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alpha india news

ISSUE 3 | JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010 THE QUARTERLY NEWSPAPER OF ALPHA INDIA

YOUTH
NEWS IN BRIEF

God in the workplace:

In this edition, excerpts
from Ken Costa’s ‘God at
Work’, a new book about

ALPHA
living every day of work
with God-given purpose.
P10

Changed lives &

changed Churches:
Stories from Orissa, UP,
HP, Gujurat and beyond,
of how people are hearing
the Good News of Jesus
Christ through local Alpha

LAUNCHED!
courses. P4-5

International Events:
Thousands of people have
been trained at conferenc-
es at 3 locations around
the world - Asia-Pacific,
EMEA and the Americas.
P6-7

Partnerships with CSI:

New Alpha Centre opened
at Nandyal Diocese in
Andhra Pradesh. P8

GAT Report: Many new

Alpha courses have been
registered after Global Al-
pha Training in Bodhgaya,
Bihar. P8

Festival of Life, Kolkata:

Alpha India will be helping
to follow through with this
major Joyce Meyer event
in October; Alpha pre-
festival training dates are
listed on the back page.

Financial Partnership
We appreciate your finan-
cial partnership. If you are
inspired to support Alpha
India then please use the
details below, or contact
Thomas Mathew at the Pressures on young people in India is higher than ever before, with extreme
Alpha India Office.
competition for education, employment & consumables. These factors have
Alpha India Account: contributed to stressed family environments as well as India’s high level of
youth suicides.
Account Number:
03532000005741
Name: Alpha India Youth Alpha was officially launched nationwide in June to help youth, by giving
Bank: HDFC Bank Ltd. them an opportunity to explore the meaning of life. Training events took place in
Branch: Kalyan Nagar, Kolkata in June and Chennai in July, and partnerships have been built with other
Bangalore
Account Type: Current youth-focused ministries. Official resources have been printed by Alpha India to
account support the large number of courses expected to start. Read the report from
Kolkata and more on Page 8.
2 ALPHA NOTES

YOUR
National Alpha Office contact details:

Alpha India
219, 5th A Main Road,
Kalyan Nagar, HRBR 2nd Block,
Bangalore - 560 043

Tel: 080 2542 0902

IDD: +91 80 2542 0902
Email: contact@alphaindia.org
Web: www.alphaindia.org
Patron: Shri S. C. Jamir, the former Governor
of Maharashtra
National Director: Mr J Varadaraj
Board Members:
Scott Norling, Chairman
Chris Sadler, Alpha Asia Pacific Chairman
J Varadaraj, National Director
Dr A. F. Pinto, CEO of St. Xavier Group of Schools and
Ryan International Schools
Gul Kripalani, Managing Director of Pijikay
Fr. Anthony D’Souza S.J. Director of the Xavier
Institute of Leadership
Amrit Kunder, Builder/Developer
Noel Swaranjit Sen, Former Police Chief of Andhra
Pradesh
T. David Raj, Joyce Meyer Ministries, India
Matthew Anthony, Secretary for Evangelisation,
Archdiocese of Delhi
Church Advisory Board:
Archbishop Vincent Concessao
Bishop Rt. Rev. V. M. Malavia
Rev. Dr D. Mohan, Superintendant of AOG India
LETTERS
The letters and cards that have come in
this quarter have been very encouraging!
Fr. G.K Prakash of the Catholic Mission
in Nagaon, Assam writes, “Dear Friends,
by the good pleasure of our Lord, I have
had the joy and pleasure of participating in
your 3-day seminar at Guwahati on 23, 24,
25 March 2010 at the Peace Centre. The
leadership of Mr. Soosai was full of the Holy
Spirit. We all benefited. I wish the Seeds of
Evangelism sown with faith, will in its’ own
time, bear fruit for God’s Kingdom.
As God blessed Nicky’s life, may He bless
all of us, whom He has drawn into his life
- in one way or the other! I am all the time
deeply involved in direct, personal evange-
lism. I rejoice to see it bear fruit.
In union of prayers, Yours in the Lord, Fr.
G.K. Prakesh.”
Sunita from U.P writes, “I learnt so many
things through Alpha. Today not only has
my life changed, but also the lives of other
church members. I am so thankful for
my church for providing such a beneficial
course for us.”
A Pastor’s postcard reads, “I received your
Alpha magazine, I would like to have the
book ‘Vision to Action’. I will be sending Rs
100. Without vision, people perish, so I want
to ask you to pray for my church ‘Living Full
Gospel Church’.
Many more testimonies were also re-
ceived, some of which have been printed
in the stories section on pages 4-5 of this
newspaper. You may send your comments,
suggestions and responses to Alpha India
News, by mailing the National Office,
Email: alphaindiaoffice@gmail.com

Postal address:
State Coordinators’ Contact details: Alpha India News
C/o Alpha India National Office
Andhra Pradesh: Susheel K Chattar 219, 5th A Main Road
Mob: 098660-99184
Kalyan Nagar
Andhra Pradesh - Hindupur: Paul J L HRBR 2nd Block
Mob: 094408-61979 Bangalore - 560 043

