Alpha News July 2010

FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY | TO SEE THE EVANGELISATION OF THE SUBCONTINENT & THE TRANSFORMATION OF OUR SOCIETIES | ALPHAINDIA.ORG

alpha india news

ISSUE 3 | JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010

NEWS IN BRIEF God in the workplace: In this edition, excerpts from Ken Costa’s ‘God at Work’, a new book about living every day of work with God-given purpose.

P10 Changed lives & changed Churches: Stories from Orissa, UP, HP, Gujurat and beyond, of how people are hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ through local Alpha courses. P4-5 International Events: Thousands of people have been trained at conferences at 3 locations around the world - Asia-Pacific, EMEA and the Americas.

P6-7

THE QUARTERLY NEWSPAPER OF ALPHA INDIA

YOUTH

ALPHA LAUNCHED!

Partnerships with CSI: New Alpha Centre opened at Nandyal Diocese in Andhra Pradesh. P8 GAT Report: Many new Alpha courses have been registered after Global Alpha Training in Bodhgaya, Bihar. P8 Festival of Life, Kolkata: Alpha India will be helping to follow through with this major Joyce Meyer event in October; Alpha prefestival training dates are listed on the back page.

Financial Partnership We appreciate your financial partnership. If you are inspired to support Alpha India then please use the details below, or contact Thomas Mathew at the Alpha India Office.

Alpha India Account: Account Number: 03532000005741 Name: Alpha India Bank: HDFC Bank Ltd. Branch: Kalyan Nagar, Bangalore Account Type: Current account

Pressures on young people in India is higher than ever before, with extreme competition for education, employment & consumables. These factors have contributed to stressed family environments as well as India’s high level of youth suicides.

Youth Alpha was officially launched nationwide in June to help youth, by giving them an opportunity to explore the meaning of life. Training events took place in Kolkata in June and Chennai in July, and partnerships have been built with other youth-focused ministries. Official resources have been printed by Alpha India to support the large number of courses expected to start. Read the report from Kolkata and more on Page 8.

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ALPHA NOTES

National Alpha Office contact details:

YOUR LETTERS

Alpha India 219, 5th A Main Road, Kalyan Nagar, HRBR 2nd Block, Bangalore - 560 043 Tel: 080 2542 0902 IDD: +91 80 2542 0902 Email: contact@alphaindia.org Web: www.alphaindia.org

Patron: Shri S. C. Jamir, the former Governor of Maharashtra

National Director: Mr J Varadaraj Board Members: Scott Norling, Chairman Chris Sadler, Alpha Asia Pacific Chairman J Varadaraj, National Director Dr A. F. Pinto, CEO of St. Xavier Group of Schools and Ryan International Schools Gul Kripalani, Managing Director of Pijikay Fr. Anthony D’Souza S.J. Director of the Xavier Institute of Leadership Amrit Kunder, Builder/Developer Noel Swaranjit Sen, Former Police Chief of Andhra Pradesh T. David Raj, Joyce Meyer Ministries, India Matthew Anthony, Secretary for Evangelisation, Archdiocese of Delhi

The letters and cards that have come in this quarter have been very encouraging!

Fr. G.K Prakash of the Catholic Mission in Nagaon, Assam writes, “Dear Friends, by the good pleasure of our Lord, I have had the joy and pleasure of participating in your 3-day seminar at Guwahati on 23, 24, 25 March 2010 at the Peace Centre. The leadership of Mr. Soosai was full of the Holy Spirit. We all benefited. I wish the Seeds of Evangelism sown with faith, will in its’ own time, bear fruit for God’s Kingdom.

Church Advisory Board:

As God blessed Nicky’s life, may He bless all of us, whom He has drawn into his life - in one way or the other! I am all the time deeply involved in direct, personal evangelism. I rejoice to see it bear fruit.

Archbishop Vincent Concessao Bishop Rt. Rev. V. M. Malavia Rev. Dr D. Mohan, Superintendant of AOG India

In union of prayers, Yours in the Lord, Fr. G.K. Prakesh.”

State Coordinators’ Contact details: Andhra Pradesh: Susheel K Chattar Mob: 098660-99184 Andhra Pradesh - Hindupur: Paul J L Mob: 094408-61979 Assam and Meghalaya: Ranjit De Mob: 094347-59794 Bihar: George Muller Mob: 094310-16124 Gujarat: D Jimmy Mob: 098254-44197 Himachal Pradesh: Rupak K Nayak Mob: 093189-02997 Karnataka: John Roy Mob: 099161-11225 Kerala: Mon C George Mob: 094464-83577 Maharashtra - Mumbai: Bhanu & Sheena P Raju Mob: 093719-12887 Orissa: Tushar K Behera & Jayadeep Samantroy Mob: 093371-41600 Uttar Pradesh: Vinay P Dayal Mob: 093594-86843 West Bengal: Dilip and Kakali Debnath Mob: 098742-07760 West Bengal - Kolkata: Prabir Mondal Mob: 092368-57722 & 092318-62615

© Alpha India 2010, edited and published

by J.V Raj for Alpha India

Sunita from U.P writes, “I learnt so many things through Alpha. Today not only has my life changed, but also the lives of other church members. I am so thankful for my church for providing such a beneficial course for us.”

