Alpha course - is this usual?

[54isanopendoor]

I noticed my local Church (of Scotland) was offering an Alpha course so I went.

We watched a video. We were divided in to 2 'discussion' groups. All fine. (friendly enough but the discussion was mostly about childhood church experiences / sunday school / whose parent had been an elder so a bit 'local')
There was 20 mins Hymn singing at end. I didn't join in much as I didn't know the hymns (hummed along where I could). Much glaring & the leader at the end spoke to me & asked me 'when I wanted to accept Jesus into my life'.

I had thought that Alpha was for people not associated with Church to go along & find out what Christianity might be about & to ask questions?

No that isn't usual in my experience. Alpha is meant to be for non christians who want to find out more, with discussion and a free meal.

thanks @elliejjtiny that is useful to know.
tbf there was coffee & cake & it was reasonably friendly.
I just wanted to go & have chance to meet others who were questioning / believers & to find out if it might be a welcoming community.
I came away feeling more 'other' / isolated not less which is a pity.
I suspect a bigger city group might work better but I cant access one of those.

That has put me right off, I was thinking of doing it but I do NOT do singing at all, never have!

No, the leader should not have done that. Maybe at the end of the few weeks he could have said ‘if anyone wants to accept Jesus’, but he shouldn’t have done it like he did in the 1st week! There are plenty of good Alpha courses, hopefully you can find one

Don’t let it put you off, I have never heard of hymn singing at an Alpha, sounds like this particular one isn’t great!

This is unusual. I did the course and while I felt they were a bit pushy this sounds extreme. Whist on the course I met a practicing Buddhist who recommended "Buddha in your Mirror" book. I went to the Buddhist meeting and they were perfectly fine with me attending the Alpha course. I went on practicing Buddhism. I am only mentioning it because you said you are exploring at the moment

@StanleyGoodspeed please dont' be put off sounds like it wasn't typical?

Part of the hymn singing was done 'in the round' so it was quite school like but a bit excrutiating not knowing the words (I'm not CofS background).

What do you mean by "much glaring"? Do you think perhaps you misinterpreted something that was meant to be friendly? Easy to do if you're feeling a bit anxious or out of place. I can't understand why anyone would be glaring at you.

I've never known there to be any singing at an Alpha course and I've been to a lot (church helper).

The whole point of Alpha is for people with no Christian background to be able to come and explore and answer questions. Singing Christian songs in rounds sounds absolutely awful and definitely off-putting!!

*ask questions

@Tiredbehyondbelief thank you. We were told to buy a CS Lewis book '& read it by next week as there will be questions'. Erk...

I think they meant well but it was just a bit 'cliquey' & a bit fast

The whole point of Alpha is to convert people to one very specific type of Christianity, and it uses all sorts of underhand and dishonest techniques to do so.

My advice to anyone is to steer very, very clear of it.

@PrimitivePerson Oh. Which kind please? The Church running this one is Chuch of Scotland (so Protestant) but I understand it started in the 1970's in the Holy Trinity Brompton which is ('high'?) CofE? I think I was hoping for a low key chat about theological things & general why are we here stuff. I'll give it a week.

You'll be put under increasing pressure to convert as time goes on. It isn't an "opportunity to ask questions", it's designed to wear down your resistance until you sign up completely and start donating money.

The form of faith is a pretty uncompromising and hardcore evangelical protestantism that appears quite lively and energetic, but hides some deeply unpleasant conservative views that are very intolerant.

I used to run Alpha courses but haven't done so for quite a few years.

Alpha is all about asking questions. If one group member dominates the discussion (eg by talking about early church experience), then the group leader should really step in and make the discussion more inclusive.

It is not recommended that you do anything too churchy (ie singing hymns) until about week 5.

The Jesus prayer shouldn't happen before the Holy Spirit weekend.

Yes it started at HTB. They are ‘low’ church CofE

How many Alpha courses have you done/been aware of?
Some may do as you you said, but they shouldn’t do, and I think it would be a very small percentage who did

I was involved in evangelicalism for years. Alpha is utterly, utterly dreadful and is purely a conversion tool. That's all it's ever been designed to be. It isn't honest or reasonable at all.

From a while ago, but useful all the same -https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/sep/11/alpha-course-christianity

I thought it was a form of indoctrination for people who are a bit unhappy and quite scary.

So your experience seems on point

It certainly targets the vulnerable.

This doesn't sound remotely like the Alpha course I went on.
It was friendly, relaxed, and absolutely no attempt to convert.

It's ALWAYS an attempt to convert. It's the only reason it exists.

I went to 2 alphas as I found the first one good but I wasn’t brave enough to ask all the questions I wanted. I was more confident at the second but at neither of the courses I was I asked if I wanted to start going to church, there was no singing and no mention of money.
I am now a Christian but I would say I was heading that way before I went to the alpha courses. The courses helped me get a lot of the big issues/questions I had answered , not always in a way I agreed with mind.
OP I think your Alpha course doesn’t sound that good. I would try a different one, you can always try online. I think big churches in cities, especially those linked to universities are fabulous for debates and challenges and questions; which is what my Alpha courses were about. I did mine in a Methodist church and then a Baptist church. I never wanted to go to an actual church service for a couple of years after the courses and I didn’t want to go back to the churches I did the courses in as I was pretty challenging having been brought up antiChristian!

No, it really isn’t. Lots of people go on them to find out more. People from other faiths go on the courses to learn more about Christianity.