Between 1986 and 1999 Pastor Eddie Ma of Shaukiwan Baptist Church, Hong Kong, studied church growth and saw his congregation increase from 200 to 300. Then in 1999 he discovered the Alpha course and something astonishing happened. Here he tells the story of how his church has since grown to 1500 people – and continues to grow:

I have been Pastor of Shaukiwan Baptist Church in Hong Kong for 21 years. During my first 13 years we grew from about 200 to 300 people. It was just maintenance really.

I first heard about Alpha in 1999 when someone organised an Alpha demo evening. I was very impressed. I have always longed to reach the lost - that’s the reason I’m a pastor.

I thought it was very good - except that we were not familiar with the Holy Spirit. I thought, ‘This might be a bit risky for us.’ But I brought the book Questions of Life, watched the videos of Pastor Nicky and we began our first course in July 1999. I had to do all the talks because at that time they weren’t available in Cantonese.

We followed the formula precisely. We had dinner and then some worship, then the talk and then the cell groups. We just gave it a go, maybe not perfectly first time, but it was very successful. I think there were 30 on our first course and after doing the course, they guests didn’t want to leave the church!

So then we ran another Alpha course and it was non-stop. I began to refer to the people who came off Alpha as ‘new wines’, because they were different.
When we started running Alpha, we had around 300 in the church. Now on an average Sunday we have 1400-1500. Alpha is definitely one of the reasons for all that growth.

Now Alpha is just part of the church. And the people who come through Alpha get filled with the Spirit and are so willing to help and equip the church. They are very mission-minded, their hearts are very soft.
We have Alpha for the kindergarten parents, Alpha for retired people, and we have Youth Alpha.

I thought if I studied then I could manage the church better. I got my bachelor, my masters, my doctorate and I majored in church growth.
In 1993 and 1994 I studied ‘Mission and Missiology’ at Aspery Theological Seminary in Kentucky, USA, a Methodist seminary.

I applied everything that I learnt from that doctorate to my church and still it didn’t work. I even taught about church growth. The students looked at me and said, ‘If this works, how come your church isn’t growing!?’ It was so embarrassing!

God has used the tool of Alpha to revive the church, to give it back a heart for evangelism. They can see lives change in a very short period and that’s very exciting.

I’ve seen all kinds of people come to Alpha. One of my favourites was a grandma, who was uneducated. She couldn’t read a word and as she sat there I was so worried she wouldn’t be able to understand. At the Alpha weekend she said, ‘Pastor, pray for me, I want the Holy Spirit,’ so I prayed for her and she began to cry.

After that she shared how she’s a widow and works in the market, selling vegetables - a very tough life, always mistreated by the people. She had three daughters and the girls were very rebellious. She came to Alpha because one of her girls received Christ during Alpha and her life had changed.
She later told me, ‘In those 30 seconds that you laid hands on me, the Holy Spirit filled me and healed my whole life.’

I’d done all this training to be a better, more successful pastor and here, in 30 seconds, a life was changed forever. She was baptised and she now serves in the church.

Another young man came. His father had divorced his mother when he was very young and he was very upset with his father. After Alpha he picked up the phone and dialled the number that in ten years he had dared not dial. When his father picked up the phone he said, ‘Father, I love you.’ In time the father changed also ended up coming to the church - amazing.