A Pastor’s postcard reads, “I received your Alpha magazine, I would like to have the book ‘Vision to Action’. I will be sending Rs 100. Without vision, people perish, so I want to ask you to pray for my church ‘Living Full Gospel Church’.

Many more testimonies were also received, some of which have been printed in the stories section on pages 4-5 of this newspaper. You may send your comments, suggestions and responses to Alpha India News, by mailing the National Office, Email: alphaindiaoffice@gmail.com Postal address: Alpha India News C/o Alpha India National Office 219, 5th A Main Road Kalyan Nagar HRBR 2nd Block Bangalore - 560 043

ALPHA INDIA NEWS JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010

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editorial

A message from the National Director Dear friends, So much has happened since I wrote last.

You will read about three major conferences that have happened - Asia Pacific in Kuching, Malaysia, EMEA in London and the Americas Conference in Chicago. They were all well received and a blessing.

praying that many will discover meaning in life through these efforts.

We have initiated the process of a fresh relationship with the CSI Churches.

We are working on a Bishops retreat for the CSI and CNI each in January with Bishop Sandy Miller and Tricia Neill leading the meetings.

After much prayer, we are expanding our team of Alpha Advisers. We currently have 260 Alpha Advisers around the country. We plan to increase this to over 500 by this year end. We are encouraging and challenging them to do trainWe have been asked to do follow up ings on their own. The plan is to have 4 trainings for the Joyce Meyer meetings in October in the city of Kolkata. Ninety trainings by the Alpha Advisers this year. plus leaders came together in Kolkata to With God’s help, we will have trained an be envisioned to do trainings in their ar- additional 40,000 leaders through the adeas. The plan is to train around 500 lead- ditional 1,000 trainings, apart from what ers from all the 6 zones of the city during our coordinators do. This will multiply the months of July, August and Septem- the number of leaders trained. We pray that all this will multiply the number of ber in preparation for the meetings. courses in the country.

The reception has been overwhelming.

Elsewhere you will see the details. We are We have had our first ever Youth Alpha training in Kolkata. We also recently concluded a Youth Alpha meeting in Chennai.

May I remind you that Alpha is not about Alpha but about Jesus and His Kingdom that is for ever and ever.

We need your help and partnership in any way that you can participate. There is a lingering hope that you will join us in reaching out to the lost world.

Your letters encourage us to further commitment.

Your servant as His,

J Varadaraj July 2010

VISIT ALPHAINDIA.ORG TODAY!

READ ‘WHY JESUS’ ONLINE FOR FREE!

from the field

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ALPHA INDIA NEWS JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010

CHANGEDLIVES “WE CAME TO KNOW ABOUT JESUS CHRIST...

WE HAD NEVER HEARD OF HIM BEFORE...

WE ACCEPTED HIM AS OUR SAVIOUR.” - KARUNA, ORISSA water baptism in the river Baitarani. For the baptism we asked one Pastor from Cuttack, as there is no Church or any Christian fellowship within 50km of the village. Now that the number of believers has gone up to 36, they need an ordained Pastor to take care of this small congregation along with their families.

fears. But there are always a few who stay firm. We are greatly encouraged by this.

Kindly please pray for us. Blessings, Rajan M. Salhotra.”

Prisoner becomes Alpha Leader; Prison All this could happen by the grace of God.” Officials impressed Sri Sanatan Singh Baptisms: We had to by lives changed From country-liquor dig a tank to avoid “Greetings from Tushar and Jayapdeep!

As a result of Prison Alpha in R. Usayagiri to baptism in Orissa confrontation Jail, two of the inmates have shown their “My name is Sri Sanatan Singh of district Keonjhar. I was from a different faith and was enjoying life with my friends by taking country liquor and quarreling with the people in my village. I was involved with all kinds of bad things for which I came to feel extremely guilty.

I came to know Jesus through the Alpha course which is being run by an evangelist in my village. Not only did I come to know about Jesus but I also accepted Jesus as my Personal Saviour and took baptism. Now I find myself in a new world where there is peace and joy. Also I now enjoy the fellowship of other believers.

