Canadian Evangelism

So... OK... I'm in my 70th year on this earth and I did something last night I've never done before. I gave an Alpha presentation, by myself, before a group in a Chinese church. there were 35 people present. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I didn't quite know if the material I had prepared was what they wanted to hear. This church was, in a sense, re-engaging with Alpha, as they have run Alpha's in the past, so I didn't feel it necessary to give an overly detailed presentation explaining everything about Alpha, but I did give an overview, including some of the new Alpha products such as the Campus (7-week course) and the new Alpha Youth Film Series. But first, as I was told (3 posts below) not to tell a joke through a translator, that is the joke I told. They laughed. Then I gave a presentation I had adapted from our Pastoral Care training, emphasizing the caring attitude with which we should view every one of our guests coming in to an Alpha course. Finally...

Every once in a while, at the end of a day, I look back and say to myself, "Thank you God. That was a pretty good day." Yesterday was one of them. I started with an early lunch meeting with two chaplains from a maximum security institution, along with John and Roxana Kreklo, Alpha's National Coordinator team for Prison Alpha. It was fascinating to hear them discuss their challenges and issues. I found myself more of an interested listener than an active participant in the conversation. Times have changed, even since I was involved in prison Alpha about 15 years ago, plus, ministry is far more challenging at a maximum security institution than the medium security one I was involved with. Then on to a church I discovered online was planning to run Alpha. This was a church I was surprised to see run Alpha, in a denomination that one does not usually associate with Alpha, but the pastor grew up in a Pentecostal church, and was hoping to bring back some of the more fundamental...

Excellent conference last Friday/Saturday at Beulah Alliance, Edmonton, on caring for ex-offenders. Lots of useful and valuable information from John and Roxana Kreklo, Alpha's Prison Alpha team. Thanks to Beulah and others with hearts for this ministry. I think a lot of people who may have liked to come somehow missed it. We'll have to do another. Blessings, John

I happened to mention to my friend Mark that I am doing an Alpha training session later this week at a Chinese church. I'm not sure but I think the pastor may be translating my presentation. Mark gave me a couple of tips, including this one: don't try to tell any jokes, as they may not translate very well from English to Mandarin. Then he gave me this example. An American was addressing a group of Japanese business people, with his talk being translated as he spoke. As is the custom with many North American speakers, he began with a joke. Knowing that the audience would not get the joke anyway, the translator translated something like this: Speaker - the first line of the joke. Translator (in Japanese): "Our honourable guest is going to tell a joke." Speaker - the next line of the joke. Translator: "Our honourable guest is now telling the joke." Speaker - the next line of the joke. Translator: "Our honourable guest is now nearing the end of his joke....

Here is the text (somewhat edited for privacy and security purposes) I received from an Alpha Coordinator in a youth detention facility in Alberta, regarding the Alpha Youth Film Series run there: Attendees:   8   (not always the same as some were released; some were   restricted due to bad behavior)    Boys : 15 – 19 years of age In conversation with the boys who attended the Youth Alpha Group, the following evaluation was received: 1.       In what ways did you benefit from being in Alpha? -           Learned about God and understanding of the Holy Spirit   and healing was expanded -           The questions posed in the videos kept me thinking -           I now feel more faithful -           I liked it a lot -        ...

Our readings for yesterday, and the sermon, included the story from Matthew 15 about the Canaanite woman who approached Jesus for healing for her daughter. As usual, I listen to every message in an Alpha context. It's funny to look at Jesus' disciples and perhaps see ourselves in them. I'm speaking here specifically about our sometime lack of faith, or at least, our forgetfulness of his faithfulness. The interesting thing is that the disciples' first reaction when this woman approached Jesus was, "Send her away..."  This was just shortly after Jesus'  miraculous feeding of the five thousand in the previous chapter, where their initial idea was the same, "Send them away..."  Between these two incidents Jesus had come to them in the middle of the sea walking on the water and inviting Peter to do the same. When Peter's faith faltered, Jesus reached out his hand to him and saved him, again, miraculously. You'd think that by now the discipl...

I spoke recently to a senior church leader about asking some of the people I know in his congregation for support, and he was quite discouraging in his response. Discouraging to a point. In other words, he did not give the requested permission. He acknowledged that there are more and more people in my position, needing to raise their own funding, and approaching individual congregants at the, "ground level" for money. I think he was trying to protect his people from this kind of thing. What he did do was to volunteer to take my application for support to his church board and put forward a proposal for his church to support me. I have been agonizing, of late, about fundraising. I'm not very good at it, and I think my conversation with this pastor showed me why. I think he helped me put my thoughts into perspective. I don't like asking my friends for money. I don't like asking people I know for money. I have done it, because that has been the model I was shown for r...

I'm just taking a break, switching over from working on the training presentation I'm giving to an Edmonton Chinese congregation later this month, to make this post. And I suppose, in a way, it is a kind of, "Seinfeld post." A post about nothing. I finished completing my expense report for July and noticed how little travelling I actually did. A lot of my time was spent on the phone last month, and on e-mails, hearing from one Pastor, Alpha coordinator or another how summer was not a good time to get together. The reply I heard constantly was, "Let's touch base again in the fall." Speaking of the phone, how fortunate I am to have a plan that gives me free long-distance calling. Each month my cell phone statement includes hundreds of what would have been long-distance calls, all marked, $0.00. And speaking of September, I am looking forward to seeing the Alpha stats for that month. I have spoken to a lot of churches who plan to run Alpha in the fall. The ...

"...I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one. I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;  and they will say, ‘You are my God. ’” - Hosea 2:23b I believe this quote fits perfectly with the mission and purpose of Alpha. Alpha is in the business of reaching people who are not (yet) God's people and drawing them, in the power of the Holy Spirit, into a relationship in which they become God's people. This verse proclaims the best news in the world because, in effect, it proclaims that the gospel is for everyone, even those who can't believe it is for them, and those for whom we sometimes can't believe it is meant. It means, implicitly, that whatever one has done in the past; however far one has strayed or run from God, Jesus Christ came and died on the cross so that anything one has ever done wrong, no matter how bad, or even so seemingly petty,can be forgiven. And let's face it - no matter where we are, or see ourselves, on th...

From time to time I hear of a church who was disappointed in the Alpha they ran. Practically without exception, the problem stems from one of the following key departures from recommended Alpha procedures: 1. Failure to invite. Michael Harvey says that 80 to 95 percent of people in a typical church just plain don't intend to invite anyone to an Alpha. An Alpha in such a church is doomed to run through its own existing members and then to fritter away. I have heard of people who have taken Alpha and loved it, but still refuse, or more likely are afraid to, invite anyone to the next one. But an invitational culture is key to any ongoing success with alpha. Without it, the danger is that Alpha will shrivel and atrophy. 2. Skipping the weekend away. The ideal weekend away is just that - getting the whole group to a retreat centre for at least a Friday evening and a Saturday. I always loved these times and found them almost like a holiday. It gives guests the opportunity to spend an eve...