LC15 - An Experience, An Encouragement, A Blessing

 
Eva and I attended Alpha's Global Week and Leadership Conference this past week. I must apologize for not posting anything on it until now. There were many highlights, aside from just being in London with so many friends.
  • Worshipping at Holy Trinity Brompton |(HTB), where the Alpha course began, is amazing in itself. Hearing and seeing Nicky Gumbel teach live is a wonderful bonus.
  •  Meeting and networking with so many fellow, "Alphaholics" was great. There were well over a hundred delegates from Canada, representing Alliance, Baptist, Catholic and many other denominations; all the way to a half-dozen from a United church in Bramalea, Ontario. A number of Canadian Catholic bishops were there. I hope they caught the Alpha bug and can see how Alpha can help rejuvenate their parishes.
  • Seminars were great, especially one on Prayer and Worship, and one on Prioritizing the Poor. From this latter I learned what I think is a valuable ministry leadership byword:
    "Nobody should be trying to do everything, but everyone should be doing something."
  • The central focus of the conference was the unity of the Church, and a wonderful manifestation of this unity, desired by all, was the presence of a Catholic cardinal and the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury sharing on stage together and professing a mutual trust for one another.
  • Friday evening, before the conference actually started, Eva and I, along with Amy Croy, Youth Coach for Alpha in Alberta, happened to visit St Paul's Cathedral just in time for Evensong with a homily and a sung Eucharist.
Nicky gave us a new vision for Alpha:
  1. Evangelization of the Nations
  2. Revitalization of the Church
  3. Transformation of Society
Adding # 2 as an additional stratum between 1 and 3; one step leading to, and necessary for, the next.
 
I mentioned the term, Alphaholics," a kind of pet name for those of us who are so in love with Alpha as a tool for evangelization. Eva coined another term, I think because of the three of us |(her, myself and Amy). She called us the Three Alphateers.
 
I thought it was funny, but quite appropriate. We'll be on our way back home at the end of this week, encouraged and envisioned and ready to get back to work in Alberta again.
 
Blessings,
 
John


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