Now my purpose of living is to bring those old friends to Jesus who are still in the darkness. Please pray for me.”

8 point 28 to the Kingdom From the Orissa Alpha Coordinators “At the end of March one evangelist here was running an Alpha Course in his village. He started the course with 8 believers who invited their friends and relatives to come and attend the course. As a result, 28 non-Christians accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour & took

“To God be the glory. Dalhousie Church in Himachal Pradesh is registering a steady and perpetual growth month by month.

We have newcomers who are brought to our Saturday fasting-prayer meetings for healing, and we have now finished running our third Alpha course.

It is with joy that there were seven baptisms administered here on 18th April 2010. There would have been more, but some avoided it or could not come for some reasons; we hope that they will come for baptism soon.

We had to dig the tank for the baptisms on Saturday evening, to avoid any confrontation. We lined it with canvas, filled it with with water and then baptised the seven people. Then we reshaped the place to its original form, and everyone went to church (it was Sunday morning by then).

desire to accept Jesus as their Saviour.

They are from non-Chistian backgrounds, and we completely believe it is the work of the Holy Spirit who alone can change their hearts.

Please pray for them so that they can bear testimony in their village after their release from the jail in the next year.

Also, an inmate named Babula, who has already spent seven years in the prison, recently became our new Alpha leader inside the prison. He has started a new prayer group amongst the inmates.

The lives of inmates who have been changed through the Alpha course is encouraging the jail authorities to be cooperative with our Advisers for their jail visits.

And the prisoners’ families are also opening their hearts to know about Jesus. Slowly the Alpha work is opening a door for our prison

God is working here. Two sisters, Shivani and Shikha took fresh decisions for Christ and attended the Alpha course. The third sister and their mother have also come to the Lord, after the mother was delivered from sickness and demonic attacks. She had ulcers which disappeared and the test report subsequently showed negative.

It is always a sad experience that several who are prayed for get blessings and then turn away due to social pressures and other Mr N Rao and his mother

ALPHA INDIA NEWS JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010

from the field

CHANGED CHURCH

Alpha Advisers, Ps. Maguni Sananayak and Ps. Sanyasi Pani, to visit their families outside and share the Gospel to them.

It is amazing to see how the Lord is working, though many difficulties are encountered. Still we praise God for His wonderful work through Alpha.”

Oriyan family comes to Faith “My name is Karuna. Myself and my family were of another religion and leading a life where there was no peace and joy. I was having all kinds of bad habits.

Through our friend Ps. Jagat, we got an opportunity to attend the Alpha course in our village, in which we came to know about Jesus Christ who died for our sins. We had never heard this before. It made me realise the love of the Lord. We accepted Jesus

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C.N.I Dahod, Gujarat - Report by Presbyter-in-charge, Rev. Hamilton B Roy

We learnt how we can start a new life in Jesus Christ “My name is Manju. When I came to Christ through Brother Robin I learnt about what the Christian life is about.

One day Brother Robin started the Alpha course in the church and he showed us how we can worship the Lord and told us that we should pray in groups by faith.

“For CNI Church Dahod, the Alpha course has become an instrument to give us direction and increase the dynamism of the church activities. The church has started growing with new vision and a burden for the Lord.

The Alpha course was started in January 2010 for 10 weeks, and 60-70 people participated regularly. People from other faiths were taking part voluntarily, and the Alpha guide book was given to all on the course and followed by them as a guide book to basic Christian doctrines.

This course solves our questions of life.

Through Alpha we learnt how we can start a new life in Jesus Christ. Alpha teaches love, service, and a new way to live our lives.

Through the course we learnt how to live a good Christian life and to live with good character. personally as our Saviour. Now we are leading a new life and experiencing a new fellowship with our Saviour, who is always with us.

Please pray for my family, so that we can grow in the Lord and be witnesses to others in our village.”

Hearts of mother & son opened to Jesus Mr. N Rao and his mother, of Giawa village of Gajapati District, Orissa, accepted Jesus Christ during the Alpha course which they attended in their village under the leadership of Ps. Maguni S. They were from another religious background, and during the Alpha Day Away their hearts were opened for Jesus.

Previously they were idol worshippers. Now that they have accepted Jesus, they have to go through persecution from their own relatives, which is a new experience for them.

Please pray for them so that they can remain strong through this persecution and be a witness for others.

Thank God that Alpha entered our lives.

Now I realised that I am a new Manju, because my old life became new, so I just want to thank God.”

My life has totally changed “Praise the Lord. My name is Renu. I am one of the believer’s of Samaparan Believers Church. I have never heard before of such a kind of course as this.

Brother Robin’s wife Jolly told me about Alpha and how we can learn through Alpha. It’s like a family and we are running the course every Friday.

