Alpha News Jan 2011

FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY | TO SEE THE EVANGELISATION OF THE SUBCONTINENT & THE TRANSFORMATION OF OUR SOCIETIES | ALPHAINDIA.ORG

alpha india news

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1 | JANUARY - MARCH 2011

NEWS IN BRIEF Global Alpha Training report: The growth of Alpha courses in India is intimately tied to the training conducted by Alpha India and partner churches from around the world. In this issue you will find GAT reports from Punjab, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, plus testimonies from delegates. P4-5 Youth Alpha: Melissa Thomas, the new National Youth Alpha Coordinator for Alpha India, reports on recent trainings that equipped hundreds of youth to start using Alpha.

P6-7 Transforming Lives: Many people have sent in testimonies of lives and churches positively affected by the Alpha course.

Be encouraged by these stories and by how Alpha is helping people find faith in Christ, and helping churches find hope and health again. P8-9

THE QUARTERLY NEWSPAPER OF ALPHA INDIA

DEMAND FOR

YOUTH

ALPHA EXPLODES!

The Jesus Lifestyle, Chapter 1 - How to find the secret to happiness: This issue’s book excerpt is from Nicky Gumbel’s post-Alpha discipleship book ‘The Jesus’ Lifestyle.

P 10-11 Financial Partnership We appreciate your financial partnership. If you are inspired to support Alpha India then please use the details below, or contact Thomas Mathew at the Alpha India Office.

Alpha India Account: Account Number: 03532000005741 Name: Alpha India Bank: HDFC Bank Ltd. Branch: Kalyan Nagar, Bangalore Account Type: Current account

Scores of Youth Alpha courses are due to begin 1st quarter 2011, after three key regional trainings equipped hundreds of young people between 15 - 30 years to use it. Courses will be run on campuses and in Churches and homes... Full report by the National Youth Alpha Coordinator on pages 6-7.

2 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

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 A.P 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. Malaviya Rev. Dr D. Mohan, Superintendant of AOG India

alpha notes

ALPHA INDIA NEWS JANUARY - MARCH 2011

READERS’ STORIES&PHOTOS Many thanks for the testimonies, stories and photos that have been posted to us since the last issue of AIN! In this issue, your letters have been printed in our FROM THE FIELD section on page 8-9, together with other encouraging stories from across the nation.

If you would like to contribute to Alpha India News then please do mail or email the National Office. You can even post your stories, comments and feedback on the Alpha India FACEBOOK page: Email: contact@alphaindia.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/alphacourseindia Postal address: Alpha India News C/o Alpha India National Office 219, 5th A Main Road Kalyan Nagar HRBR 2nd Block Bangalore - 560 043

National Coordinator Contact details: Alpha in the Workplace: Santosh Chettri Mob: 09007-02289 Alpha for Prisons: Peace Khapai Mob: 09597-41832 Youth Alpha: Melissa Thomas Mob: 080953-22726

State Coordinators’ Contact details: Andhra Pradesh: Susheel K Chattar Mob: 098660-99184

Andhra Pradesh - Hindupur: Paul J L Mob: 094408-61979 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 Jammu & Kashmir: Mushtaq Ahmad Mob: 099066-84250

Introducing our new Coordinators For Alpha for Prisons, Alpha in the Workplace, Youth Alpha, and for Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Jammu & Kashmir.

Kerala: Mon C George Mob: 094464-83577 Karnataka: Sam Victor Mob: 099646-98118 Maharashtra: Raj Kumar Mob: 098280-74830 Orissa: Tushar K Behera Mob: 093371-41600

Peace Khapai & family

Sam Victor & family

Santosh Chettri & family

Orissa: Jayadeep Samantroy Mob: 098535-03813 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 2011, edited and published

by J.V Raj for Alpha India

Raj Kumar & family

Melissa Thomas

Mushtaq Ahmad & family

ALPHA INDIA NEWS JANUARY - MARCH 2011

Special Article: City Transformation,

by J. Varadaraj More people live in cities today than ever before, and the percentage is growing. Since Babylon, cities have always been simultaneously places of great human achievement and symbols of human degradation, places of great hope and places to fear.

The cities are places of opulence, the arts, learning, music, entertainment, and commerce. They are centers of finance, technology and communications and the purveyors of societal values. At the same time urban life is also rife with signs of division, brokenness, misplaced priorities and hatred. Cities harbor violence, greed and widespread decay. Cities are affected by a breakdown of family structures/commitments and the erosion of the community relationships.

