Alpha Online
Engage with people who wouldn’t usually come to church – online.
Alpha is a series of interactive sessions that freely explore the basics of the Christian faith. Last year, approximately 39,500 churches and organisations ran Alpha with almost 1.9 million participants.
The three ingredients of Alpha
Connect
Alpha is an opportunity to explore life’s big questions together in an open, informal environment.
Watch
The episodes unpack the basics of the Christian faith, addressing questions such as Who is Jesus?, How can we have faith? and How does God guide us?
Discuss
Each talk looks at a different question around faith and is designed to spark conversation which will be guided by hosts and helpers from your church.
The Online Experience
Alpha is now available to host as an online experience. Churches who have run Alpha online this spring have seen significant impact on the guests and leaders who took part.
“We were blown away with the consistent attendance and immediate transparency in the breakout rooms (small groups). From that single, last-minute online course, six people chose to be baptized. God is moving; even online!” -Westminster Chapel, USA
- Alpha online opens the door of your church to new people who would never have come on Alpha otherwise
- Guests are more likely to come back consistently session after session
- Alpha online engages and mobilizes young people in an even greater capacity
- Alpha online develops long-term disciples and leaders in your church
- Alpha online can be mobilized quickly with minimal resources
To learn more about Alpha online and training where you are, select your region or country below:
Stories From Around the Globe
Training
Alpha training is currently run online and is taking place all around the world. Visit your local Alpha office’s website for more information on training in your area.
Precautionary Measures
In addition to adhering to locally recommended health practices, we also want all our Alpha Courses run online to be safe places where church communities can host a series of interactive sessions allowing guests to explore their questions about life, faith and God in a welcoming, judgement-free and safe environment. Please see some of our recommendations:
Alpha and Alpha for Youth are committed to taking all necessary steps to ensure our ministry is Online/E-Safety aware and competent. Please see more information here.
E-safety & Security
If you are running Alpha or Alpha Youth online, please take all the necessary steps to ensure you as the church or ministry are Online/E-Safety aware and competent.
Protection of Vulnerable Peoples
E-Safety is the collective term for safeguarding (protecting vulnerable individuals) involving the use of mobile phones, computers (including laptops, netbooks, tablets) and other electronic devices including games consoles, to communicate and access the internet, emails, text messages, instant messaging, social networking sites and other social media.
Maintain a Safe Environment
It is important all churches, administrators, hosts, and helpers are diligent in keeping a safe online environment. For a full list of Do’s, Don’ts, and more information on this topic, please click here.
Digital Solutions
If churches are not able to physically run an Alpha course, we recommend moving Alpha online! We firmly believe that as churches innovate in these unforeseen circumstances, God can reach an even greater number of people.
1. Find an Online Solution
There are many great solutions online that will allow churches to play a video and have a discussion time. Some services we recommend are Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Skype.
Top Tips
We reached out to churches already running Alpha online to get their tips.
Hospitality
Even though groups are meeting online, churches can still put a strong emphasis on hospitality.
Heavier Email Communication
Send weekly emails re-capping last week’s talk/discussion and ask guests to share their thoughts via email. Make sure to check-in if someone missed a night.
Session Engagement
Ensure either the course host or group host is engages with guests from the beginning of the online session – saying hello to people, asking questions, telling jokes. Avoid the silent downtime to keep excitement and enthusiasm high.
Chat functionality
Encourage hosts, helpers, and guests to utilize the chat functionality to comment and ask questions during the video as well as during discussion time when others are talking.
Host Preparation
Prior to the Alpha session, hosts should have all video files and discussion questions ready, as well as access to the digital solution the church has chosen. Churches have found that guests tend to get more vulnerable, more quickly online. Prepare your hosts so they can expect this.
Ensure Quality Discussion
- Ask all guests to be on video
- Ask all guests to join in a quiet environment if possible
- Ask all guests to unmute during discussion. (Unless in a noisy setting). This allows for a more organic, free-flowing conversation.
- Ask guests to not use green screen backgrounds to create a more natural environment.
Logistics
Internet Connection: If you are hosting Alpha Online, make sure you have a strong internet connection. If possible, plug directly into an ethernet cable.
Short and Sweet: Churches have found that in an online format, people start to lose interest at around the one-hour mark. We recommend keeping the full session to 1 hour or 1 hour and 15 minutes.