Through this course my life has changed totally and now I can learn more and more through Alpha. We learnt so many things like prayer: prayer is not only an activity but it is a conversation. Prayer is like a relationship between God and man and we learn how we can live our life.

Actually, Alpha is a good source to reach out to the believers and to encourage them. We learn in Alpha how we can start a new life. I thank God for the Alpha course, through it the life of my entire family has changed.”

The result: • • • • •

People were enthused to study the Bible The local church experienced growth in unity, peace and love People have come forward to serve in the church Members have received clear understanding about the sanctity of church, and they have honour for the pastor The secretary of CNI Dahod has experienced spiritual growth. He is a retired police inspector and he is encouraged through this course to serve the Lord, have Christ at the centre of his life, and experience the Holy Spirit in a deeper way.

In the coming days we will conduct the Alpha course in various local communities, for which prayers and preparations are currently going on.

Please email or write to us, alphaindiaoffice@gmail.com or to the National Office postal address, page 2.

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international news - training c

Senior Church leaders united in Malaysia, to support the work of evangelisation in their country and region. Photo: Brandon Eu

ASIA PACIFIC REGION KUCHING, MALAYSIA: On the 16th and 17th April, more than 1,200 delegates from the Asia Pacific region, including the Indian subcontinent, took part in the 2010 Malaysian Alpha Conference. More than 15 denominations were represented at the event, including 394 delegates from the Roman Catholic church, 213 Anglicans, 199 Methodists,104 Baptists and 38 Pentecostals.

Nicky Gumbel, Tim Hughes, Al Gordon and Jamie Haith from Alpha’s home-church in London presented the sessions at the conference. The London team spent two days teaching the principles and practicalities of running effective Alpha courses - from how to conduct group discussions, to pastoral ministry and ‘after Alpha’. In addition, the break-out seminars on both days were taken by Alpha Malaysia’s trainers, advisers and staff. These staff will now continue to equip local churches and groups in Malay-

sia, while Alpha staff from other nations will offer support to the delegates from their countries.

The conference was officially opened by the Most Reverend John Ha, Catholic Archbishop of Kuching; Right Reverend Datuk Bolly Lapok, Anglican Bishop of Sarawak, and other Church leaders from the nation. In their messages, each of the Heads of Churches emphasised Church unity and the timeliness of the conference for the nation.

Most Reverend John Ha, Catholic Archbishop of Kuching said, “There has never been a greater and a more urgent need to draw our people to Christ and deepen their relationship with Him than today. Thank God we do not need to go back and scratch our heads and think what programme should be devised or drawn up, we have the Alpha course, given to us by God into our hands.

“...I am sure that the Spirit is moving in this conference, I hope and pray that we will all open our ears to the Lord, to the Spirit, so that this conference will bear fruit in each one of us. ‘In what way will the Lord make use of me when I go home?’ Each one of us needs to be open to the Spirit in order to find the answer to this question, but right now one answer is clear, we must not go back after this conference and do nothing.”

Right Reverend Datuk Bolly Lapok, Anglican Bishop of Sarawak (Malaysia), said, “Given the many challenges of the Malaysian context in which God has placed us and in which we are a small minority, the churches cannot afford to be not united. We need a credible common denominator such as the Alpha course. In the present situation, I would say a conference like this, and the Alpha course, is God sent.”

More than 1000 delegates attended the Alpha Conference for North and South America, in Chicago in June.

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EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA, in London

Church leaders from 77 nations of Europe, Middle East and Africa, came together in London in June for the EMEA Week event.

More than 1200 church leaders from 77 countries and 28 denominations attended the Alpha Conference for leaders from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in London in June. The conference was held at Holy Trinity Brompton Church where Alpha Pioneer Nicky Gumbel is vicar, and where the Alpha course started more than two decades ago.

During the conference, delegates from the represented nations gave feedback on the growth of Alpha in their country. The Alpha course leader from Poland spoke about 27

new Alpha courses that were run. He also talked about the difficult time the country has been in after the tragic plane crash killing President Lech Kaczynski and 96 others in April. As the country mourned they were able to publish Nicky Gumbel’s chapter ‘Why does God allow suffering,’ which he said helped many people.

Leaders in Benin, West Africa, shared how they started running Alpha courses in July 2009- Now 25 churches are running the course in six regions of the country.

The Seychelles delegates spoke of their growth in a country smaller than HTB’s parish. Alpha has been running there since 1996, but took off two years ago after a Global Alpha Training (GAT) visit.

Finally the delegate from Kazakhstan spoke.

He jubilantly told how Alpha had worked in his family – bringing his brother, father-in-law and uncle to Christ.