Assam and Meghalaya: Ranjit De

Mob: 094347-59794

Bihar: George Muller

Mob: 094310-16124

Gujarat: D Jimmy
Mob: 098254-44197

Himachal Pradesh: Rupak K Nayak

Mob: 093189-02997

Karnataka: John Roy

Mob: 099161-11225

Kerala: Mon C George

Mob: 094464-83577

Maharashtra - Mumbai: Bhanu & Sheena P Raju

Mob: 093719-12887

Orissa: Tushar K Behera & Jayadeep Samantroy

Mob: 093371-41600

Uttar Pradesh: Vinay P Dayal

Mob: 093594-86843

West Bengal: Dilip and Kakali Debnath

Mob: 098742-07760

West Bengal - Kolkata: Prabir Mondal

Mob: 092368-57722 & 092318-62615

© Alpha India 2010, edited and published

by J.V Raj for Alpha India
ALPHA INDIA NEWS
JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010 editorial 3

A message from the National Director

Dear friends, praying that many will discover meaning

in life through these efforts.
So much has happened since I wrote last.
You will read about three major confer- We have initiated the process of a fresh
ences that have happened - Asia Pacific relationship with the CSI Churches.
in Kuching, Malaysia, EMEA in London We are working on a Bishops retreat for
and the Americas Conference in Chi- the CSI and CNI each in January with
cago. They were all well received and a Bishop Sandy Miller and Tricia Neill
blessing. leading the meetings. May I remind you that Alpha is not
about Alpha but about Jesus and His
We have had our first ever Youth Alpha After much prayer, we are expanding our Kingdom that is for ever and ever.
training in Kolkata. We also recently team of Alpha Advisers. We currently
concluded a Youth Alpha meeting in have 260 Alpha Advisers around the We need your help and partnership  in
Chennai. country. We plan to increase this to over any way that you can participate. There is
500 by this year end. We are encourag- a lingering hope that you will join us in
We have been asked to do follow up ing and challenging them to do train- reaching out to the lost world.
trainings for the Joyce Meyer meetings ings on their own. The plan is to have 4
in October in the city of Kolkata. Ninety trainings by the Alpha Advisers this year. Your letters encourage us to further com-
plus leaders came together in Kolkata to With God’s help, we will have trained an mitment.
be envisioned to do trainings in their ar- additional 40,000 leaders through the ad-
eas. The plan is to train around 500 lead- ditional 1,000 trainings, apart from what Your servant as His,
ers from all the 6 zones of the city during our coordinators do. This will multiply
the months of July, August and Septem- the number of leaders trained. We pray
ber in preparation for the meetings. that all this will multiply the number of
courses in the country.
The reception has been overwhelming. J Varadaraj
Elsewhere you will see the details. We are July 2010

VISIT ALPHAINDIA.ORG TODAY!

READ ‘WHY JESUS’

