Canon Andrew White, Vicar of St George's, Baghdad, was a guest speaker at last November's international Alpha conference for Europe, Middle East and Africa. He spoke about how he and his team have been running Alpha courses around Saddam Hussein's cabinet table and in many other locations to great effect. Here are some extracts from what he said:

Alpha has been key to what God is doing at the moment in Baghdad. For many years I came to Baghdad and I never dreamed we would have an Alpha course here.
We now have five Alpha courses in Baghdad. We have a Spanish one because most of our security are now South American (we used to have Gurkhas but they were too expensive so we now have South Americans).
Then we have an Asian one because Iraqis aren't allowed near our food [in the international zone]. Only Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis are trusted.
So we have an Asian Alpha and that is going incredibly well.

Then we have two military Alpha courses, one meeting on Sunday night and one on Thursday night, which are mainly American with the odd Brit. It's incredible what God is doing there. And then we have an Arabic course as well.
We expect God to meet with everybody who comes to us in Baghdad, both those who have faith and those who are searching.

We hold some Alpha sessions in the chapel of Saddam's palace.
The priest's chair in the chapel was very comfortable, it used to be Saddam's throne. The problem was that everyone wanted their picture taken in it, so eventually it had to be moved.

One of the wonderful things about Alpha is that it brings God to the godless. It brings God into tragedy. Where there is no hope, it brings us hope.
So in the midst of darkness, evil, death and tragedy we have hope. Because Jesus is hope and Alpha is all about Jesus.

Sometimes the stories are so awful that I just sit on my bed and cry. All of my Alpha leaders were killed. Every one. Eleven of my staff have been killed in the last year. So this isn't easy. It's really, really difficult.
The guests on Alpha risk their lives just to come to the prime minister's office [where some Alpha courses are held], because coming is dangerous. It takes them three hours to come approximately one mile.
It takes that long to get through all the checkpoints. But we have the most wonderful course ever.
And the wonderful thing about Alpha is that it can be changed and applied to every situation. If people had said to me a few years ago, "You'll have Alpha in Baghdad" I would have been a little suspicious of it.
But we have wonderful Alpha in Baghdad. Alpha can work there, despite all the difficulties. We canít really engage with many of the churches because we can't see them any more, we can't get to them, and yet God is truly there.

It is incredible to see how God has been working amongst the South American security. They mostly don't speak any English, so we managed to get the Alpha course for them in Spanish. And it works brilliantly.
The Roman Catholic American Army chaplain, who speaks Spanish, is running the course and it is doing great. They are coming to Jesus by the dozen.

Our Asian course [run for the catering staff in the International zone] is also doing really well. But it doesn't make any difference to the standard of our food. It is still awful!

We have had several people come to faith, and it's wonderful to be able to baptise these people.
The previous incumbent of the place where we work, Saddam, built us a wonderful baptistry. It may have been a swimming pool for him, but for us itís perfect for baptising people.
We also baptise the children in a red washing-up bowl. In the days when I wasn't living in a war zone, we used to have questions about whether you baptise children or adults. Now we have no time for that kind of thing, we just do it.

This is a picture of our church in Baghdad. The man at the front, the one you can see most clearly, was our main Alpha leader, Maher.
He took the Alpha materials with him to a conference in Jordan a year ago because he wanted to show others in the Middle East how significant this whole course was.
All of our other leaders, including his wife, went with him. And we never saw them again. So it's real. When you take out your cross and follow him, it's real.
It's not for something which is for 2,000 years ago, it's for now.
The people involved with us take great risks, and yet they still want to keep going.
The first thing they said to me when they realised Maher was not coming back was, "We need some more Alpha materials."

We meet in the very room where Saddam Hussein used to have his Republican Guard meetings, his Cabinet.
Around that same Cabinet table we worship God and lead people to God. It's wonderful to see how God has worked, how he has changed people, not just people who are searching, but people who have already come to faith and need to develop it further.

Alpha has produced these two incredible booklets: "The Alpha Course for Military" and "Why Jesus? for Military". They are brilliant because they fit into the pockets of soldiers' trousers, so they can carry them around.
It's quite funny being stopped in the middle of the international zone in Baghdad by a soldier carrying his weapons and heavy gear who suddenly goes into the pocket of his trousers, pulls out his Alpha Course booklet and starts asking questions about "Why and how do I pray?" or one of the other sessions. These books have had a major impact on our military courses in Baghdad.

Habbakuk begins his book by talking about the violence which is surrounding him on every side. But as you come to the final chapter (chapter three), at the very end he says,
"Though the fig-tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour."

Amen.