THE AMERICAS More than 1000 delegates also attended Alpha’s Americas Week in Chicago in late June. The training conference was held at Calvary Church in Naperville which has a congregation of 6000 and actively runs the Alpha course.

The Americas week was officially opened

by Calvary Church’s Senior Pastor Randal Ross. The first two days were led by Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, with Toby Flint and Paul Cowley of Holy Trinity Brompton (London) also leading parts of the training. Worship was led by Brenton Brown.

Many reports were given by delegates during the week, including those from Nicaragua where 500 churches have started Alpha since 2005.

More than 3500 people took part in the three conferences in London (above), Chicago (top-right) and Kuching, Malaysia (right).

In Albania, with only 0.5% evangelical Christians, Alpha was started two years ago. Now there are 48 courses being run.

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from the field

GAT REPORT

PARTNERSHIP WITH CSI DIOCESE

BODHGAYA, BIHAR

ALPHA INDIA NEWS JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010

REPORTED BY GEORGE MULLER, ALPHA COORDINATOR FOR BIHAR. It is very exciting to write to you about Global Alpha Training held at Heritage hotel, Bodhgayamon 12-15, April 2010. The venue of the GAT event was 1.5km away from main temple here. This is the particular place where Buddha got enlightenment and spread Buddhism all over the country.

This is the first time that interdenominational pastors have gathered for such a four-day event. There were 116 delegates here from 21 denominations and organizations, from ten districts of Bihar, and some from the Jharkhand-Bihar border areas as well.

The event was inaugurated by Rev. Jagdish Masih, the Senior Pastor of Methodist church of India, and a short devotional was given by Rev. John Nagendran, the Eastern Regional Director of GEMS ministry. He focused on the title “passion for lost souls”.

More than two years after Alpha was first introduced to the C.S.I Diocese in Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh, an Alpha Centre was opened on the Diocese property in April to facilitate the roll-out of the course throughout the local area.

The three-person GAT team that assisted in this training were from Sheffield, UK. Other assistance came from our local team - our local Alpha Adviser Rev. David Singh, Zonal Superintendant of Global Evangelical Movement, Rev. Victor Immanuel CEO of Goodwill Evangelical Missions Services and some talks were given by me also. Other resource persons were members of Church of North India, Baptist Church and the Church of Promise.

The Alpha Centre was opened at the Bishop’s Office. The centre will provide office-space and support for the State Alpha Coordinator as well as the local C.S.I Alpha teams, and Rev. Samuel Sumitra has been appointed an Alpha coordinator for the diocese.

Every morning there were devotions taken by different leaders: Rev. SR. Cornelius, Rev. A.P. Samson, Director of Village Gospel Missionary Of India and Rev. A. Sanathappan, Zonal Superintendent of PEACE ministry.

There were special songs by different groups like Rev. R.K. Massey, pastor of Pentecostal Holiness Church, Bhojpori and Magahi, and songs led by the different delegates themselves.

Nearly 250 leaders attended the opening ceremony and training day. Right Rev. P.J Lawrence, Bishop of Nandyal, prayed and addressed the importance of understanding the Spirit-filled Christian life through the Alpha course. Alpha’s coordinator for Andhra Pradesh, Job Livingston Paul, then re-introduced Alpha to them and shared of the many testimonies he has encountered in the work.

At the end of the training, Rev. S.R Cornelius, CEO of Grace Evangelical Missions Services commissioned the delegates. He said that Alpha is a fantastic tool and that by this course we can use it to point many new believers into the Church.

This was an excellent Alpha Training event that took place. 31 courses are already registered to start because of it, and many are about to register. Also, I am very happy to report that two of the hotel staff committed their lives to Lord Jesus during the GAT and both of them attended their first Sunday worship on 18th April 2010 at different churches. Thanks a lot for your prayer and support.

Regards George Muller

The church leaders were encouraged to select lay-leaders for the full training that would occur the following month, and in May a large number of lay leaders were trained and commissioned to begin Alpha courses in their local church communities.

GLOBAL ALPHA TRAINING FOR A LIST OF UPCOMING TRAINING EVENTS, VISIT WWW.ALPHAINDIA.ORG

ALPHA INDIA NEWS JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010

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youth alpha

YOUTH ALPHA! TODAY’S YOUTH, TOMORROW’S LEADERS

WHAT IS YOUTH ALPHA? Youth Alpha is a more informal version of the Alpha course, using the same teaching content but adapted in a way to better engage with teenagers. The course normally runs over ten weeks, plus a weekend or day away in the middle. Youth Alpha shares the same important elements as any Alpha course – food, worship, a talk, and small groups.

It’s easy to run, with a revised and updated LEADERS’ GUIDE that has all the talks written for you. Also there is a Youth Alpha Clips DVD with music videos for your course, and a cartoon manual for younger youth.

