Alpha Canada Annual Report 2014

Alpha Canada

Annual Report 2014

Letter from Shaila Visser National Director / Alpha Canada

2014 HAS BEEN ANOTHER EXCEPTIONAL YEAR. I AM THRILLED WITH WHAT GOD HAS DONE THROUGH THE MINISTRY WORK OF ALPHA CANADA AS WE SERVE THE LOCAL CHURCH TO REACH THEIR COMMUNITIES. Thanks to your prayers, time and financial support we have seen remarkable acceleration. Given our key strategies which included a rebrand, additional support staff for the work of Alpha for Youth, simplification of operations, a new Catholic Coordinator and two new Prison staff, we have seen a 270% growth in courses in the last two years. Our staff are humbled by the opportunity and always rejoice at the amazing stories of transformed lives from Alpha guests.

Alpha Canada

Annual Report 2014

appointed in June 2014 and his leadership is producing huge uptake of Alpha. He hosted a training event for Catholics in Toronto with teams from over 20 parishes. The AYFS is already running in five Catholic high schools in Ontario, two in Alberta, and there is also interest in Vancouver. Also, we will be hosting a delegation of strategic Canadian Catholic leaders at Alpha Global Week 2015 in the UK, including diocesan directors, clergy and two Canadian bishops.

Two highlights in particular are to be celebrated. Over half our courses are now being run for youth! Over 50,000 teens in Canada have participated in conversations about Jesus since the launch of the Alpha Youth Film Series (AYFS) in the fall of 2013.

Not only had we planned to serve the Canadian church with this new product in English, it’s also been translated into 10 different languages with 10 more on the way!

It has been very effective in Latin America, Australia and the UK, and it will launch this year in Asia as the pilot courses have been hugely successful.

Secondly, the work of Alpha in Prisons has greatly increased from 27 courses in 2012 to 232 in 2014! An increase of 800%!

Essential to sustainable Alpha courses, we resourced the church around a culture of invitation by producing the “Invitational Life” video which has been viewed by thousands.

The Youth team has developed a number of effective #RunAlpha videos to train churches to run Alpha with excellence.

Our Catholic Church Coordinator was

For more information, visit: alphacanada.org

Key learnings from 2014 include our need to increase the number of churches training their teams and running the Alpha Weekend or Day as we know both of these factors lead to more successful courses. In fact these are the lynchpins for long term success. We are planning for the future by leveraging strategic partners to help us become more effective at serving churches. We believe taking many small steps of faithfulness will lead to a greater impact in our nation.

We are grateful for the financial provision in 2014 but are diligently seeking new financial partners while prayerfully trusting God.

thank to you praye

Thank you for supporting us all as we strive to live out our calling to make Jesus known in our nation. We love what we do!

On behalf of the Board and Staff of Alpha Canada,

Shaila Visser

Transformed Lives

YOU AND ALPHA CHANGED MY LIFE. THANK YOU FOR WHATEVER YOU SAW IN ME. IF IT WEREN’T FOR HAVING BEEN INTRODUCED TO JESUS AT ALPHA, I WOULDN’T BE HERE WITH MY FAMILY NOW. I OWE YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL FUTURE I HAVE IN FRONT OF ME. Letter written by a former inmate to an Alpha for Prisons volunteer

After a life of partying, Tony (not his real name) couldn’t escape his drug debt. His dealers told him, “Either we kill you or you do this favour for us.” The ‘favour’ was to fly to Vancouver and drive a vehicle back to Saskatoon. Tony’s GPS took him through Canadian borders, and with no ID, Tony was pulled over, and drugs were discovered inside the car. Tony was taken to a maximum security remand centre. Looking for something to distract himself, and tempted by free cookies, Tony responded to an inmate’s invitation to Alpha. When he heard “There must be more to life than this” the truth of that hit him. “I prayed to Jesus and I’ve been forgiven,” he says. Tony was convicted and served his sentence. He is now married with two children, attending church and holding a steady, honest job.

Alpha Canada

Annual Report 2014

AT FIRST, MARIE DIDN’T LIKE ALPHA. NOW SHE WORKS HERE. Marie, originally from France, had a tough childhood growing up. She wanted to know the answer to the classic question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” She was living in Vancouver and working in the wedding business when she was invited to Alpha. “I thought the people were so weird,” she says. “They were so friendly! In this world, it’s not very often that people are nice to you.”

Though she was hesitant at first, she started to open up and learn about who Jesus is. God became real to her when she became pregnant after being told she couldn’t conceive. She thought, “This is not a coincidence, this is God.” God didn’t stop there, but continued to change her life and bring her to places she never thought she would be. Marie recently moved to Montreal and was the successful applicant for Alpha’s Quebec Regional Director position. Jesus transformed Marie’s life at Alpha and now through Alpha and the local church, she will help transform the lives of others.

For more information, visit: alphacanada.org

2014 By the Numbers

46,829

PEOPLE WERE GUESTS ON ALPHA IN 2014.

22,101

24,728

Adult Guests

Youth Guests

16,145

GUESTS BEGAN OR RESTORED A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS

5,804 Adult Guests

10,341

Youth Guests

2,710

TOTAL NUMBER OF COURSES

1,412 Number of Alpha for Youth courses

Alpha Canada

Annual Report 2014

48% say they now have people in leadership who came to faith on a previous Alpha

1,711 Total number of churches who ran Alpha

100% of churches that were surveyed and ran Relationship Central would recommend it to others

65%

1,457

say their church has grown because of running Alpha

people trained

14,202 volunteers

The Financial Year Special Programs

48.77%

General Donations

36.89%

Alpha Staff Support

13.23%

Events

.91%

Resource Sales

.20%

Ministry Expenditures

Church Support

65%

$2.07m*

Course Support

15%

Fundraising

10%

Administration

8%

Events

2%

Donations & Income

$3.779m*

*Operations outside of Canada: $530K

More than

646,000 people in Canada have taken Alpha

GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD, FOR HE IS GOOD; HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER. Psalm 106:1

Alpha Ministries Canada 230 – 11331 Coppersmith Way Richmond, BC V7A 5J9 Toll Free 1.800.743.0899 Office 604.304.2082 Fax 604.271.6124 Email office@alphacanada.org

@alphacanada /alphacanada alphacanada.org #TryAlpha