Your city must matter to you In Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles in Babylon, it is written: The Lord says... ‘I know the plans I have for you, plans good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.’ ( Jeremiah 29:11).

Jeremiah’s advice to the Hebrews in the city of Babylon was ‘to build houses and settle down, plant gardens and eat what you grow...work for the good of the cities where I have made you go...

Pray on their behalf, because if they are prosperous, you will be prosperous too.’ ( Jer 29:5-7).

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alpha notes How can you transform your city?

The city’s best gift can be a sense of community, cohesiveness and cooperation and the knowledge that the city is a key element for building a future. A city can be transformed only if there are transformed lives that in turn transform the congregations and eventually transformed congregation working towards building healthy and caring communities.

1. Transformed Lives Your personal faith in Christ makes you a new being. ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold the new has come’ (2 Cor. 5:17).

• We must live in hopefulness motivated by the Spirit of God. • Have an active commitment to fellowship in the body of Christ, prayer, Bible study, tithing, and evangelical outreach.

• Let His love transform us that we are able to unconditionally love our neighbour as ourself.

2. Transformed Congregations

• Clarity of vision that is owned widely by members.

You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:19-20).

3. Transformed Communities We must work towards building communities that are desirable places to live and work. To this goal we must,

• Make neighbourhoods that are safe, economically sound, socially healthy and environmentally aware where residents actively participate in community life and decision-making.

• There must be a Spiritual vitality evident in • Ability to provide for the well being of citizens celebrative worship, Bible study and outreach.

• Participation in and commitment to community. through availability of jobs, training, education, housing and health care.

• Strong proclamation of the Gospel through • Building and rebuilding with hope and opporWord and Sacrament.

• A climate of openness that invites participation tunity for the future. and welcomes the guest.

They shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. (Isaiah 61:4b) We must work towards transforming our congregation.

National Director’s note Dear Friend, Yet another year is ahead of us. A year filled with challenging circumstances, challenges and opportunities. We wish that this will be a year of faith, hope and love for you. Faith for today, hope for tomorrow, and love forever.

A very blessed New Year.

Raj

Right: National Director J. Varadaraj with the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, at St. Mark’s Cathedral, Bangalore, 20th October 2010.

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GAT 2011

ALPHA INDIA NEWS JANUARY - MARCH 2011

GLOBAL ALPHA TRAINING EXPANDS GAT in Punjab Report by Rupak Nayak Praise God for the wonderful work He did at Jalandhar, Punjab. It is just a beginning of the work. Please do pray continually that the good work which God started will go on till He comes, so that when He comes many from Punjab will be prepared to go with Him.

for praying and cooperating in this historical training which would impact the ministry in Punjab.

The population of Punjab is 250 milion and the Christian population is around 2%.

There are 18 districts which are bordered

by Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan. This state needs the Alpha course so that people can be rooted and grounded by the living Word and Punjab needs Jesus.

The resource persons for this GAT were Kathryn Elsmore, Gillie Buckley, Chris Buckley, Sarah Drummond, Rajesh Toppo and myself. Four sessions were taken by the local Alpha adviser Rev. Rajan Masih and Pastor Balwant Singh. Local testimonies were given by Pastor Jerald from Bangalore and Rajan Masih. The commissioning session on the last day was led by Rev. Sam George (The director of Kripa Bhawan Ministry) Jalandhar. The whole GAT was led by Rev. Rajan Masih (G.S. of C.E.A.) as a GAT Host.

The following is an overview of the GAT, Jalandhar: The Resource team from the U.K. came to Jalandhar on 19th September 2010. After much prayer many obstacles were overcome and people started pouring in for the training. The 4 days of GAT began on the 21st morning at Kripa Bhawan, Pragpur, Jalandhar. We had 143 registered delegates and they represented 27 different denominations/churches from 14 districts including Chandigarh!

Bishop P.K. Samantray (CNI, Amritsar Diocese) gave the opening address. He said, “I know the Alpha course to be one of the most effective tools for evangelism and I am ready to introduce it to the churches in my area. This kind of an Alpha training will help the churches to run the course more effectively”.

GAT in Kerala Report

by Mon C George November 15th to 18th were days of great blessing. After much prayer and planning we were ready for the GAT programme in Kerala.