125 YOUTH, 27 ORGANISATIONS TRAINED IN KOLKATA For the first time in India, official Youth Alpha training was conducted at Seva Kendra, Kolkata from the 10th -12th of June, 2010. The training conference started with wonderful worship led by a vibrant group of young people, and this brought life to the beginning of the programme.

gramme, which was a GAT event with trainers from Singapore. The young people were from 27 different organizations and churches and they represented 6 denominations - CNI, Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic and Independents.

The National Alpha Office team consisted of five key trainers, and the GAT Team included Mr. Wenchien from Singapore. There was tremendous fun in the air as Mr. Wenchien introduced a lot of games which the delegates enjoyed immensely.

The second day was a day of learning. On this day the delegates were involved in various activities with interaction. A fruitful discussion ensued where the delegates came up with different questions and ideas. On the third day there was an awesome prayer session and commissioning of around 40 youths who decided to use Youth Alpha in their respective ministries. They were amazed when they were prayed for individually. They were in tears as they experienced the love of God in their lives.

Blessings, The Alpha Team in Kolkata

WHERE YOUTH ALPHA IN INDIA BEGAN

youngsters in colleges. The transformation of many young lives after using Alpha course motivated us to make it an integral part of the mission. About 12-16 Alpha courses are run every year. For the Christians on campus who want to do more, Alpha is ready-made to help them reach out on campus.

The youth-relevant topics and the simplicity of the material is very easy for a non-Christian to comprehend the truth. The course provides answers to various spiritual doubts of new believers and helps them to grow in faith. Alpha is not just leading people to Christ, but it also begins to disciple them. It guides every student to lay a strong foundation and have a personal relationship with their Creator. We praise and thank God for this wonderful Alpha course!”

“THE TRANSFORMATION OF MANY YOUNG LIVES AFTER USING THE ALPHA COURSE MOTIVATED US TO MAKE IT AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE MISSION.”

BY ESTHER PRISCILLA, FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, UPPER ROOM YOUTH MISSION

Mr. Soumen Biswas, Director of Kolkata Youth for Christ was present on the first day and he encouraged the delegates by saying: “Alpha is a wonderful tool for evangelism amongst the youths.”

Around 125 young people attended the pro-

“Colleges have become accessible to a majority of Indian youth in this modern era.

Upper Room Youth Mission functions to evangelize every college in the nation with the vision “Every college without Christ is a mission field and every student with Christ is a Missionary”. Upper Room Youth Mission [URYM], started with six young girls in the year 2001 and has now grown into a huge family with 1000s of young students from 100+ colleges in various states of India and other countries by the grace of God. The Youth Alpha course has been used as an effective evangelizing and discipleship tool for the past six and a half years by URYM. The structure of the course is apt to reach

Youth Alpha resources are available from the Alpha India National Office.

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resource feature

ALPHA INDIA NEWS JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010

god at work A powerful new book and discipleship course for working people and professionals.

Ken Costa has been an investment banker in the City of London for over 30 years, and is the Chairman of Alpha International. He has been involved with Alpha since it began at his home Church, Holy Trinity Brompton, more than two decades ago.

Ken’s new book and course, called God at Work, has been written to help everyday-Christians live their Christian faith in the workplace whether in a factory, telecentre, bank, or as a bus-driver. Nicky Gumbel writes, “No one is better qualified than Ken Costa to write a book like this.”

The following is an excerpt from the chapter of God at Work titled ‘Failure, Disappointment and Hope.’ If you would like to purchase the book or run the course, please contact the Alpha India National Office.

Recovering from disappointment - five steps to renew our hope Laurence van der Post, the South African philosopher and anthropologist who spent his life observing the social patterns of contemporary society and of the nomadic San people in South Africa, remarked, ‘the lesson of history for me is that men and their societies can endure and surmount any enormities except a state of meaninglessness’ (Walk with the Bushmen).

Living each day at work with hope and purpose is essential for our well-being. It is true that those who are purpose-led have a positive outlook on life and produce better results both at work and outside it, influencing the communities in which they live. So it is important to recover hope when, through failure and disappointment, we have lost its power to keep us expectant. How do we do it? Here are five pointers that I have found helpful when trying to recover from disappointment.

cast, enquired what they were talking about.

It was only later that they realized the man was Jesus. Initially they were so preoccupied with their disappointment that they failed to recognize that the Lord of hope was walking alongside them. It is important to face our disappointments honestly and to acknowledge how they make us feel. However, if we do not keep disappointment in its place, it can overwhelm us, and we too risk forgetting that the Lord of hope walks with us through good and bad, and has promised never to abandon us (Matthew 28:20).

becomes part of our being. I find it helpful to memorize and meditate upon particular verses, because hope is so often attacked by negativity and fear. I have committed to memory Romans 15:13, ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’ By His creative Holy Spirit, God enables us to grow in hope, breaking the bounds of our own narrowness and transforming areas of our lives that we have constructed in the belief that God cannot really make a difference.

