Campus Alpha User Guide

campusalpha USER GUIDE

Prepare Plan Promote Train Run

Introducing Campus Alpha This manual is designed to take you through the different stages of setting up and running an Alpha Course at your university or college. The following pages aim to both equip and encourage you to be able to present the Christian message in a way that is relevant to students today.

All Campus Alpha courses are slightly different and not all of the suggestions made in this manual will apply to your course, but the aim is to provide a framework to help you get started. Take a good look through this manual before you start planning your campus course, and then use it as a reference as you work through the details.

Realizing the need for Campus Alpha The years at the university are, for many students, a key time to explore the deeper questions of life. Students are constantly surrounded by pressure: financial constraints, social expectations, complex relationships, and the uncertainty of the job market and their future. The combination of these pressures may very well provoke them to ask some of the most fundamental questions.

• What does the future hold?

• Where am I going?

• Does God exist?

The answers to deep, spiritual hunger are complicated by pluralism, as the concept of “truth” has become almost a myth. Alpha is a tool by which we can present the claims of Christ in a low key, but powerful manner to millions of students who have little or no understanding of the dynamics of the Christian faith.

“My narrow-minded views of Christianity were forever changed by the Alpha course.”

- Wai, Cal State Northridge

What is Campus Alpha?

Campus Alpha contains the same material as “classic” Alpha, except that it’s been squeezed (into seven weeks), squashed (into thirty-minute talks) and spiced (with multi-media ingredients.) Facilitator notes, guest notes, and downloadable talks can all be found on our campus site by going to www.campusalpha.us or in canada www.campusalpha.ca.

Most courses are set up as evening courses, where there is a light meal followed by a talk on a subject central to the Christian faith. Students then break into prearranged groups (in which they remain for the entire series) to discuss the talks in an environment where no question is seen as too simple or too hostile. There should also be a scheduled weekend or day away during which the subject of the Holy Spirit is addressed.

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“For me it was a place to go to talk about things that I thought really matter and were really worth talking about.”—Casey, Buffalo State

Who is running Campus Alpha?

Campus Alpha has been designed as a tool that any church or organization can feel comfortable using. Its simple format has seen courses started and run everywhere from churches and residence halls, to McDonald® restaurants, curry houses, and nightclubs. Friendships are being built, communities are being formed, students are supporting one another, and most importantly, young people are coming into a relationship with God. Our aim is to introduce Campus Alpha into every university and place of higher education in order that students are given the opportunity to hear the gospel through attending an Alpha course.

You have attended a training or introductory Alpha event, what comes next?

We hope you will catch the vision and be excited about starting an Alpha course on or off campus, at a local business, or any place where college-age adults hang out.

So, what is your next step? How do you get started?

This guide will help you plan and start an Alpha course by providing step-by-step advice. You have all the tools you need to start a campus course, now you just need to use them!

If you haven’t attended an Alpha training event, then please contact your Regional Alpha Office or the National Alpha Office (details on the back cover), or visit www.alpha.org to find out when the next training event will happen near you.

Preparation and planning Depending on the context in which your course will be run, the preparation and planning you need to do will vary slightly from group to group. Check all the points in this guide to ensure you have considered every aspect of how to run your course effectively. This guide is targeted towards reaching out to colleges and universities, but the same principles apply to all courses regardless of size, location, or age group.

Prayer Prayer is vital to the planning, preparation, and effectiveness of your Campus Alpha course. We recommend finding a group of people who will pray for every aspect of the course, from the beginning of your planning to the last session and follow up.

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The five important steps to running a Campus Alpha course STEP 1 – PREPARE for your Alpha course w Contact your Regional/National Alpha Office w Inform your church or campus leadership w Appoint a course leadership team w Register your Alpha course

STEP 2 – PLAN your Alpha course w Set the dates w Decide who the course is for w Determine how to deliver the teaching sessions (live speaker or video) w Select a venue for your course w Select and book a venue for your Weekend Away/Day Away w Prepare the Alpha course invitations w Select the Alpha team, hosts, and helpers w Select a task force

STEP 3 – PROMOTE your Alpha course w Empower your students to catch the vision w Schedule an Alpha Large Group guest meeting w Promote on campus w Alpha Launch or Introductory Event

STEP 4 – TRAIN your Alpha course hosts and helpers w Training session 1 – Hosting Small Groups w Training session 2 – Pastoral Care w Training session 3 – Praying for Others on Alpha w Taskforce Training

STEP 5 – RUN your Alpha course w Typical Timetable w Food on Alpha w The Weekend/Day Away w Alpha Celebration Event

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Step 1 – Prepare for your Alpha course We recommend that you do the following 2 months before your course starts:

n 1.1 Contact the National Campus Alpha Office

he Campus Alpha leadership will be able to help you with general questions T about the course. They will also be able to: w Suggest a speaker who can give a presentation about Campus Alpha to your ministry’s leadership team. w Suggest local Team/Leader or Getting Started Training. w Offer advice on where to go and how to run an effective Weekend/Day Away. w Let you know of other courses running in your area, so that you can arrange joint Alpha Small Group Hosts and Helpers Training and/or the Weekend/ Day Away. w Recommend speakers who can support you on your Weekend/Day Away. w Direct you to the appropriate campus resources.

n 1.2 Inform church or campus leadership

If you are not the primary church or campus leader, ensure you have their support and blessing before you begin. The What is Alpha? booklet or Campus Alpha User Guide can help you explain the Campus Alpha course. It is also helpful so the church or campus leader can prepare and encourage other students to reach out to their unchurched friends before the course begins.