ONLINE FOR FREE!
4 from the field
CHANGEDLIVES
“WE CAME TO KNOW ABOUT JESUS CHRIST...
WE HAD NEVER HEARD OF HIM BEFORE...
WE ACCEPTED HIM AS OUR SAVIOUR.”
- KARUNA, ORISSA
All this could happen by the grace of God.”
Sri Sanatan Singh
Baptisms: We had to by lives changed
From country-liquor dig a tank to avoid
to baptism in Orissa confrontation
“My name is Sri Sanatan Singh of district
Keonjhar. I was from a different faith and
was enjoying life with my friends by tak-
ing country liquor and quarreling with the
people in my village. I was involved with
all kinds of bad things for which I came to
feel extremely guilty.
I came to know Jesus through the Alpha
course which is being run by an evangelist
in my village. Not only did I come to know
about Jesus but I also accepted Jesus as
my Personal Saviour and took baptism. Now
I find myself in a new world where there is
peace and joy. Also I now enjoy the fellow-
ship of other believers.
Now my purpose of living is to bring those
old friends to Jesus who are still in the
darkness. Please pray for me.”
8 point 28 to the
Kingdom
From the Orissa Alpha Coordinators
“At the end of March one evangelist here
was running an Alpha Course in his vil-
lage. He started the course with 8 believ-
ers who invited their friends and relatives
to come and attend the course. As a
result, 28 non-Christians accepted Jesus
Christ as their personal Saviour & took
ALPHA INDIA NEWS
JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010
water baptism in the river Baitarani. For fears. But there are always a few who stay
the baptism we asked one Pastor from Cut- firm. We are greatly encouraged by this.
tack, as there is no Church or any Christian Kindly please pray for us. Blessings, Rajan
fellowship within 50km of the village. Now M. Salhotra.”
that the number of believers has gone up
to 36, they need an ordained Pastor to take
Prisoner becomes
care of this small congregation along with
their families.
Alpha Leader; Prison
Officials impressed
“Greetings from Tushar and Jayapdeep!
As a result of Prison Alpha in R. Usayagiri
Jail, two of the inmates have shown their
desire to accept Jesus as their Saviour.
“To God be the glory. Dalhousie Church in They are from non-Chistian backgrounds,
Himachal Pradesh is registering a steady and we completely believe it is the work
and perpetual growth month by month. of the Holy Spirit who alone can change
We have newcomers who are brought to their hearts.
our Saturday fasting-prayer meetings for
healing, and we have now finished run- Please pray for them so that they can bear
ning our third Alpha course. testimony in their village after their release
from the jail in the next year.
It is with joy that there were seven baptisms
administered here on 18th April 2010. There Also, an inmate named Babula, who has
would have been more, but some avoided already spent seven years in the prison,
it or could not come for some reasons; we recently became our new Alpha leader
hope that they will come for baptism soon. inside the prison. He has started a new
prayer group amongst the inmates.
We had to dig the tank for the baptisms on
Saturday evening, to avoid any confronta- The lives of inmates who have been
tion. We lined it with canvas, filled it with changed through the Alpha course is
with water and then baptised the seven encouraging the jail authorities to be coop-
people. Then we reshaped the place to its erative with our Advisers for their jail visits.
original form, and everyone went to church And the prisoners’ families are also opening
(it was Sunday morning by then). their hearts to know about Jesus. Slowly the
God is working here. Two sisters, Shivani
Alpha work is opening a door for our prison
and Shikha took fresh decisions for Christ
and attended the Alpha course. The third
sister and their mother have also come to
the Lord, after the mother was delivered
from sickness and demonic attacks. She
had ulcers which disappeared and the test
report subsequently showed negative.
It is always a sad experience that several
who are prayed for get blessings and then
turn away due to social pressures and other
Mr N Rao and his mother
ALPHA INDIA NEWS
JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010
Alpha Advisers, Ps. Maguni Sananayak and
Ps. Sanyasi Pani, to visit their families out-
side and share the Gospel to them.
It is amazing to see how the Lord is work-
ing, though many difficulties are encoun-
tered. Still we praise God for His wonderful
work through Alpha.”
Oriyan family comes
to Faith
“My name is Karuna. Myself and my family
were of another religion and leading a life
where there was no peace and joy. I was
having all kinds of bad habits.
Through our friend Ps. Jagat, we got an
opportunity to attend the Alpha course in
our village, in which we came to know about
Jesus Christ who died for our sins. We had
never heard this before. It made me realise
the love of the Lord. We accepted Jesus
personally as our Saviour. Now we are lead-
ing a new life and experiencing a new fellow-
ship with our Saviour, who is always with us.
Please pray for my family, so that we can
grow in the Lord and be witnesses to others
in our village.”
Hearts of mother &
son opened to Jesus
Mr. N Rao and his mother, of Giawa village
of Gajapati District, Orissa, accepted Jesus
Christ during the Alpha course which they
attended in their village under the leadership
of Ps. Maguni S. They were from another
religious background, and during the
Alpha Day Away their hearts were opened
for Jesus.
Previously they were idol worshippers. Now
that they have accepted Jesus, they have to
go through persecution from their own rela-
tives, which is a new experience for them.
Please pray for them so that they can remain
strong through this persecution and be a
witness for others.
from the field
We learnt how we
can start a new life
in Jesus Christ
“My name is Manju. When I came to
Christ through Brother Robin I learnt
about what the Christian life is about.
One day Brother Robin started the Alpha
course in the church and he showed us
how we can worship the Lord and told us
that we should pray in groups by faith.
This course solves our questions of life.
Through Alpha we learnt how we can start
a new life in Jesus Christ. Alpha teaches
love, service, and a new way to live our lives.
Through the course we learnt how to live
a good Christian life and to live with good
character.
Thank God that Alpha entered our lives.
Now I realised that I am a new Manju,
because my old life became new, so I just
want to thank God.”
My life has totally
changed
“Praise the Lord. My name is Renu. I am
one of the believer’s of Samaparan Believers
Church. I have never heard before of such a
kind of course as this.
Brother Robin’s wife Jolly told me about
Alpha and how we can learn through
Alpha. It’s like a family and we are running
the course every Friday.
Through this course my life has changed
totally and now I can learn more and more
through Alpha. We learnt so many things like
prayer: prayer is not only an activity but it is
a conversation. Prayer is like a relationship
between God and man and we learn how we
can live our life.
Actually, Alpha is a good source to reach out
to the believers and to encourage them. We
learn in Alpha how we can start a new life. I
thank God for the Alpha course, through it
the life of my entire family has changed.”
5
CHANGED
CHURCH
C.N.I Dahod, Gujarat - Report by
Presbyter-in-charge, Rev. Hamilton B Roy
“For CNI Church Dahod, the Alpha course
has become an instrument to give us direc-
tion and increase the dynamism of the
church activities. The church has started
growing with new vision and a burden for
the Lord.
The Alpha course was started in January
2010 for 10 weeks, and 60-70 people par-
ticipated regularly. People from other faiths
were taking part voluntarily, and the Alpha
guide book was given to all on the course
and followed by them as a guide book to
basic Christian doctrines.
The result:
• People were enthused to study the Bible
• The local church experienced growth in
•
unity, peace and love
People have come forward to serve in
•
the church
Members have received clear under-
standing about the sanctity of church,
•
and they have honour for the pastor
The secretary of CNI Dahod has expe-
rienced spiritual growth. He is a retired
police inspector and he is encouraged
through this course to serve the Lord,
have Christ at the centre of his life, and
experience the Holy Spirit in a deeper
way.
In the coming days we will conduct the
Alpha course in various local communi-
ties, for which prayers and preparations
are currently going on.
Please email or write to us,
alphaindiaoffice@gmail.com
or to the National Office
postal address, page 2.
6 international news - training c