God blessed this GAT programme with 103 delegates from 20 churches from all corners of Kerala, of which most of them were pastors. At the end of the GAT, ten groups from different churches decided to start 12 Alpha courses in the month of January 2011.

This is the first event of its kind in the history of Punjab wherein it was really encouraging and thrilling to see the CNI Bishop coming and inaugurating the training.

The GAT was excellent and certainly helped the churches in Punjab and Chandigarh.

30 courses were registered and others will be taking decisions soon on launching the Alpha course. We are so thankful to Kripa Bhawan Ministry who opened up their facilities for us to conduct this training and they did not charge us any thing for this. We are so thankful to the other leaders in Punjab

For this GAT, a four-member Alpha resource team led by Rev. John White came from New Zealand. The training was inaugurated by the CSI Youth Centre Director Rt. Rev. N. Jesudas, and Bishop Sam Varghese from Life Fellowship Church shared on why he

believes Alpha is a good tool for evangelisation.

Testimonies were shared, and Pastor Thomas George from Radiant Church shared about the conversion of six family members through the Alpha course and about his outreach amongst I.T professionals. Pastor Ranjan from New Life Church Cochin shared about the courses he is running and on how 12 people came to the Lord and were baptised on their first Alpha course.

The session on ‘How to be Filled With the Holy Spirit’ was an awesome section and many were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. There was inner and physical healing amongst the delegates.

At the end of the training, the National Alpha Training Manager Mr. Francis Manuel guided the delegates through an action plan to help them start their courses. This was followed by commissioning and prayer by Bishop Sam Varghese. We are very excited to see these courses begin over the next few weeks!

GAT in A.P Report by J L Paul This GAT began on the 19th of October at the Platinum Jubilee Guest House at Visakhapatnam, a beautiful city which is surrounded by mountains on one side and on the other by the Bay of Bengal.

The number of registrations was 80, and 68 delegates were in constant attendance. Pastors and Lay leaders from all the Denominations including the C.S.I, Baptist, Pentecostal, Independent Ministries, Full Gospel and other organizations participated.

The event was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. Nagabushana Rao, Dean of Platinum Jubilee Guest House and the Professor of the Andhra University. The opening message was shared by Rev. Dr. Jaya Raj, Elder of Christ’s Church, Visakhapatnam. The training was conducted by a team of 5 members from Idaho, U.S.A. under the leadership of Rev. David Warnick and the team members, Nicky Warnick, Joshua Warnick, Rachel Lapolla, and Jordyn.

Each morning’s devotions were taken by experienced Pastors from the city - Rev. S.E. Sukumar Patnaik and Rev. Ramya Raju.

Exciting praise and worship by the Friends

ALPHA INDIA NEWS JANUARY - MARCH 2011

Meet City Church Team made everyone delight in God’s presence. All the sessions were translated into the local language, Telugu, with the help of two Pastors - Rev. John Peters and Rev. Thomas Praveen.

On the last day Rev. Dr. Arjuna Rao, a well known Christian leader in the city, did the Commissioning at the close of the GAT Event. We had very good feedback from the participants and we hope that almost 40 Alpha courses will start soon after Christmas and in the New year 2011.

After GAT A.P - A Pastor’s Testimony: “If we give others the chance to express their views, they too will reason out & discover the truth for themselves” I am Pastor S. Sanjay Joshua, from Vishakhapatnam. I pastor two New Life Fellowship Churches and besides that God laid His burden & Vision in my heart in the year 2009 to reach out to the prisoners in Vishakhapatnam with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I never heard about the Alpha training course until my friend gave me the registration form along with the needed information, but I had my own doubts as to how it would benefit pastors and their churches? I also wondered why this training was for three days even though it was not a leadership training and so contemplated on attending just for two days.

On the first day of the training, the small group discussion time after the talk on “Who is Jesus?” really caught my attention. We were divided into several groups and given a few questions to discuss on the related topic. I found that the discussion and interaction with each other in the group grew interesting. The questions given were very simple to answer, but we were told to think and answer like a person who had just come to the Lord with an interest to know more about Him. On hearing this, our thinking became very crucial and elementary.

We finished our interaction in the stipulated time and I was given a chance to express

GAT 2011

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my views on the discussion. I said that the discussion was very simple and everyone was given the freedom to express their ideas. The whole concept behind the discussion was to make every person important and show that their questions and answers are valued. It’s an opportunity given to the individual to express their views freely and move with each other sociably. I expressed all this without knowing I was right. Then the feedback personnel told us that the whole intention of the discussion was to enable us to relate with other in a friendly manner and to be open to hear other’s views without hurting each other.

