For the past two years we’ve been running Alpha courses within the walls of our church building. Alpha has proven to be an effective way to introduce people to Jesus in a fun and non-threatening setting. Each night is kind of an epic production with fresh flowers on the tables and delicious home-cooked meals and a great team of leaders. But since Alpha can also be very simple to run, we’ve been searching for and praying about new venues to bring Alpha outside our church walls. God has heard our prayers!
This fall we are launching two more Alpha courses—while we continue our Wednesday night Alpha right here. First, a few months ago, Joel Girard, a Greenhouse missionary and church planter who serves at the College of DuPage (COD), approached me and asked, “How can our ministry partner together all of you at Church of the Resurrection?” I had a quick reply: “Run Alpha at COD and we’ll help with training and food.” Joel prayed about it and said yes. So during the last week of August we will launch our first COD Alpha. We’re planning to offer the course over the lunch hour so we can draw the maximum number of students.
This fall we’re also launching our first Alpha in a jail. Mary Ann D’Onofrio, the chaplain for JUST DuPage, had been praying for two years that a church that would come and help her run an Alpha onsite at the DuPage County Jail. I guess God connected our prayers about running an Alpha and her prayer about hosting an Alpha. So in October we will start this new Alpha on Sunday evenings from 7:30-9:00 pm. We’ll pilot Alpha on the men’s side of the jail with the hope of adding another course this winter on the women’s side.
Please pray our three Alpha teams of very committed leaders. Pray that the Holy Spirit would draw people to Jesus. And if you’re interested in helping out in any way, please let me know.