Senior Church leaders united in Malaysia, to support the work of evangelisation in their country and region. Photo: Brandon Eu

ASIA PACIFIC REGION

KUCHING, MALAYSIA: On the 16th and
17th April, more than 1,200 delegates
from the Asia Pacific region, including
the Indian subcontinent, took part in the
2010 Malaysian Alpha Conference. More
than 15 denominations were represented
at the event, including 394 delegates from
the Roman Catholic church, 213 Angli-
cans, 199 Methodists,104 Baptists and 38
Pentecostals.
Nicky Gumbel, Tim Hughes, Al Gordon and
Jamie Haith from Alpha’s home-church in
London presented the sessions at the
conference. The London team spent two
days teaching the principles and practicali-
ties of running effective Alpha courses - from
how to conduct group discussions, to pas-
toral ministry and ‘after Alpha’. In addition,
the break-out seminars on both days were
taken by Alpha Malaysia’s trainers, advisers
and staff. These staff will now continue to
equip local churches and groups in Malay-
sia, while Alpha staff from other nations will
offer support to the delegates from their
countries.
The conference was officially opened by the
Most Reverend John Ha, Catholic Archbish-
op of Kuching; Right Reverend Datuk Bolly
Lapok, Anglican Bishop of Sarawak, and
other Church leaders from the nation. In their
messages, each of the Heads of Churches
emphasised Church unity and the timeliness
of the conference for the nation.
Most Reverend John Ha, Catholic Arch-
bishop of Kuching said, “There has never
been a greater and a more urgent need to
draw our people to Christ and deepen their
relationship with Him than today. Thank God
we do not need to go back and scratch our
heads and think what programme should
be devised or drawn up, we have the Alpha
course, given to us by God into our hands.
“...I am sure that the Spirit is moving in this
conference, I hope and pray that we will all
open our ears to the Lord, to the Spirit, so
that this conference will bear fruit in each
one of us. ‘In what way will the Lord make
use of me when I go home?’ Each one of
us needs to be open to the Spirit in order
to find the answer to this question, but right
now one answer is clear, we must not go
back after this conference and do nothing.”
Right Reverend Datuk Bolly Lapok,
Anglican Bishop of Sarawak (Malaysia),
said, “Given the many challenges of the
Malaysian context in which God has placed
us and in which we are a small minority, the
churches cannot afford to be not united. We
need a credible common denominator such
as the Alpha course. In the present situation,
I would say a conference like this, and the
Alpha course, is God sent.”

More than 1000 delegates attended the Alpha Conference for North and South America, in Chicago in June.
 7

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST

AND AFRICA, in London

Church leaders from 77 nations of Europe, Middle East and Africa, came together in London in June for the EMEA Week event.

More than 1200 church leaders from 77
countries and 28 denominations attended
the Alpha Conference for leaders from
Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in
London in June. The conference was held
at Holy Trinity Brompton Church where
Alpha Pioneer Nicky Gumbel is vicar, and
where the Alpha course started more
than two decades ago.
During the conference, delegates from the
represented nations gave feedback on the
growth of Alpha in their country. The Alpha
course leader from Poland spoke about 27
new Alpha courses that were run. He also
talked about the difficult time the country
has been in after the tragic plane crash kill-
ing President Lech Kaczynski and 96 others
in April. As the country mourned they were
able to publish Nicky Gumbel’s chapter
‘Why does God allow suffering,’ which he
said helped many people.
The Seychelles delegates spoke of their
growth in a country smaller than HTB’s
parish. Alpha has been running there since
1996, but took off two years ago after a
Global Alpha Training (GAT) visit.
Leaders in Benin, West Africa, shared how
they started running Alpha courses in July
2009- Now 25 churches are running the
course in six regions of the country.
In Albania, with only 0.5% evangelical Chris-
tians, Alpha was started two years ago. Now
there are 48 courses being run.
Finally the delegate from Kazakhstan spoke.
He jubilantly told how Alpha had worked in
his family – bringing his brother, father-in-law
and uncle to Christ.

THE AMERICAS
More than 1000 delegates also attended
Alpha’s Americas Week in Chicago in late
June. The training conference was held
at Calvary Church in Naperville which has
a congregation of 6000 and actively runs
the Alpha course.

The Americas week was officially opened

by Calvary Church’s Senior Pastor Randal
Ross. The first two days were led by Nicky
and Pippa Gumbel, with Toby Flint and Paul
Cowley of Holy Trinity Brompton (London)
also leading parts of the training. Worship
was led by Brenton Brown.