This new concept is really good and innovative, yet most times as leaders we always want to give answers without allowing others to speak not even realizing that sometimes our answers may not be considered positively. But if we give others the chance to express their views, they too would reason out and discover the truth for themselves.

with me and I believe this new method will be an asset to our ministries. I have taken Nicky Gumbel Talks DVD set and through this I am going to train my village pastors and encourage them to run Alpha courses in their fields.” - Rev. J.P.R. Patnaik, Visakhapatnam.

What is Global Alpha Training?

After GAT A.P - A Pastor’s Testimony: “Perfect for cell groups” “I am richly blessed by your conference.

Previously I had an idea to start cell groups, but I didn’t have the strategies to do it. Now, God has given me the privilege to learn new concepts through Alpha and I’m thankful to God for Alpha. I started teaching the course in my Church. Please pray that this will be a blessing to the church.

My wife and I both attended the GAT for all the four days. I hold a very important position in the Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam.

Therefore the event was an eye opener to me in various aspects. The basic components of Fellowship, Teaching and the Small Group Discussion will surely help me in my work context as well. Really this GAT was a blessing to me and I had an opportunity to know and experience this new concept in these four days. I have 20 pastors working

The Global Alpha Training initiative was originally developed as a follow-up tool for the Billy Graham My Hope India campaign in 2006 - where Alpha was the official course for churches to use amongst new believers. Churches in other countries that were running Alpha courses sent their members to India to assist with training events. Today the program has grown dramatically and is contributing to the acceleration of the Alpha course across the subcontinent.

What do you learn at a GAT event?

The session topics include: • • • • • • • •

What is Alpha?

Essential Elements of Alpha Alpha in a wider Church ministry Hosting small groups on Alpha Presenting the Alpha Talks Localising Alpha How to run the Holy Spirit Day How to start running an Alpha course

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180 Churches Trained, 80 percent will begin courses in 2011. Report by Melissa Thomas, National Youth Alpha Coordinator By 2025, India will provide a 480 million educated work-force to the world. A sense of rootlessness, an absence of perspective and a lack of commitment to life (a temporary ideology) are the hall marks of youth in our modern times. In such an environment, there is a growing demand for youth to represent a counter culture.

With 65% of the population being young people in our country, churches across the nation are seeing the filling up of their pews with youths mostly ranging between the age of 21 years to 35 years.

This is the basis for the rapid new demand for Youth Alpha training from many churches across the country. After the first official Youth Alpha training conducted at Kolkata in the month of June 2010, we decided to conduct two major Youth Alpha Trainings in the north and south of India. This was indeed an opportunity that was welcomed by all the churches already running Alpha courses.

At the trainings there were 285 youth leaders and youth pastors from 16 states across India, from over 180 different churches and organizations and from over 10 different

special focus - youth al

denominations. The average age group was between 20 and 30 years; however, there were youths as young as 15 years.

Over 80% of the delegates have decided to start Youth Alpha courses in their colleges and churches from January 2011.

Training in Kolkata Dr. Wenchien, Regional Youth Alpha Director of Alpha Asia-Pacific from Singapore was the resource person overseeing the sessions and the training in Kolkata. The main objective of the training, as rightly put in Dr. Wenchien’s words, “If we love God more, we will love people more”.

For some of the participants, it was the first time they had heard of Alpha and it was the best training they had ever attended. For many it was a wonderful experience to be a part of the training event. There were those who were already running the classic Alpha

The training started by dividing everyone into 10 groups and getting them all to decorate the training hall, just as if it were an actual Youth Alpha course. Apart from the 6 teaching sessions, there were five demonstrational sessions which were the most enjoyable for all the delegates. It was on the typical basis of the Alpha course, after lunch (after a meal), there was a small talk (presentation) after which the delegates were divided in their small groups where they could be hosts and helpers.

Training in Lucknow, North India This training was held in the Sahabhagi Shikshan Kendra Campus from the 23rd to the 25th of November 2010. There were 150 participants from 10 different states of North India such as Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Meghalya, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttrakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

The event started with the opening speech

by Rev. Soloman Bodhan of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. For all the three days, the vibrant youths of the “Last Stitch” band under the leadership of Pastor Nitin from Lucknow led us all in times of wonderful praise and worship.

