Canadian Evangelism

Here is where I think we stand today. After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. (Judges 2:10) We are reaching out to a new generation.  I think we can look back at three stages. 1.     We’ve been through a generation where, for many, the default was to go to church every Sunday. 2.     We’ve been in a generation where many of those, and their children, have left church but still claimed to be "spiritual but not religious." 3.     And we’re entering a time when many now don’t even claim that! Don't even seem to think it matters. Our culture no longer even has what Tim Keller calls a, “ghost memory” of Christianity – where people perhaps attended church or Sunday School as kids then drifted away. We are in a generation where many of the people we want to reach have no Christian memory and therefore absolutely no Christian kn...

I promised (threatened?) to post my Break Forth presentation in a serialized form here on my blog, in the hope, mistakenly or otherwise, that some might like to see it, so here is the first 'chapter,' so to speak. My presentation was developed using some of Alpha's own material and adding my own thoughts and those of others in the Christian sphere. I must say that when I make such a presentation, I don't merely put it in point form, but write it out fully, pretty much as I give it verbally. That's just the way I do things. Hope you enjoy it. My presentation, more or less as I gave it: You can see my name on the screen. The reason I put it there is not because I like to see my name in lights, so to speak, but so that when I introduce myself as John Kivell, people don’t think I’m the guy from the dog food. ( My wife hates it when I say that ) I should also tell you that even though the title of my presentation doesn’t mention Alpha, this is pretty much going to be a...

My presentation for Break Forth this year was entitled, "Communicating the Relevance of the Gospel in a Changing Culture." Yes, it's a long title but I figured if I used a long title I could shorten my actual presentation.😉 And of course it was completely a commercial for Alpha, mainly because much of the way we need to evangelize in our current generation, in my opinion, fits exactly with the Alpha DNA. The room was pretty much full, so I'm guessing there were a hundred to a hundred and fifty there. A couple of technical difficulties didn't succeed in derailing things. I had no sound to start with, so a techie came in and solved that issue, and halfway through, the projector quit working, again solved by a resident techie. The presentation went fairly well otherwise, and seemed to be well received. The Q&A time gave me an opportunity to address some of the questions of the audience and a few people came up afterward to thank and converse. Afterward, as I roa...

Some things are impossible without Him. Acts 12:5 - "...Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him." Luke records it so matter-of-factly, yet through those prayers God supernaturally brought Peter out of a seemingly inescapable place. If you don't have time to watch this entire video, at least check out, at about the 30 minute mark, news of church plants from Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB). One plant grew from 50 to over 1000. Another, in 28 months, grew from 11 people to over 550, and are now about to plant their own first church. Trust in the Lord with all your heart  and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways submit to him,  and he will make your paths straight. (Prov 3:5-6)  We must seek the full counsel of God, through fervent prayer, not just lukewarm prayer added as an afterthought to our own understanding. And as St Paul says to the church in Thessalonica, ...pray continually,   give thanks in all ...

No particular order, no particular agenda. We have a conference call every Monday morning with all the Regional Directors across Canada, along with some Alpha HQ staff. So - a couple of interesting items from this morning. One RD spoke of a church young adults' group where a number of non-believers are regular members. The leader asked one of them, a particular, "argumentative atheist," as the fellow himself termed himself, "Why do you keep coming out to our group?" His Answer? "I can't believe how people so awesome could believe something so stupid." It's all in the relationship. Just keep working, Holy Spirit. Another story was of a church in a small rural village, population 750. They have been running two Alpha's a year for three or four years. At their latest Alpha introductory supper they had 50 people. Fifty guest after running two Alpha's a year for three or four years?! In a rural village with a population of 750?! Asked about ...

Max Rossiter A dear Alpha coach passed away New Year's Eve in Grande Prairie. I may post further about him, pending permission from Joyce, his wife. His memorial service was held on Friday Jan 13 at Grande Prairie's Christian Fellowship Assembly   (CFA). I was determined to attend, but to make it otherwise worthwhile, I fired off a number of emails to arrange meetings with other churches in town. There was no rental vehicle available until Thursday morning, so I arranged to pick it up by 7:30 that AM. My daughter and her husband and family had been down to our home for New Year's, and on the way back had hit a deer with their truck, so, knowing I would be travelling back at dusk on Friday, I decided to take the full protection package for this trip. Normally I don't, but for an extra 9 dollars a day I thought it was worth the extra insurance. A number of Grande Prairie churches are participating in Alpha's Global Advertising Campaign (GAC), so there are about 10 Al...

Well, you may not have, but I'm going to tell you anyway. I have taken to beginning my mornings with the same routine every day, at least my work routine, not counting shower and breakfast. What I do is this; when I first sit down at my computer, I open up Alpha Canada's database and pull up the report on Alpha courses registered in Alberta for 2017. If there are more than there were the previous day, (and this time of year, the beginning of a new Alpha term there usually are), I export them to Excel, organize them, remove any that don't really count (eg. some marked, 'test', and any mistakenly registered - so far, one in Long Beach CA, one in England and one in Chicago. How they got registered in Alberta, I have no idea!) and start scrolling down the list. As of this morning, halfway through January, there are 119 courses registered in the Province, from Fort McMurray to Medicine Hat, Grande Prairie to Banff; big cities and small villages all in between. T...

As 2016 winds down, I’m happy to report that God’s blessing of the ministry of Alpha in Alberta has been more than I could possibly ask or imagine. 2016 was a pretty good year, as far as Alpha in Alberta was concerned. Many Alpha's (close to 700 or more at last count) ran throughout the Province, and from my conversations with various church leaders and Alpha administrators, many went very well. From the large (200 or more guests) to the small (two or fewer guests) I always find that every Alpha impacts someone's life in a positive way. Every Alpha makes a difference in someone's life. I meet with churches, large and small, in every corner of Alberta, and at any given moment, as I'm meeting with a Pastor, their community is foremost in their mind as we meet. The concern is how to reach out to the citizens of that town or village or city, and more often than not, if they are running an Alpha, or have run one, the feedback is good; stories of the lost fo...