Alpha program turns clubber into evangelizer
By Agnieszka Krawczynski
The B.C. Catholic
An international group of evangelizers has just revamped its popular program.
Alpha officially released its new Alpha Film Series April 14. The new package of 16 episodes, taped with two young hosts in 12 countries, replaces its aging VHS tapes.
“We’ve been desperately wanting something that was updated, that was relevant, and particularly, worked for millennials,” said Alpha Canada national director Shaila Visser during the Vancouver premiere at Performance Works Theatre that day.
Alpha videos are shown at weekly meetings to people who are curious about Christianity. They bring up questions about the meaning of life, true happiness, and basic Christian principles, and invite viewers to discuss them in groups over a meal or coffee.
Some 29 million people across the globe have taken Alpha courses; of those, 690,000 are Canadians, Visser said. With the revamped Alpha Film Series and other resources, they hope to reach 100 million with the basics of Christianity.
“I’ve been completely transformed,” said Dori Avila. Before taking Alpha, the young woman would only enter churches for weddings and baptisms. At 16 she moved to Vancouver and gained a taste for clubs, cigarettes, and alcohol.
“I was into clubbing all the time, to the point that I got hired by one of the clubs in Vancouver Downtown to sell tickets for them.”
After her family moved to Vancouver too, her father underwent serious depression, with 10-15 panic attacks a day. He divorced her mom and moved out.
Everything changed when Avila’s father started taking the Alpha program at Coastal Church on West Georgia Street. “He came back one Sunday and he said: ‘I got completely transformed this weekend. I asked God into my heart and I asked Mom for forgiveness,'” Avila recalled.
He invited his hesitant daughter to try it as well. “One Monday night I was in the back of the church and it was the worship time, and just for the first time in my life, I felt like I wanted to say: ‘God, I love You.’ I did. I felt that He said, ‘I love you,’ back to me. I felt His love going from my head to my toes. It was an overwhelming experience.”
She’s since switched from inviting people into clubs to drawing them to church. “They just want an invitation. They just need someone to say: ‘Come in. We’re here for you. Come have a coffee with me and let’s talk about life.'”
Pastor Gary Taitinger also praised Alpha, which he promotes at Mill Woods Assembly in Edmonton, Alta.
“The most humanitarian thing that any human being can do is to give another person the information they need to prepare for eternity,” he said April 14.
“Media has come on the scene in the last two generations (in a way) that none of the rest of human history would know a thing about. That is where Alpha has come on the scene. They have helped churches because, in many cases, as guests come to church, it’s not always the most applicable and with the most clarity.”
He pointed out any Christian denomination can stand behind this program, which “accurately presents orthodoxy,” and Catholics and Protestants “can all find it a helpful, inspiring, and useful tool.”
The new Alpha Film Series features interviews with guests like Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna, preacher to the papal household Father Raniero Cantalamessa, missionary Jackie Pullinger, and adventurer Bear Grylls.
Episodes were filmed in 12 countries and various locations in B.C. including Kamloops, Squamish, Tofino, and parts of Vancouver.
More information is available at www.alphacanada.org.