When we are down, we often instinctively want to turn away from God, is some way implicating him in our misfortune. This is a great mistake. If we follow the self-help theories, we will dig inside ourselves only to find that there is nothing there to pick us up.

We need to take the initiative to lift our heads towards God. As we do so, we are reminded of His love for us, His victory on the cross and the power of the resurrection.

4. Keep a journal

There is a ‘tensed waiting’ on earth as we live in the hope created by the resurrection, which has not yet been fulfilled. Not only is work imperfect but creation as a whole groans in imperfection, waiting for the new heaven and the new earth promised by God. The hope of Christ’s return enables us to live expectantly even if our present circumstances at work are harsh and negative.

2. Face the facts Realism is vital when we come to deal with our disappointments. I find enormous encouragement from the description in Romans of Abraham who, we are told, ‘Without weakening in his faith, faced the fact that his body was as good as dead - since he was about 100 years old - and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God’ (Romans 4:19-20). He faced the facts that they were both past childbearing age, yet remained open to God’s power to give them a child.

I normally find it easier to talk than to write, but if I am going through a particularly difficult time, I find it helpful to keep a journal.

This enables me to articulate what I am thinking and felling. Written words seem to have a more objective ring to them - and can also be reviewed at a later date. As I review past disappointments, I can often see God’s hand at work, bringing good out of situations that seemed hopeless at the time. In retrospect, I can recognize that God gave me ‘eternal encouragement and good hope’ (2 Thessalonians 2:16). The focus of my recollection is changed from ‘yet another failure’ to the good that came out of a time of rejection and disillusionment.

5. Persevere in hope We naturally long for instant gratification and for a sudden change of mood when we are burdened and feeling a loss of hope in our lives. This is seldom what happens. Character is developed by learning to live through disappointment and recovering hope for the long term. We are not promised that at the end of each day there will be a reversal of the weights that have dragged us down. But we are encouraged that if we persevere, God will enable us to keep going when we are ready to pack it all in.

1. Turn to God

3. Meditate on Scripture

At a recent U2 concert, Bono recalled his father’s advice to him as a young man starting out on a career: ‘Don’t dream. To dream is to be disappointed.’ Fortunately, Bono did not take this advice. He dared to dream and he risked disappointment. Even if we face disillusionment when our dreams fade or fail, we can emerge from it because Christian hope is dynamic and powerful, whereas disappointment tends to constrict us, reducing our motivation and contracting our horizons.

Christian hope expresses abundance, abandonment, creativity and openness to renewal.

Following Jesus’ crucifixion, two of the disciples were walking to Emmaus, a village about seven miles from Jerusalem. As they discussed recent events, somebody came and joined them, and finding them down-

Led by the Spirit, we find a promise of God in the Bible appropriate to our situation. We then read it, mull it over and say it aloud until we digest its meaning and its truth

A client once said to me, ‘You can either be a pussy cat or a tiger in this deal. Now go and be a tiger.’ Christian hope has too often been domesticated as if it were a pussy cat, a good

The facts are a radical reality. We need to avoid fantasies and daydreams of what might have been when we deal with our own discouragements: there is no value in an indulgent reconstruction of the past. It is God alone who can change our situation, enabling us to stop dwelling in the past so that he can transform and empower our future.

ALPHA INDIA NEWS JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010

god at work

feeling or a good cause - something to keep us going. We need to recover the tiger- a wild hope.

The unforced rhythms of grace how to live with hope When we are down we tend to live dysfunctional lives. It is as if there is a constant sore that we cannot get rid of, which reminds us of the negative tow in our lives. The disciples were often brought down, as we are, by being tired or worn out, and Jesus promised them that he would restore a new rhythm to their lives and would show them how to ‘live freely and lightly’. Life has a rhythm for each one of us, which is given to us by God to enable us to live each day in sync with His grace and love. Our task is to seek His will and then to align our lives with His purposes. This will inevitably involve a close scrutiny of our patterns of living, our workload in the office and the other activities that frequently disrupt our well-being and motivation. We may well have to cut out activities that are fruitless and cause us to be exhausted. Jesus’ advice to us on the subject is compelling: ‘Are you tired? Worn out? Burnt out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.

Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly’ (Matthew 11:28-30, The Message).