Alpha helps youth find answers...

review each day. There were lots of games and activities during and after the sessions.

On the second day, after the sessions, there was a cultural event, with skits, dances and songs from the various northern states.

The night ended with everyone dancing the bangra and garba around the bon-fire.

The sessions were taken by the local Alpha coordinators while Dr. Wenchien took the

[The next generation of India’s Christian leaders at among their youth groups, but after attending the Youth Alpha training, they felt that this was so much lighter and easier to bring many more youth into their churches.

Training in Bangalore, South India This training was held from the 30th of November to the 2nd of December 2010.

There were 135 participants from 6 states, such as Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.

lpha expands nationally

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The Marriage Course Training in Shillong Report by Rajesh Toppo

The Alpha Marriage Course training was recently held in Shillong at the Pastoral Care Center.

This place is run by the Catholic Church and it is very beautiful, spacious and scenic as it is situated at a high altitude with beautiful flowers and pine trees all around. So the venue was perfect for The Marriage Course training.

The training was held in Caleb Auditorium of the CEO Centre, SAIACS, Bangalore and the accommodation of the delegates was arranged at the India Campus Crusade for Christ, which is less than a kilometre away from SAIACS. The event started with a warm welcome and a short message by Mr. J. Varadaraj, the National Director of Alpha India. The praise and worship was led by the young worship team from the Bethel AG Church in Bangalore.

Along with Dr. Wenchien from Singapore,

We had a total of 23 married couples attend.

They were pastors and leaders from various denominations. The Resource couple for this training was Mr. Chackochen and his wife Molly. They have much experience at running the Alpha Marriage Course and have run it for more than 70 couples.

games & relationship building intercessory prayer for the various states present.There was a tremendous response from many of the participants who attended saying that they experienced a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit and their passion to reach the lost was rekindled.

Testimonies “I have learned an easier way to share the gospel. I loved the games and small groups.

We would like to do a training in Himachal Pradesh among all our local youth leaders” Shyam Lal, Good News Fellowship Church in HP.

t Youth Alpha training in Bangalore in November] two other trainers from Malaysia were also involved in the training in Bangalore. Pastor Jonathan Tse, the National Youth Alpha Coodinator for Alpha Malaysia came along with Mr Sim Ka Seng (Isaac), a seminary student preparing for full time pastoral work.

While Pastor Jonathan made interesting presentations with lots of video clips, Mr. Issac introduced many new games that could be used to ‘break the ice’ on Youth Alpha courses.

After the training on the second day, the evening ended with a wonderful time of

The training was for 3 days. It was a non-residential training. Each day the couples enjoyed the sessions and exercises. There was a lot of fun and laughter involved during the sessions which helped the couples enjoy the training and learn how to build a healthy and enriched married life.

We had a few testimonies shared by the couples at the end of the 3rd day and this encouraged other couples to come and share how it benefitted them and enabled them to have a better understanding of their spouse.

We had couples ranging from around 30 years of married life to just about a year of being married who attended this training. They were all encouraged by The Marriage Course and indicated that they wanted to run it in their

“The Youth Alpha course is amazing. It really combines evangelism with fun and activities. This is really going to be an effective tool to minister among the youths. The best part about it is that though being simple, it affects a lot of people as there is more involvement of the participants. Youth Alpha Rocks!!” - Hansen Vaz from Auxilium Parish Church, Kolkata.

“The training has helped me to grow deeper in my spiritual life” - Arup Sardar, Agape Fellowship, Kolkata.

“It really changed my mindset and encouraged me” Jayshree Arivazhegan of the Zion Worship Centre in Bangalore.

Rajesh Behera from Odisha says, “ The training was very interesting, it wasn’t at all boring. I mostly like the group discussion”.

“It was life changing” says Gego George of the Indian Pentecostal Church - Bangalore.

churches and among their friends and relatives. They wanted other married couples also to experience a healthy married life and enjoy what God had ordained to be a blessing by going through The Marriage Course .

To learn how to use The Marriage Course in your church or cell/home group, please contact the team at the Alpha India National Office.

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from the field

ALPHA INDIA NEWS JANUARY - MARCH 2011

YOUR STORIES OF LIVES AND CHURCHES TRANSFORMED IN JESUS’ NAME

“Our church is increasing in numbers and quality!” Rev. Subhas Lyngdoh, Zion Grace Church, Shillong

quality by God’s grace through the Alpha course tool. We have adopted the Alpha course as the Church Foundation Course.