Many reports were given by delegates dur- More than 3500 people took part in the
ing the week, including those from Nicara- three conferences in London (above),
gua where 500 churches have started Alpha Chicago (top-right) and Kuching,
since 2005. Malaysia (right).
8 from the field ALPHA INDIA NEWS
JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010

GAT REPORT PARTNERSHIP WITH CSI DIOCESE

BODHGAYA, BIHAR
REPORTED BY GEORGE MULLER,
ALPHA COORDINATOR FOR BIHAR.

It is very exciting to write to you about

Global Alpha Training held at Heritage
hotel, Bodhgayamon 12-15, April 2010. The
venue of the GAT event was 1.5km away
from main temple here. This is the particular
place where Buddha got enlightenment and
spread Buddhism all over the country.

This is the first time that interdenominational

pastors have gathered for such a four-day
event. There were 116 delegates here from
21 denominations and organizations, from
ten districts of Bihar, and some from the
Jharkhand-Bihar border areas as well.

The event was inaugurated by Rev. Jag-

dish Masih, the Senior Pastor of Methodist
church of India, and a short devotional was
given by Rev. John Nagendran, the Eastern
Regional Director of GEMS ministry. He fo-
cused on the title “passion for lost souls”.
The three-person GAT team that assisted in
this training were from Sheffield, UK. Other
assistance came from our local team - our
local Alpha Adviser Rev. David Singh, Zonal
Superintendant of Global Evangelical Move-
ment, Rev. Victor Immanuel CEO of Goodwill
Evangelical Missions Services and some
talks were given by me also. Other resource
persons were members of Church of North
India, Baptist Church and the Church of
Promise.
Every morning there were devotions taken
by different leaders: Rev. SR. Cornelius, Rev.
A.P. Samson, Director of Village Gospel Mis-
sionary Of India and Rev. A. Sanathappan,
Zonal Superintendent of PEACE ministry.
There were special songs by different groups
like Rev. R.K. Massey, pastor of Pentecostal
Holiness Church, Bhojpori and Magahi, and
songs led by the different delegates
themselves.
At the end of the training, Rev. S.R
Cornelius, CEO of Grace Evangelical
Missions Services commissioned the
delegates. He said that Alpha is a fantastic
tool and that by this course we can use it to
point many new believers into the Church.
This was an excellent Alpha Training event
that took place. 31 courses are already
registered to start because of it, and many
are about to register. Also, I am very happy
to report that two of the hotel staff commit-
ted their lives to Lord Jesus during the GAT
and both of them attended their first Sun-
day worship on 18th April 2010 at different
churches. Thanks a lot for your prayer and
support.
Regards
George Muller
More than two years after Alpha was first
introduced to the C.S.I Diocese in Nan-
dyal, Andhra Pradesh, an Alpha Centre
was opened on the Diocese property in
April to facilitate the roll-out of the course
throughout the local area.
The Alpha Centre was opened at the
Bishop’s Office. The centre will provide
office-space and support for the State Alpha
Coordinator as well as the local C.S.I Alpha
teams, and Rev. Samuel Sumitra has been
appointed an Alpha coordinator for the
diocese.
Nearly 250 leaders attended the opening
ceremony and training day. Right Rev. P.J
Lawrence, Bishop of Nandyal, prayed and
addressed the importance of understand-
ing the Spirit-filled Christian life through
the Alpha course. Alpha’s coordinator for
Andhra Pradesh, Job Livingston Paul, then
re-introduced Alpha to them and shared of
the many testimonies he has encountered in
the work.
The church leaders were encouraged to
select lay-leaders for the full training that
would occur the following month, and in
May a large number of lay leaders were
trained and commissioned to begin Alpha
courses in their local church communities.
GLOBAL ALPHA
TRAINING
FOR A LIST OF UPCOMING
TRAINING EVENTS, VISIT
WWW.ALPHAINDIA.ORG
ALPHA INDIA NEWS
JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010
YOUTH ALPHA!
TODAY’S YOUTH, TOMORROW’S LEADERS
WHAT IS YOUTH
ALPHA?
Youth Alpha is a more informal ver-
sion of the Alpha course, using the
same teaching content but adapted
in a way to better engage with teen-
agers. The course normally runs
over ten weeks, plus a weekend or
day away in the middle. Youth Alpha
shares the same important
elements as any Alpha course –
food, worship, a talk, and small
groups.
It’s easy to run, with a revised and
updated LEADERS’ GUIDE that has
all the talks written for you. Also
there is a Youth Alpha Clips DVD
with music videos for your course,
and a cartoon manual for younger
youth.
125 YOUTH,
27 ORGANISATIONS
TRAINED IN KOLKATA
For the first time in India, official Youth
Alpha training was conducted at Seva Ken-
dra, Kolkata from the 10th -12th of June,
2010. The training conference started with
wonderful worship led by a vibrant group
of young people, and this brought life to the
beginning of the programme.
Mr. Soumen Biswas, Director of Kolkata
Youth for Christ was present on the first day
and he encouraged the delegates by saying:
“Alpha is a wonderful tool for evangelism
amongst the youths.”
Around 125 young people attended the pro-
youth alpha 9
gramme, which was a GAT event with train-
ers from Singapore. The young people were
from 27 different organizations and churches
and they represented 6 denominations - CNI,
Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist, Presbyte-
rian, Catholic and Independents.
The National Alpha Office team consisted of
five key trainers, and the GAT Team included
Mr. Wenchien from Singapore. There was
tremendous fun in the air as Mr. Wenchien
introduced a lot of games which the
delegates enjoyed immensely.
youngsters in colleges. The transformation
The second day was a day of learning. On this
of many young lives after using Alpha course
day the delegates were involved in various
activities with interaction. A fruitful discus-
motivated us to make it an integral part of
the mission. About 12-16 Alpha courses are
sion ensued where the delegates came up
run every year. For the Christians on campus
with different questions and ideas. On the
who want to do more, Alpha is ready-made to
third day there was an awesome prayer ses-
help them reach out on campus.
sion and commissioning of around 40 youths
who decided to use Youth Alpha in their re-
spective ministries. They were amazed when
The youth-relevant topics and the simplicity
of the material is very easy for a non-Chris-
they were prayed for individually. They were
tian to comprehend the truth. The course
in tears as they experienced the love of God
provides answers to various spiritual doubts
in their lives.
of new believers and helps them to grow
in faith. Alpha is not just leading people to
Blessings,
The Alpha Team in Kolkata
Christ, but it also begins to disciple them. It
guides every student to lay a strong founda-
tion and have a personal relationship with
WHERE YOUTH
their Creator. We praise and thank God for
this wonderful Alpha course!”
ALPHA IN INDIA
BEGAN
“THE TRANSFORMATION OF MANY
YOUNG LIVES AFTER USING THE
ALPHA COURSE MOTIVATED US TO
MAKE IT AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE
MISSION.”
BY ESTHER PRISCILLA, FOUNDER AND
DIRECTOR, UPPER ROOM YOUTH MISSION
“Colleges have become accessible to a
majority of Indian youth in this modern era.
Upper Room Youth Mission functions to
evangelize every college in the nation with
the vision “Every college without Christ is a
mission field and every student with Christ
is a Missionary”. Upper Room Youth Mis-
sion [URYM], started with six young girls