Ideas on how to do this are set out in 3.1.

n 1.3 Appoint course leadership

Alpha Course Leader—He or she should be a mature Christian who has a heart for evangelism. The course leader hosts each Alpha session, including the team training sessions, and has overall pastoral responsibility for the course.

Alpha Course Director (or Administrator)—is responsible for all the work behind the scenes of the course. Telling Others is also a valuable tool for the Alpha Director (or Administrator) and offers transferable advice on how to run a Campus Alpha course.

Worship Leader— smaller courses may feel uncomfortable singing out loud.

You may wish to introduce worship when your course has about 25 members or more. Live music is preferred over recorded music. If you have a worship leader, try to ensure the leader is sensitive to those unfamiliar with Christian worship and the worship does not last a long time. At the early stages of your course, one or two well known songs are best. You can gradually increase the amount of worship as the course progresses.

You now have an Alpha leadership team to plan your Alpha course.

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n 1.4 Register your Alpha course

Please complete the “register your course” form on the National Alpha Office website (see the back cover); or contact the National Alpha Office to ensure your course is registered in the national course directory. This will help to direct those who want to attend an Alpha course in your local area.

It is important that your course is registered not only so that you can be invited to local Alpha trainings and events, but also so that people interested in the course may be able to contact you.

STEP 2 – Plan your Alpha course n 2.1 Set the dates

Alpha works best as a continuous program. This helps guests from one course invite their friends to the next course. Therefore, it is best to select dates that run concurrent with the academic calendar. When doing this, it’s important to consider transportation, convenience, commitments, and school/work schedules. Try to avoid running a course during major holiday seasons or midterm breaks. You can use the following guide to plan the dates for each element of the course. Reserve all the rooms that will be needed for every aspect of the course so that there is no clash with other events. This is especially vital if the course is being run on campus.

Session Date Campus Training 1 – Hosting/Helping in Small Groups Campus Training 2 – Pastoral Care Alpha Large Group Meeting Campus Alpha Launch – Is This It? (see 3.4) Week 1 – Who Is Jesus?

Week 2 – Why Did Jesus Die? Week 3 – How Can We Have Faith?

Week 4 – Why and How Do I Pray?

Week 5 – Why and How Should I Read the Bible?

Campus Training 3 - Praying for Others on Alpha Weekend/Day Away Week 6 - What About Evil and Does God Heal Today?

Week 7 – What About the Church and Telling Others?

Alpha Celebration Event (see 5.4)

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The Alpha Celebration Event is a lighthearted event with a dual purpose: to celebrate the completion of an Alpha course and to kick-off a new course. This often serves as an alternative to the Launch event mentioned above.

n 2.2 Decide who the course is for It is vitally important to decide who will be invited to attend the first course.

Is your purpose to reach those on the peripheral of the ministry from the first course on? Or is it to initially expose your core group to the Alpha ministry and then reach out beyond your active members?

If, from the beginning, you want to use the course to reach out to the unchurched, then we would encourage you to be very intentional and focus your efforts on a specific residence hall, apartment complex, club, fraternity, organization, or college department.

n 2.3 Determine how to deliver the teaching sessions Determine if you will be using a live speaker utilizing the campus talks or showing the standard DVD series. We recognize that the ideal is to have live speakers but we recommend that people start their course with the videos for these reasons: w Preparing all 11 talks (including 3 weekend) in a term and to prepare them really well is extremely hard work. w If it is your first Alpha course, there are a lot of things to organize apart from the talks. w if the course is small, watching the talks make discussion easier since the speaker is not also the group leader and the expression of contrary opinion is less threatening.

If you decide to do live talks, the transcripts and PREZI slides are available on our website to help you with your presentation.

Students often find that money is an issue! This should not have to be an obstacle to anyone starting a course. In response to this problem, we have created a host of free resources, and for first-time courses that qualify, partial and full scholarships on purchased resources are available. We also have ESOL Alpha to reach out to English speakers of other languages and ASL Alpha to engage the hearing impaired with the gospel. The standard Alpha course has been translated into over 80 languages and we have found great success in reaching international students through the Alpha course.

n 2.4 Select a venue for your course Find a venue based on the number of people you expect on the course.

Generally the more relaxed the setting, the better. A home or apartment is often less threatening for those who don’t have a living relationship with Jesus, but depending on the size of your course, you may need to move on

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campusalpha is based on the “classic” 15 talk Alpha course, except that it’s been squeezed (into seven weeks), squashed (into thirty minute talks) and spiced (with multi-media ingredients). These videos are taught by Jamie Haith, former International Director of Campus and Youth Alpha.

For more information please contact the following:

Alpha Canada Tel: 800.743.0899 Tel: +604.304.2082 e-mail: office@alphacanada.org www.alphacanada.org www.campusalpha.ca Alpha U.S.A. Tel: 800.362.5742 Tel: + 212.406.5269 e-mail: info@alphausa.org e mail: campusinfo@alphausa.org www.alphausa.org www.campusalpha.us

Alpha in the Caribbean e-mail: americas@alpha.org www.alpha.org

For information in Spanish contact: Alpha América Latina e-mail: latinoamerica@alpha.org www.alphalatinoamerica.org

ISBN 978-1938328268 978-1-938328-26-8 ISBN: 100638

9 781938 328268

www.alpha.org