Everyone has questions.
We believe that everyone should have the chance to explore the Christian faith, ask questions and share their point of view. Part of our call as Minster parish is to support Mission beyond ourselves and so we are choosing to run Alpha to help people explore the meaning of life. On Wednesday 7th we hosted a training event for Alpha small group leaders in the South West. It was run by David and Kim Stanfield who are Alpha facilitators for WA and was open to all the churches in the area. We had 14 participants from different churches: Bunbury Salvation Army, Abundant Life Centre Busselton and two from Dream Makers church Bunbury, and 14 representatives from St Nicholas.
Both Kim and David brought a professional and experienced training full of helpful insight and anecdote. Lois Eckersley did a wonderful job of overseeing our lunch and evening meal. Thank you again to her and those of you who assisted with this.
The thinking behind an Alpha discussion group is to create a space where people can freely ask questions and explore their thoughts in response to the film teaching of the day. It is an environment where anything can be asked without fear of it being too obvious or small.
We try to avoid closing down discussion with trite, formulaic answers.
Instead the group can explore thoughts together. That is why the group leaders are called hosts rather than teachers. We will be using the most recently produced Alpha Film Series. It brings testimony from varied people throughout and journeys around the world with people contributing from a variety of perspectives and cultures.
In order for us to fully realise the potential of Alpha I will be asking for prayer support for each person on the course. Sunday evenings will focus on this as well. If you are interested in being part of a focused Alpha Intercession team please speak to me. As part of the course we take an additional day together which will be on Saturday 19th November. If you are one of the 54 people registered please put this in your diary! It is going to be a great day together welcoming the Holy Spirit among us.
Shalom Jamie