How it has Worked

Alpha for Forces has been run in many ways, here are a few examples:

A Christian soldier in Iraq used a laptop to play the DVD talks for a group of his mates and they had a chat about each talk afterwards.  

Onboard HMS Illustrious, the Chaplain, an officer and a JNCO organised the course in a small meeting room.  They laid on catch up sessions for those who missed sessions due to watch keeping duties.

At RAF Wyton the course was run at lunchtimes, using the Alpha Express DVDs, each session was an hour long.  They ran an away day half way through the course.

A team from a local church worked with the Chaplain at the Military Correction and Training Centre in Colchester to run Alpha on Sunday afternoons.  Each week the talk was given by a different guest speaker.

Steps to running a course

Brief chain of command
Always notify key individuals of your plans.  For larger courses the base commander should be informed and briefed if required.  For servicemen running smaller courses the Chaplain should be made aware of your plans.

Select dates and timings
Avoid major deployments or exercises unless you are specifically planning to run Alpha in an operational environment.

Select venue
The best venue is the place where those attending the course will feel most comfortable.

Select and train your team
If you know of other Christians on the base try and get them involved.  Consider using the ‘Alpha Course Leaders’ Training DVD’. For more information about training contact the Alpha for Forces office.

Register your course online
This is the one thing that many people forget to do!

Order resources
Go to www.alphashop.org

Promote the course
A personal invitation from serving Christians is by far the most effective way to promote the course. Other methods include: daily orders, banners, posters, screen savers, DVDs, launch events, etc.

Be resourceful and imaginative and adapt the course to suit your environment.

Presenting the Talks

The talks can be delivered in three ways and the chosen method can vary from session to session:

1) The Alpha Course (including Alpha Express) DVD set
2) Course leaders can give the talks themselves.*
3) Guest speakers can be invited to give the talks

* Use the book ‘Questions of Life’ by Nicky Gumbel, together with the Alpha Course Manual.  Each chapter of Questions of Life corresponds to one of the Alpha talks.  The Alpha Course Manual maintains the integrity of the course; and should be referred to to ensure that all the points/ Bible quotes are covered.

Courses for all Ranks

Sometimes courses work very well with a mixture of ranks but occasionally the group discussions are inhibited by the rank divide.  If you think this is likely to be a problem then consider running separate courses or sessions for the junior ranks and Junior NCOs and the officers.  If you have a mix of ranks on the same course then you might consider splitting them into separate small groups for the discussions.