in the year 2001 and has now grown into a
huge family with 1000s of young students
from 100+ colleges in various states of In-
dia and other countries by the grace of God. Youth Alpha
resources are
The Youth Alpha course has been used as an available from
effective evangelizing and discipleship tool the Alpha India
for the past six and a half years by URYM. National Office.
The structure of the course is apt to reach
10
god at work
A powerful new book and discipleship course for working people and professionals.
Ken Costa has been an investment banker in
the City of London for over 30 years, and is the
Chairman of Alpha International. He has been
involved with Alpha since it began at his home
Church, Holy Trinity Brompton, more than two
decades ago.
Ken’s new book and course, called God at Work,
has been written to help everyday-Christians
live their Christian faith in the workplace -
whether in a factory, telecentre, bank, or as a
bus-driver. Nicky Gumbel writes, “No one is
better qualified than Ken Costa to write a book
like this.”
The following is an excerpt from the chapter of
God at Work titled ‘Failure, Disappointment and
Hope.’ If you would like to purchase the book or
run the course, please contact the Alpha India
National Office.
Recovering from disappointment
- five steps to renew our hope
Laurence van der Post, the South African
philosopher and anthropologist who spent
his life observing the social patterns of con-
temporary society and of the nomadic San
people in South Africa, remarked, ‘the lesson
of history for me is that men and their socie-
ties can endure and surmount any enormi-
ties except a state of meaninglessness’ (Walk
with the Bushmen).
Living each day at work with hope and
purpose is essential for our well-being. It is
true that those who are purpose-led have a
positive outlook on life and produce better
results both at work and outside it, influenc-
ing the communities in which they live. So it
is important to recover hope when, through
failure and disappointment, we have lost its
power to keep us expectant. How do we do
it? Here are five pointers that I have found
helpful when trying to recover from disap-
pointment.
1. Turn to God
Following Jesus’ crucifixion, two of the
disciples were walking to Emmaus, a village
about seven miles from Jerusalem. As they
discussed recent events, somebody came
and joined them, and finding them down-
resource feature
cast, enquired what they were talking about.
It was only later that they realized the man
was Jesus. Initially they were so preoccupied
with their disappointment that they failed to
recognize that the Lord of hope was walking
alongside them. It is important to face our
disappointments honestly and to acknowl-
edge how they make us feel. However, if we
do not keep disappointment in its place, it
can overwhelm us, and we too risk forgetting
that the Lord of hope walks with us through
good and bad, and has promised never to
abandon us (Matthew 28:20).
When we are down, we often instinctively
want to turn away from God, is some way
implicating him in our misfortune. This is
a great mistake. If we follow the self-help
theories, we will dig inside ourselves only to
find that there is nothing there to pick us up.
We need to take the initiative to lift our heads
towards God. As we do so, we are reminded
of His love for us, His victory on the cross and
the power of the resurrection.
There is a ‘tensed waiting’ on earth as we
live in the hope created by the resurrection,
which has not yet been fulfilled. Not only
is work imperfect but creation as a whole
groans in imperfection, waiting for the new
heaven and the new earth promised by God.
The hope of Christ’s return enables us to live
expectantly even if our present circumstanc-
es at work are harsh and negative.
2. Face the facts
Realism is vital when we come to deal with
our disappointments. I find enormous en-
couragement from the description in Ro-
mans of Abraham who, we are told, ‘Without
weakening in his faith, faced the fact that
his body was as good as dead - since he was
about 100 years old - and that Sarah’s womb
was also dead. Yet he did not waver through
unbelief regarding the promise of God’
(Romans 4:19-20). He faced the facts that
they were both past childbearing age, yet
remained open to God’s power to give them
a child.
The facts are a radical reality. We need to
avoid fantasies and daydreams of what
might have been when we deal with our own
discouragements: there is no value in an
indulgent reconstruction of the past. It is God
alone who can change our situation, enabling
us to stop dwelling in the past so that he can
transform and empower our future.
3. Meditate on Scripture
Led by the Spirit, we find a promise of God
in the Bible appropriate to our situation. We
then read it, mull it over and say it aloud
until we digest its meaning and its truth
ALPHA INDIA NEWS
JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010
becomes part of our being. I find it helpful
to memorize and meditate upon particular
verses, because hope is so often attacked
by negativity and fear. I have committed to
memory Romans 15:13, ‘May the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in
him, so that you may overflow with hope by
the power of the Holy Spirit.’ By His creative
Holy Spirit, God enables us to grow in hope,
breaking the bounds of our own narrowness
and transforming areas of our lives that we
have constructed in the belief that God can-
not really make a difference.
4. Keep a journal
I normally find it easier to talk than to write,
but if I am going through a particularly dif-
ficult time, I find it helpful to keep a journal.
This enables me to articulate what I am
thinking and felling. Written words seem to
have a more objective ring to them - and can
also be reviewed at a later date. As I review
past disappointments, I can often see God’s
hand at work, bringing good out of situa-
tions that seemed hopeless at the time. In
retrospect, I can recognize that God gave me
‘eternal encouragement and good hope’ (2
Thessalonians 2:16). The focus of my recol-
lection is changed from ‘yet another failure’
to the good that came out of a time of rejec-
tion and disillusionment.
5. Persevere in hope
We naturally long for instant gratification and
for a sudden change of mood when we are
burdened and feeling a loss of hope in our
lives. This is seldom what happens. Charac-
ter is developed by learning to live through
disappointment and recovering hope for the
long term. We are not promised that at the
end of each day there will be a reversal of the
weights that have dragged us down. But we
are encouraged that if we persevere, God will
enable us to keep going when we are ready
to pack it all in.
At a recent U2 concert, Bono recalled his fa-
ther’s advice to him as a young man starting
out on a career: ‘Don’t dream. To dream is to
be disappointed.’ Fortunately, Bono did not
take this advice. He dared to dream and he
risked disappointment. Even if we face disil-
lusionment when our dreams fade or fail, we
can emerge from it because Christian hope
is dynamic and powerful, whereas disap-
pointment tends to constrict us, reducing
our motivation and contracting our horizons.
Christian hope expresses abundance, aban-
donment, creativity and openness to renewal.
A client once said to me, ‘You can either be a
pussy cat or a tiger in this deal. Now go and
be a tiger.’ Christian hope has too often been
domesticated as if it were a pussy cat, a good
ALPHA INDIA NEWS
JULY - SEPTEMBER 2010 god at work
feeling or a good cause - something to keep
us going. We need to recover the tiger- a wild
hope.
 
