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?

Hmm ..aren’t you being a bit dogmatic .. You seem very keen to persuade/ “ convert “ people to your point of view about the Alpha courses.
How many Alpha courses did you attend?

I was part of evangelicalism for 25 years. Alpha is regarded as a very, very important tool for converting people, and church members were under constant pressure to invite their non-Christian friends.

I'm very familiar with the content of the course, and knowing what I know now, I consider it of very little intellectual merit, to be deliberately manipulative and dishonest, and to encourage people to make commitments that they probably don't fully understand. The absolute primary goal above all else is bums on seats (and the money those people put into the coffers).

From the Alpha website "The Alpha Course is an effective form of evangelism when run by and through the local church. By focusing on the fundamentals of Christianity, it opens the door for Alpha to be used in almost any context so that everyone has the opportunity to engage in discussions and be transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

I thought it was a “Christianity for beginners “ course. I think most people who signed up would know that the people giving the course are likely to be Christian. It’s not uncommon for people giving a course in something they’re passionate about to be “ evangelical “ about it. As long as the course attendees are grown ups of sound mind then it’s up to them to decide. Obviously you’re entitled to your view that the course is “of very little intellectual merit .. deliberately manipulative and dishonest” but that wasn’t my experience.

Nope. It's "this is the only valid form of Christianity and we're going to try damn hard to convert you to it". I use "evangelical" in the sense of a set of conservative theological views based on a pretty literal interpretation of the Bible.

And yes, it's intellectually and factually extremely poor. It uses a time-honoured manipulative technique of starting out trying to convince people that everything in the Bible is true (spoiler: it's not) and then using the Bible's claims to rather dishonestly pressure people into becoming Christians.

This might be something that happens but it is not sanctioned by Alpha. I used to be an Alpha director and all the training we had was to keep on message.

It's completely wrong to talk about early church experience unless brought up by guests. Hymn singing doesn't happen until week 4 or 5 and then it is low key and limited to one song.

I dropped out of Alpha when one of our ministers did his own thing.

Funnily enough, I was on a conference with Nicky Gumbel (the pioneer of the current Alpha course) a few weeks ago. He was still adamant that nothing should change in the format that has been going for 30+ years.

Blimey, the variety in Alpha courses sure is diverse.

The Alpha Course is essentially a pre written course that can be presented as differently as the organisations that pick it up and run it. So, my advice would be to choose a course based on whether you feel comfortable with the people who run it rather than just your nearest course. That way, you’ll be more able to honestly discuss the issues that will come up.

I’ve been on a few and am not a Christian (my DP is) so would dispute the brainwashing implication of your posts. I appreciate a space where people don’t mock me for believing in a spiritual aspect to being human. So it sound like you’ve been somehow hurt by the evangelical community you were a part of, but no need to replicate that judgmental attitude to other people. Maybe get some counselling?

It means you're able to recognise high pressure sales techniques subconsciously. Which is why you instinctively withdrew despite your interest.

I think sometimes people say it's brainwashing because they don't understand how anyone could become a Christian and its their only explanation for it.

Lots of Christians have similar concerns about Alpha courses. It presents one strand of Christianity as the only version and that strand has huge problems with coercive behaviour.

It's fine to point out that not all Alpha courses are like that but to deny the huge body of evidence available online (and people's experience on here) is just deluded.

Yes it did indeed start at HTB where I used to attend. I didn't go to their Alpha (I was already a committed Christian at the time) but all the reports I have heard it's not 'pushy' and is a way for people to ask questions and find out facts about Christianity. They are a very good church, I still go to their online services. They do Alpha online as well.

https://htb.org/alpha

Just to add, OP I do think this is about the individuals who are running the course. Not all Christians act in a way that is led by the Holy Spirit. They allow their own egos to get in the way. We can all do this at times. Sounds like the person running that course has this problem.

One of the people who run an Alpha course at my nearby church has tried several times to get me to go along. There is a real sense of trying to convert people and how wonderful my life would be with Jesus in it.

Nope. My life as a heathen is ticking along very nicely indeed thank you very much.

Yes, I have been hurt by evangelicalism - very badly indeed - and so have a lot of other people. And yes, I've had counselling.

My wariness is because I don't want anyone to go through what I've been through. As someone else has mentioned, the form of Christianity promoted by Alpha has a serious and absolutely rampant problem with coercive control, and you really, really don't want that in your life. Trust me on that one.

Doesn't that all reek of attempting to control your beliefs and behaviour?

