Tricia Neill is the President of Alpha International. Tricia joined HTB in 1994 from News International, where she headed up News International Exhibitions. Prior to that, she worked in the Middle East for Shell. Tricia sits on the boards of numerous Alpha offices worldwide.

Chris Sadler Chris Sadler leads the Faith Sector Philanthropy for a Family Foundation in Australia.

He previously served as Alpha USA National Director and led Alpha’s Asia Pacific Region for 10 years. Chris has also served on a number of corporate boards and has 20 years’ experience in the investment banking industry.

Rebecca Stewart

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David Gardner

Bobby Gruenewald

David Gardner OBE is a co-founder and General Partner of London Venture Partners, a seed fund investing in the Games Sector. He has over 30 years’ experience in the industry, previously working as EVP and COO of Electronic Arts Worldwide Studios, and CEO of Atari, SA.

Bobby Gruenewald is Pastor, Innovation Leader at Life.Church and founder of the YouVersion Bible App, which has been installed on more than 390 million devices worldwide. Prior to joining Life.Church, he started and sold two technology companies as well as served in advisory capacities for various startups and venture capital funds.

Al Gordon

Michael Timmis

Al Gordon is the Rector of Hackney. Until September 2016, he served as Global Vice President of Alpha International. Al is the Executive Producer of the Alpha Film Series.

He co-founded Worship Central and is a trustee of Charity: Water.

Michael Timmis was senior partner of Timmis and Inman L.L.P law firm, and co-founder and Vice Chairman of private investment company Talon LLC. Previously Chairman of Prison Fellowship International, Michael now serves on the board of New Canaan Society.

John Mackay

Dato Hong Yeoh

John Mackay is a founding principal of the Strand real estate organisation. John also sits on the boards of Alpha USA and Alpha Canada and is active in many other charitable organisations. He has degrees in business and law. John and his wife Rebecca have three grown children.

Dato Hong Yeoh is the Executive Director of Malaysian listed YTL Power International Berhad and Director of both the holding company, Malaysian conglomerate YTL Corporation Berhad, and Wessex Water.

Bernard Mensah

Datuk Kathleen Yeoh

Bernard Mensah is a Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Fixed Income at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He was previously at Goldman Sachs, where he spent many years working in Asia before becoming Global Head of the firm’s Bank Debt business in London.

Datuk Kathleen Yeoh is the Group Legal Counsel of the YTL Group and Programme Director of the YTL Foundation. She was Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum on ASEAN 2016 and a Local Ambassador for the British Council’s Study UK Alumni Awards 2018. She sits on the boards of various Malaysian charities, the Asia Philanthropy Circle and Acumen Fund, Inc.

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Rebecca Stewart is the founder and CEO of Goldstar Partners, providing executive search and consulting services to clients in the non-profit sector. From 2003 to 2015 she worked at HTB and Alpha International in a variety of roles, including COO, Chief of Staff and, from 2014, HTB Group CEO.

join us Together we can serve the church, giving people the opportunity to explore a personal relationship with Jesus, for free.

pray

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give We believe everyone should have the opportunity to explore life and the Christian faith wherever they are in the world, for free. You could help make that happen by considering a gift to Alpha, so that more people are reached and transformed by the good news of Jesus.

Find out more by visiting www.alpha.org/give.

serve Alphas are run all around the world thanks to the help of numerous volunteers. We would love for you to consider volunteering on an Alpha course near you.

leave a gift in your will Leaving a gift in your Will to Alpha is a simple way of blessing future generations for many years to come with the gospel. You could help provide opportunities for more people to discover a personal relationship with Jesus, wherever they are in the world, for free.

To find out more, contact us by emailing alpha.partners@alpha.org or by calling +44 (0)20 7052 0200.

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Our desire and prayer is that God will continue to use Alpha to introduce people to himself – a personal and loving God. Please join us in praying that women and men across the globe, young and old, will come to know Jesus.

Alpha International is a registered charity in England and Wales (1086179) and in Scotland (SC042906).

Alpha International, HTB, Brompton Road, London SW7 1JA, England