The unforced rhythms of grace -
how to live with hope
When we are down we tend to live dysfunc-
tional lives. It is as if there is a constant sore
that we cannot get rid of, which reminds us
of the negative tow in our lives. The disciples
were often brought down, as we are, by being
tired or worn out, and Jesus promised them
that he would restore a new rhythm to their
lives and would show them how to ‘live freely
and lightly’. Life has a rhythm for each one
of us, which is given to us by God to enable
us to live each day in sync with His grace and
love. Our task is to seek His will and then to
align our lives with His purposes. This will
inevitably involve a close scrutiny of our pat-
terns of living, our workload in the office and
the other activities that frequently disrupt
our well-being and motivation. We may well
have to cut out activities that are fruitless
and cause us to be exhausted. Jesus’ advice
to us on the subject is compelling: ‘Are you
tired? Worn out? Burnt out on religion? Come
to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover
your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.
Walk with me and work with me - watch how
I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.
Keep company with me and you’ll learn to
live freely and lightly’ (Matthew 11:28-30, The
Message).
 
“I am a consultant psychiatrist and therefore
am faced constantly with making difficult
decisions at work. In the past I found it hard
not to fall into doubt and self-reproach when
things went wrong. I devised intricate tactics to
cover this up but in my more private moments
I thought that the fault lines in my personal-
ity would eventually split me into a thousand
pieces, without hope of restoration (these times
were my Humpty Dumpty moments).
 
