Nearly 2,000 Chinese pastors and church leaders from all over the Far East attended the first global Chinese Alpha conference in Hong Kong in April.

The event, which was held at the city’s International Trade and Exhibition Centre, was opened by Cardinal Joseph Zen, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Hong Kong, and other church leaders from the region, including Anglican Archbishop Paul Kwong.

Cardinal Zen told the conference, ‘We find the Alpha course very useful because it goes to the centre. And also because it is all done in a relaxed atmosphere. You know the Chinese culture is based on meals and at the table the family gathers. Friends talk together and we even do business at the table. So I am very grateful for all the good this wonderful tool has to offer to our country’s communities.’

Archbishop Kwong said, ‘Many Chinese churches of different situations here in Hong Kong have found the Alpha course, for many years, an effective evangelism tool for reaching out to people and helping them to understand Christian faith.’

Delegates attending the conference came from mainland China, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and many other countries across the region. All the talks were translated into Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese.

A number of people were interviewed about their experiences of Alpha.
A Chinese couple from Shanghai told how their lives had been changed through attending the course near their home. The husband said, ‘I was an atheist. I always believed in myself. But many a time when I achieved what I had set out to achieve I felt very empty.
‘At that time my wife joined an Alpha course. When she came back and talked to me, I felt quite strange.’ He attended the next course and became a Christian.

Briton Nicholas Chilver, who lives in Thailand with his Thai wife and two children, said, ‘I live in Thailand and I went home to England this summer. ‘I found my youngest sister had been on an Alpha course and was a completely different girl. I didn’t know her really.
‘I came back to Thailand in August and I have been trying to get on an Alpha course ever since. I eventually found one in Bangkok which finished about three weeks ago.
‘It was a completely wonderful time. I wish it was still going to be honest. I made some wonderful friends. Alpha just helped me to understand. It really transformed my life. I have stopped smoking, stopped fighting with my wife, stopped shouting at the kids. My whole life has a purpose. I am a completely different person inside.’

Around 800 delegates attended a one-day Youth Alpha conference which followed the main event.