Evangelicals love doing that.

Sorry you experienced that, you sound really hurt, it must have been awful.

I just didn't experience that at all. Maybe I'll do it again in a different place to see if you have a point about it being in the fabric of the course itself, or if it's more about how it is framed by the people who run it. Because like I said, I just didn't experience any kind of 'brainwashing' or 'coercive control'.

I love psychology/ religion/ spirituality/ philosophy (or anything that defines cultures and groups of people), so any debate like this really intrigues me.

Best of luck to you for the future.

@Peopleneedpeople Thing is, Alpha is very tightly managed and designed to make Christianity look very attractive. They'll miss out the bits they know are really problematic, and be careful to show it as an overwhelmingly positive thing that can solve anyone and everyone's problems, regardless of what they are. This is why I loathe Alpha so much - it makes ridiculous promises it can't keep, and hides a lot of the elements of evangelical belief that are really obnoxious and regularly put people off (bullying leaders, enormous pressure to conform, policing of behaviour and belief, pressure to donate huge amounts of money, pressure to volunteer loads of your time, homophobia, horribly sexist views of the roles of men and women...)

Once you're in that sort of church culture you'll be under enormous pressure to stay and getting out will be nigh-on impossible.

I'm sure plenty of people delivering Alpha do so from decent motives but that doesn't alter the fact that what they're representing is dangerous and rotten to the core. HTB is a very influential and very wealthy church that has done a lot of damage, and I wouldn't trust Nicky Gumbel as far as I could throw him.

It certainly seems that way. I actually enjoyed the one I did organised by a C of E church. The common or garden variety, not high. There were interesting people in the group I was in, including couple of doctors, academics, an actor.

There was no singing that I remember. There was a presentation followed by discussion, a meal. We all went to the pub afterwards.

There was definitely no rampant evangelism. That would have put me right off.

I wouldn't recommend Alpha to someone wanting to find out more about Christianity @54isanopendoor . It's a pavkaged up evangelism tool for a subset of Christianity that doesn't represent the full spectrum of different things that different Christians believe, and has specific conclusions it wants you to reach.

Other introductory courses exist and the best ones will focus on being ok with questions not necessarily having answers, ie acknowledging we may never be able to know the answers in this life but that it's ok to keep questioning because what it's about is the journey not the destination.

Absolutely, and the conclusion it wants you to reach is being a churchgoer who pays a lot of money for the privilege for the rest of your life. Nothing else is seen as an acceptable outcome.

They dress it up as discussion and debate, but it's all very, very carefully managed to stay within very tightly-defined boundaries, and as I've mentioned before, it has very little intellectual rigour. There's virtually no proof for the claims of Christianity outside the pages of the Bible, so a key part of it is making you believe that everything in the Bible is literally the words of God and 100% true. If you believe that, you'll be much more receptive to the message, because "the Bible says so" will be a persuasive argument. It's basically all they've got, but even a cursory examination of the Bible from an academic perspective will reveal it's massively flawed. It certainly isn't a solid enough foundation for a way of life that makes huge demands on your time, money and lifestyle, and realising all this stuff after you've wasted the best years of your life on it is hard.

"who pays a lot of money" ?

Err, not all, me thinks. I went on one Donkeys years ago, was very pleasant. And a free meal.

I'm really glad this thread has had a wee revival!

@CrunchyCarrot Thank you for the info that the Alpha course is avail online via HTB. That is what I will try next - I can then judge it's suitability for me from the original 'offering' vs. local hymn singing & 'I have grievously sinned' stuff.

I am a person who believes in God (but haven't thought 'God believed in me' for most of my life). I believe Jesus existed & that by following 'his examples' in the Bible we can lead a better life but I dont believe the Bible is 'the word of God'.
It is a collection of writings, written later & translated & altered for 2K years.
I don't believe babies are born sinful & that baptism is essential to 'save them'. Or that a theoretical remote tribesperson who had never heard 'the word of God' would be doomed. But I do believe there is an 'after-life' & that something of our energy continues in some form & that we are meant to learn & improve.

So I am no doubt quite ignorant & a bit mixed up but I had hoped to go & discuss such things with other similar people (plus those from the Church) .
That wasn't my experience but I do live in a tiny insular village in the arse end of nowhere & I'm an 'outsider' to boot. I will try the online Alpha before I quit it.

Alpha is free.

Being a lifelong church member - which is what they want to make you - certainly isn't.

I believe @PrimitivePerson is talking about ‘tithing’ for one thing with regard to money.