Around the world | Alpha Friends

There are now more than 35,200 Alpha courses running in 163 countries around the world, 38 National Alpha Offices have been set up and there is a growing network of almost 2,000 Alpha Advisers ready to help churches run effective courses.

Here is a snapshot of what is happening in some of those countries:

France

Alpha has been running in France for 8 years and there are currently 500 courses, mostly in the Catholic Church. Over 6,000 priests, pastors and lay people have been trained to run the course.

Czech Republic

The National Alpha Office in the Czech Republic will be hosting their first city-wide Alpha Initiative in 2007. In September, the entire city of Brno will be invited to an Alpha Supper and invited to attend Alpha Courses starting around the city.

Romania

Since beginning in 2002, the Alpha course continues to grow, now totalling 430 Alpha courses.

USA

Every state and 130 denominations have Alpha courses running, totalling over 8,000 registered courses. As well as several regional conferences, there will be 3 National conferences taking place in 2008, in Seattle, Chicago and Lexington.

Canada

82% of churches running Alpha in Canada are bucking the nationwide trend of church decline – about 1 million people have done the course and ¼ of the population recognises Alpha as a Christian course.

Peru

Alpha is gaining momentum in Peru! There are Alpha courses in schools, seminaries, prisons and Alpha will soon be running in the Armed Forces. The Second Regional Latin American Alpha Conference was held in October 2007, which was attended by over 650 delegates representing many denominations.

Sierra Leone

Following a successful conference in 2007, a National Alpha office was set up in Sierra Leone, with a full time director at the helm.

Uganda

The national alpha office opened in October 2006. It is also the base of the East Africa hub which will help develop Alpha throughout the region.

India

Since the 45 Alpha conferences held in 2006, over 1000 courses have begun. India has 1,500 languages and dialects – Alpha India have translated the core resources into 12 languages, which can reach 85% of the 1 billion Indians. Several 'GAT' events have been scheduled which means Alpha will continue to grow rapidly!

Kazakhstan

Youth Alpha and Student Alpha are growing fast here – so far 2 Alpha conferences have been held and many more new courses are expected to start throughout Central Asia.

China

December 2004 saw the first China Alpha conference held in Shanghai. Alpha is now running in the Government church and is also established in the International Christian Fellowship in Bejing.

New Zealand

Over a third of churches are now using Alpha and over 150,000 New Zealanders have attended a course. Alpha has been running in New Zealand for 13 years.

Costa Rica

Last year Costa Rica took the exciting step of setting up a National Alpha Office, directed by both Catholics and Protestants. Alpha is running in schools, prisons, parishes, rural areas, and government offices and the Alpha conference in February 2008 has opened the doors for many new courses to start, not only in Costa Rica but also its neighbouring countries.

For more information alpha.org has links to specific country websites.