Alpha: Head, Hearts, Hands, Habits

The Spiritual Formation Department has a four-fold emphasis in helping bring people to maturity in Christ. It's Head, Hearts, Hands and Habits. When each of these areas of the self is operating under the direction and headship of Christ, transformation becomes not only possible, but normative.

Now, I would be the first to say that no program or class has the power to bring about transformation. Transformation is the work of the Spirit alone. However, God does use tools to accomplish his purpose. And, Alpha has been such an effective tool in our church in helping to bring "head, hearts, hands and habits" under one umbrella. Let me explain.

Head: The Alpha Course offers weekly teachings that help people with no faith or who are new to their faith grow in the knowledge of God. Basic questions of life like "who is Jesus" , "why did He die" , "how should I pray" and "what is the church" are addressed. They help stimulate the mind to understand more about why faith in Christ matters.

Heart: After the talk each week, Alpha participants have a small group that they meet with for one hour. They stick in the same group with the same people for the eleven weeks of Alpha. During this time relationships are birthed. I always say that in Alpha, belonging actually proceeds belief. They feel included and embraced whether or not they have yet believed on Christ. And, that's the way it should be.

People's questions are un-earthed in a safe and nurturing environment. In the group setting head knowledge begins to mesh with heart conditions. It's not uncommon during an Alpha Course to have a person place their faith in Christ for the first time. Or have a group come out of a session passing klenexes and sharing hugs. I seen many a heart "strangely warmed" in the small group settings over the course of the last four Alpha Courses. It is truly beautiful.

Habits: Habits are birthed for the first time during Alpha. First, the habit of just coming to the course begins to set in motion the discipline of community. Then, usually by week five or six I've seen many folks begin attempting daily devotions. During the weekend away retreat, folks begin engaging the discipline of solitude and prayer for the first time ever. Almost always without any encouragement from me, folks begin attending church regularly and they start engaging in more fellowship with others more on Sunday mornings. These disciplines aren't practiced in a posture of personal peity or moral superiority, they are implemented out of a desire to change....to become a different person that looks more like Jesus.

Hands: Hands remind us that Christ came to serve humanity. We need LOTS of volunteers to run the Alpha Course. Everything from kitchen help to child care, to small group leaders and helpers to musicians. It's a daunting undertaking. However, one of the "rules" of the program is that once you have gone through the course, you can only be involved in the next course as a person who serves. So, this year's Alpha was so cool because a large portion of my volunteer base were folks who came to last year's Alpha Course. New believers, but eager Alpha veterans, this year's team of volunteers did childcare, helped in the kitchen, were small group helpers and took huge chunks of administrative responsibilities. Old, callosed hands of those who have been in Jesus many years grasped the baby hands of newborns in Christ who have been in our church less than a year and served along side one another for a common goal and all were blessed.

If you are a church interested in integrating head, hearts, hands and habits together in one effective program, I'd encourage you to check out Alpha.