Four leaders share their best advice after running 20+ Alpha courses!

"Our church has run over 20 Alpha courses, and yes, Alpha is a lot of work, but worth every effort!  Best advice to get guests into the church: We distribute flyers to our community, post notices on bulletin boards, and hand out personal invitations.

This year we went to our local Rogers TV station to tell them what Alpha is all about. We talked about the 9-5 job, trials in life, relationships, what we want to do with all of this at end of day etc.  

We invited the public to join our Alpha group and told them everyone is welcome. This went out to all the city of Barrie, Ontario!"  - Doris Beaumont (Barrie, ON)
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"Best advice after running 26 Alpha courses: The effort is always worth it! There is a steep learning curve but after we ran a few courses, everything seemed to fall into place.

Getting guests to come to Alpha…The important thing is to invite again and again.  One person said that he only came because he'd run out of excuses.  God got a hold of him, and this Alpha guest became a group leader along with his wife, and lead many courses following his experience.  I think I'd call him my biggest evangelist!"  - Alan & Betty Reynolds (Miramichi, NB) (Alan is the former Rector of the Parish of Chatham.)
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"Best advice after running over 25 Alpha courses…?  Follow the recipe…but having said that, encourage your team to be as creative as possible AROUND the recipe!  It gives them ownership of their corner of the team and makes them feel energized and needed (and they will want to help on another course).

Have a brainstorming session for ideas at the training day.  One of our cooks asked Costco to ice the "Alpha" logo and the start date in the Alpha colours (blue, yellow, red) and italics for the retreat! 

Also, print the business card sized Alpha invitations with “STARTING SOON” and add your phone number. If people are interested, they will call you and you can start the next course to fit in with THEIR schedule.  I leave these cards all over the place. 

We had one person attend Alpha because she found a card blowing around on the muddy ground following a village Canada Day festival. She picked it up and phoned! Basically, it's all God's timing!"  - Merrilyn Barber (Kingston, ON)

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"We have run Alpha probably over 30 times.   We have found that prayer during the planning and during the week is the biggest thing we can do to have a successful Alpha course.  The leaders and helpers are chosen after much prayer and discernment.

It is also a blessing to have the pastor as part of the Alpha team.  The pastor and leaders meet for prayer before the Alpha guests arrive.  Our pastor usually does the Leaders training and the Weekend Away ministry training.  Our pastor is involved in the fellowship time, often introduces the Alpha evening and leads the Weekend Away."  - Anne Elliott (Victoria, BC)

Other creative ideas…
- Run an Alpha course in a Fitness Centre
(see picture at left, from New Brunswick)!
- Host a daytime Alpha for Moms (arrange for childcare)
- Do a Girls' Night Out Alpha (girls only!)
- Run Youth Alpha after school in a high school classroom
- Lead an Alpha course in your workplace during lunch
- Hold an Alpha course at your local coffee shop
- Take your Alpha team to a local Campus or Prison
- Run an Alpha for People with Special Needs 

Send YOUR top tips to training@alphacanada.org.