The Power of the Gospel

the Alpha course may have its merrits.  There may be some people who start out exploring it, and in Gods providence they come to an understanding of who he is.  However  I think such people will be few and far between.

It has been available for some years now and the claims are that it is very successful. It that is the case, why is the church not much larger than it is?  It certainly is successful at persuading people to participate. However that is not the same thing as conversions. 

I think its appeal is that it is a community activity and it is not confrontational.  Strangely enough  thou, Jesus christ was confrontational. He confronted Unbelief at ever opportunity.  The apostles confronted Idol worship.

I also wonder why the Alpha course is set up in such a way that the presenters must stick to a script?  why can they not adjust it to individual personalities or the needs of any location.  Anyone will know their own locality far better than the creators of the Alpha course.  I think it was copywrited in this way with good intentions.  It was probably to help the presentation go well, howver, I think that it has led to slippage.  By Slippage I mean this.  We have to trust in the power of the gospel to save, not in techniques.  Techniques can help, but if a technique does not work in all situations, why not lay it aside? 

I think that what is happening is that slippage has caused us to abandon trust in the power of the gospel and trust in the Alpha course and its presentation..  When I look at alpha news, I can sum all the articles up in a few words which are, "We had a big meeting, we had a wonderful time"  I met someone who can get it down to just one word that he sees. That word is Alpha alpha alph.

it is pity that in doing the Alpha course the presenter is legally bound to follow the script and cannot select the bits that he or she thinks is most relevant.

I say lets trust in the power of the gospel.  when I was saved it had nothing to do with presentation. It was a simple one to one conversation and it I were to create a course where you had to start a conversation that was the same as that one was, it would be doomed to fail as it was not a programme,but God was in it.  God chose that moment to use that conversation.

For some individuals, perhaps something will be said in the Alpha course that for them is just what they need to hear, but people are individuals.  One cannot garantee that it is good for everyone.

Lets trust in the power of the gospel to save. We have been promised by the lord it will, he has not promised to bless the Alpha course, or any other christian course even if he chooses to use them.  He has however promised to bless the preaching of the gospel and this does not neccessarily mean formal preaching as in church or meetings.  It is preaching meaning communicating the gospel and this can be and freqently is a one to one conversation as it was when I was saved and it was the power of the gospel that saved me not the way things were said.