Never Before

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, I showed a training video by Jason and Ben, our two Youth Alpha Guys™ on prayer ministry, which had had Chinese subtitles added.

Overall, I think the evening went rather well. It started with a wonderful supper at 6:00, with my presentation beginning at 7. The food was great. Some of it was home-made, some of it takeout, with a home-made, quite spicy, shrimp dish being the highlight for me. Looking around, I noticed everyone was using plastic forks to eat. I asked if this was a courtesy to me. Many times, when I have dined with various churches with Wanda Ho, our National Chinese Coordinator, out of courtesy (or pity) for me, after seeing me struggle with chopsticks, my hosts have very graciously provided me with western-style silverware. But I was assured that was not the case this time.

All in all, I pray that the group was blessed and motivated by the evening. I was thanked very profusely and assured that they enjoyed and learned from the presentation. The average of all the feedback forms was 4.55 out of 5, so not too bad.

I will have to work on the remaining .45 for next time.

Blessings,
John

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