In 1997, I began attending an Alpha course,
because, uniquely for me, I had felt close to
the end of life and no-one seemed to under-
stand. Only a Christian friend was able to see
through my defenses and suggested I come
to her Alpha group. I thought ‘what the hell!?
And knew I would be able to discern artificial
or hysterical manifestations shown by others.
I accepted the common sense wrapped up in
Christian mumbo-jumbo as relatively harmless.
At this time, I attended a weekend Christian
conference on work-related issues. I was ready
to go to the pub at the end of the proceedings,
none the worse for spending two days in the
company of Christians. There was an opportu-
nity for prayer and I was happy to be able to sit
with two friends who could pray harmlessly. I
was quite surprised to be knocked back into my
seat by a force that I identified immediately as
passing through my ‘cartoon’ heart (i.e. not at
the anatomical position closer to the centre of
the chest). I was filled with an irrational sense
of relief, followed by joy and then intense re-
laxation. I now realize this was the Holy Spirit.
At work, I tried to cap any behavioral changes
in case anyone asked what was wrong. How-
by ken costa
ever, I was impressed by the perceptiveness of
many friends and colleagues who said I was so
much better, so much easier to be with and to
work with. Someone asked what I was ‘on’ and
where to get it. My ability to be seen as a sup-
portive, trustworthy colleague and friend has
increased. Both the clinical and academic areas
of my work have benefitted, with increased
output of scientific papers and presentations at
professional conferences. These are quantifia-
ble results. What is even more striking, though
more qualitative, is the way in which patients,
relatives, and clinical colleagues respond to
me. The most impressive changes have been
internal. That nagging self reproach that fol-
lowed failure has all but gone. I expected all of
this to wear off like any fad, but several years
later my sense of God’s grace, love and imme-
diacy is stronger than ever.”
(Ken Checinski, consultant psychiatrist)
Recovering hope that has been impaired by
failure is greatly helped when we realize that
others can be helped by us. When we are
going through rough times we do not believe
that we can contribute anything to helping
others to sort out their lives. This is not true.
Often we are able to empathize far better
with our colleagues who are under pressure
at work when we too are finding life difficult.
We do not need to have lives of perfect bal-
ance before we can be useful and see hope
grow again. When we consciously lift our
eyes above our own problems and become
determined to encourage others we find that
restoration is on its way.
In summary, hope is the forgotten virtue of
our age, often sandwiched between the mus-
cularity of faith and the tenderness of love.
The world needs to know that God’s plan is to
sum up everything in Christ, and we are the
ones through whom this hope will be made
known now, in our workplaces and in the
world. Hope is therefore powerful today, as
it enables us to live in the present as it will
be in the future. But we have trivialized hope
to the point of whimsy. Radical hope looks at
the reality of hard, difficult and sometimes
impossible situations (which we encounter
regularly at work) and without ignoring these
realities empowers us in Christ to tackle
“full of acumen, shrewd-
ness, hopefulness - in
short, it is a wise book
and a delight and profit
to read.”
- Rowan Williams,
Archbishop of Canterbury
“packed with wisdom and
practical advice for the
workplace.”
- Steven Chalke,
Founder of Oasis Global
and Faithworks
11
them with confidence. That is the strength of
the power of God at work. However, hope and
perseverance go together. Without hope why
persevere, why not live life for the moment
or for immediate gain? But without persever-
ance hope falls at the first time of testing.
Archbishop Rowan Williams has called for
a new ‘culture of hope’ for our nation (Eng-
land). This is surely timely. Starting in our
workplaces, all of us can share the passion
to reverse the exhaustion of hopelessness
that so saps the spiritual vitality of our work-
places and our nation.
I love the story of the first performance of
Messiaen’s ‘Quartet for the End of time’.
In the winter of 1941, the composer Olivier
Messiaen was one of a group of French pris-
oners of war in Stalag 8A in Silesia. He had
read the Gospels and the book of Revelation
and had come to believe that Jesus would re-
turn. He knew that this hope created mean-
ing for the suffering people around him. In
their appalling conditions, he understood
that hope for tomorrow was essential for life
today. He looked around the concentration
camp and managed to gather together four
instruments: a cello with a missing string,
a battered violin, an old clarinet and a piano
with stuck-together keys. For this unusual
combination of broken instruments, he wrote
one of the greatest pieces of music of the
twentieth century, and Messiaen called it,
‘Quartet for the End of Time’. When it was
played to 5,000 prisoners of war in that
freezing place in Silesia, the audience lis-
tened with rapt attention. Messiaen records,
‘The cold was excruciating, the Stalag buried
under snow, the four performers played on
broken down instruments . . . But never have
I had an audience who listened with such
rapt attention and comprehension.’ Those
broken instruments in that unusual combina-
tion were unexpected agents of hope. Simi-
larly, although we may feel inadequate and
incomplete personally or spiritually, when
we act together God uses us to be agents of
hope in the world.