“I am a consultant psychiatrist and therefore am faced constantly with making difficult decisions at work. In the past I found it hard not to fall into doubt and self-reproach when things went wrong. I devised intricate tactics to cover this up but in my more private moments I thought that the fault lines in my personality would eventually split me into a thousand pieces, without hope of restoration (these times were my Humpty Dumpty moments).

In 1997, I began attending an Alpha course, because, uniquely for me, I had felt close to the end of life and no-one seemed to understand. Only a Christian friend was able to see through my defenses and suggested I come to her Alpha group. I thought ‘what the hell!?

And knew I would be able to discern artificial or hysterical manifestations shown by others.

I accepted the common sense wrapped up in Christian mumbo-jumbo as relatively harmless.

At this time, I attended a weekend Christian conference on work-related issues. I was ready to go to the pub at the end of the proceedings, none the worse for spending two days in the company of Christians. There was an opportunity for prayer and I was happy to be able to sit with two friends who could pray harmlessly. I was quite surprised to be knocked back into my seat by a force that I identified immediately as passing through my ‘cartoon’ heart (i.e. not at the anatomical position closer to the centre of the chest). I was filled with an irrational sense of relief, followed by joy and then intense relaxation. I now realize this was the Holy Spirit.

At work, I tried to cap any behavioral changes in case anyone asked what was wrong. How-

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ever, I was impressed by the perceptiveness of many friends and colleagues who said I was so much better, so much easier to be with and to work with. Someone asked what I was ‘on’ and where to get it. My ability to be seen as a supportive, trustworthy colleague and friend has increased. Both the clinical and academic areas of my work have benefitted, with increased output of scientific papers and presentations at professional conferences. These are quantifiable results. What is even more striking, though more qualitative, is the way in which patients, relatives, and clinical colleagues respond to me. The most impressive changes have been internal. That nagging self reproach that followed failure has all but gone. I expected all of this to wear off like any fad, but several years later my sense of God’s grace, love and immediacy is stronger than ever.”

(Ken Checinski, consultant psychiatrist) Recovering hope that has been impaired by failure is greatly helped when we realize that others can be helped by us. When we are going through rough times we do not believe that we can contribute anything to helping others to sort out their lives. This is not true.

Often we are able to empathize far better with our colleagues who are under pressure at work when we too are finding life difficult.

We do not need to have lives of perfect balance before we can be useful and see hope grow again. When we consciously lift our eyes above our own problems and become determined to encourage others we find that restoration is on its way.

In summary, hope is the forgotten virtue of our age, often sandwiched between the muscularity of faith and the tenderness of love.

The world needs to know that God’s plan is to sum up everything in Christ, and we are the ones through whom this hope will be made known now, in our workplaces and in the world. Hope is therefore powerful today, as it enables us to live in the present as it will be in the future. But we have trivialized hope to the point of whimsy. Radical hope looks at the reality of hard, difficult and sometimes impossible situations (which we encounter regularly at work) and without ignoring these realities empowers us in Christ to tackle

“full of acumen, shrewdness, hopefulness - in short, it is a wise book and a delight and profit to read.”

- Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury “packed with wisdom and practical advice for the workplace.”

- Steven Chalke, Founder of Oasis Global and Faithworks

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them with confidence. That is the strength of the power of God at work. However, hope and perseverance go together. Without hope why persevere, why not live life for the moment or for immediate gain? But without perseverance hope falls at the first time of testing.

Archbishop Rowan Williams has called for a new ‘culture of hope’ for our nation (England). This is surely timely. Starting in our workplaces, all of us can share the passion to reverse the exhaustion of hopelessness that so saps the spiritual vitality of our workplaces and our nation.

I love the story of the first performance of Messiaen’s ‘Quartet for the End of time’.

In the winter of 1941, the composer Olivier Messiaen was one of a group of French prisoners of war in Stalag 8A in Silesia. He had read the Gospels and the book of Revelation and had come to believe that Jesus would return. He knew that this hope created meaning for the suffering people around him. In their appalling conditions, he understood that hope for tomorrow was essential for life today. He looked around the concentration camp and managed to gather together four instruments: a cello with a missing string, a battered violin, an old clarinet and a piano with stuck-together keys. For this unusual combination of broken instruments, he wrote one of the greatest pieces of music of the twentieth century, and Messiaen called it, ‘Quartet for the End of Time’. When it was played to 5,000 prisoners of war in that freezing place in Silesia, the audience listened with rapt attention. Messiaen records, ‘The cold was excruciating, the Stalag buried under snow, the four performers played on broken down instruments . . . But never have I had an audience who listened with such rapt attention and comprehension.’ Those broken instruments in that unusual combination were unexpected agents of hope. Similarly, although we may feel inadequate and incomplete personally or spiritually, when we act together God uses us to be agents of hope in the world.