Every believer has to do Alpha before joining the church as a permanent member. We are planning to do more Alpha Courses next year and this will go on every year. Alpha has become part of our church. Thanks to God for this effective tool.”

“Thanks to God who brought Alpha to Shillong in 2008. I and my leadership team attended the 4 days Alpha Training in August 2008. After the training I encouraged all the members of the church to do the Alpha course. So, that year itself we started Alpha course with our church members in four different localities in Shillong. All the members were built up with these basic and important doctrines.

After this we started Youth Alpha with 15 young guys, most of them were non Christian.

“The Alpha course teaching is very effective.” President of Christian Revival Church Nagaland, Meghalaya & Assam

After the course 11 people undertook water baptism and 7 of them were graduates of the Alpha course. All of them joined the church and now they are active members.

“Hello! I am Rev. Dr. S.D. Shira, President of Christian Revival Church. I am looking after more than 150 Churches in Meghalaya, Assam and Nagaland.

Now we have a second batch of Youth Alpha and one Alpha course going on. Also we have started a Ladies Alpha course and my wife Arti is leading it.

I attended Alpha Training in 2008 along with Rev. Subhas. I am so happy to be part of We now ask all the new converts in our Alpha India as one of the Advisers in Meghachurch to go through the Alpha course. We laya. I have witnessed immense and rapid have 6 Alpha course leaders, and we have church growth in the spiritual lives of fellow recently started the Alpha course in a new church members after attending Alpha Trainchurch in Mawhati Village, 65 kms away ings, The Marriage Course and Youth Alpha Training.

We have done some courses in our local churches and the Alpha course’s teaching is very effective - we have seen tremendous results. Thanks to God for this kind of course. We have decided to continue to run Alpha courses in the coming year again.”

[Photo: Baptisms after Alpha in Shillong] from Shillong City. 22 people are going through the Alpha Course there. They have not yet completed the course, yet there are already 3 young men who want to get water baptism. Praise God! Some of them will be baptised on 24th December 2010.

Our church is increasing in numbers and

“I came to know who Jesus is” Piyali in West Bengal “My name is Piyali Naskar, I am from a Hindu family. I did not know anything about Jesus and had no interest also.

There was an organisation named Saved

by Grace and they used to conduct meetings for the people of my area. Some months ago I was invited to a tea-party hosted by them. I liked the way they were expressing the love of Jesus. I felt that

the emptiness that I had in myself could be filled up if I come regularly and have a chance to make more friends.

One day I was told by my friend that there was an Alpha course which could help me to know more about Christ. Then I decided to join. In that Alpha course I came to know who Jesus is and that He died for me.

And later I accepted Him as my personal Saviour. Through the Alpha course I received love, joy and peace. Even now idol worship is continuing in my home but I keep myself aloof from it and also I tell my family members not to run behind things which are not true but try to know the true living God. My heart’s desire is that one day they will come to know the truth and accept Jesus Christ.”

Transforming Lives Two letters from U.P “As I started believing in Jesus I started praying for my wife...”

My name is Radhacharan, I was born and brought up in another faith.

I did not have any relationship with God. In our family we had a lot of problems and I was spending my life in sin.

One day my wife became very sick and I took her to see to many doctors, but there was no improvement in her body and I was very worried about her. As days passed the doctors also gave up hope. So I brought her home and then I came to know that near my house Ps. Yeshudass was running the Alpha course.

So from the second week I joined the Alpha course, and I accepted Jesus as my Saviour and Lord. And as I started believing in Jesus I started praying for my wife at my home and as the days passed by my wife started get-

ALPHA INDIA NEWS JANUARY - MARCH 2011

from the field

ting healed and after some time my wife was completely healed.

continued meetings, prayers and meditations have resulted in many of my teachers who are of a different faith showing regular attendance, desire for prayer for themselves and their families. It is our duty to sow the seed and do the watering but God gives the increase.

I thank God who saved my family and He meets all my needs. I took baptism and I am planning to serve the Lord.”

“My life was in a mess and I was depressed...”

“I am Raj Kumar born into another faith. During the years 2009 - 2010 I suddenly became ill. None of the medicines I used worked. My family members thought that some evil spirit was there to torment me so they took me to some tantriks (local witch doctors) but that too did not work out.

And instead of recovering I became more sick. So I started offering prayers to various idols but nothing happened.

My life was in a mess and I was becoming depressed and started saying that if there is any true God then let Him come and save me, I don’t want to die. I started to implore the different gods and goddesses for life.

But everything was useless.

At such a time I heard about the Alpha course. I attended it and found that the Spirit of God was working in me and I heard His voice saying to me that, “I am the light of the world and those who will walk after me will never be in darkness but will have the Light of life.”

Then I asked for the forgiveness of my sins and decided to follow Jesus all through my life. Now by God’s grace I am totally fine and I thank and praise Him for the complete healing that He gave me.”

“He ran the course for a few weeks and then gave up... ”

By Ps. Damodar Singh, Bihar In the small town of Alampur of the Rohtas district, a church was established by the Good Shepherd Evangelical Missionary Services in this location. In the many years of its ministry in this area the greatest challenge faced was the growth of members numerically. So, after attending a training of the Alpha course, the pastor decided to run a course for his own church members. He ran the course for a few weeks and then gave up as many of the guests on the course dropped out and others would not turn up on time.

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One day one of his friends encouraged him to begin this course once again and said that this time he would succeed. So he started the Alpha course again and found that this time all the new guests were so curious and eager to learn and asked many things about God. Slowly he was able to win several new people for Him. Now he and his family are very delighted to see the work of God and members are steadily growing.

“I found it to be simple, biblical and reachable by ordinary people with no formalities or strings attached at all.” School Principal “My thoughts are completely different from yours says the Lord, And my ways are far beyond any thing you could imagine” Isaiah 55:8 I am Mrs. Bhega Paul , the Principal of Bhega’s High School, situated at Gauthamnagar, Malkajgiri, Secunderabad. God enabled me to start this school in June 1979 and also to steadily develop it into a high school with emphasis on the Christian way of life.

In my pursuit of Christian progress in life, I was led to Penang in Malaysia to pursue my M.A in Holistic Child Development during 2004 at the Malaysian Baptist Theological Seminary. This gave me new insights for child and youth ministry both in my church life and with other Christian ministries as well. I was associated with the Gospel Mission of India and with Joyce Meyer Ministries for many years. I received an invitation from Bro. David Raj to attend their first Alpha training programme in Hyderabad and again a few years later in Singapore. From then on I was hooked up by this programme which I found to be extremely simple, Biblical and reachable by ordinary people with no formalities or strings attached to it at all.

I began an Alpha course in my work place for teachers. It was very encouraging to see many ordinary individuals who are not regular church goers getting interested and learning the truths of the gospel. Our

Recently, I attended the Youth Alpha training at SAIACS, Bangalore from 30th November to 2nd December 2010 which was very good. There I met a lot of new members from all over India and am glad to see this tool is understood more and now used for church members by several Pastors and recommended by many Bishops in their jurisdictions. Praise God for that. May we see lots and lots of people quickened and brought to the saving grace and knowledge of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever.”

[Photo: Mrs. Bhega Paul (left), with teachers and students at her school]

Please Pray for Alpha in India Prayer points are included in each issue of Alpha India News. Please take the time to pray through these points, and may we see His kingdom advance, not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit! - The Alpha India Prayer Team 1. Thank God for over 400,000 people who have attended the Alpha course, the 11,333 courses that took place and the 158,662 people who have come to the Lord and joined churches.

2. Pray for the New Year as many changes are envisaged.

3. Pray for the new regional offices in Chandigarh and Kolkata.

4. Pray for many more people to be trained and many churches would do the Alpha course.

5. Pray for the Alpha Advisors to begin their training.

6. Pray for the new staff who have come and the many more that need to join us.

7. Pray for the events connected with Rev. Nicky Gumbel in January 2011.

8. Pray for two Bishops retreats with Bishop Sandy Miller and the Vision to Action conference with Ms. Tricia Neill and Mr. David Andrews in Bangalore and in Ahmadabad.

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resource feature

ALPHA INDIA NEWS JANUARY - MARCH 2011

THE JESUS LIFESTYLE

BY NICKY GUMBEL.

Chaper 1 - How to Find the Secret of Happiness

Our culture is obsessed with lifestyle. Magazines and websites tell us what to wear, how to get fit, what to drive and how to love. Everyone wants to tell us how to live our lives.

Jesus was ‘on a mountainside’ (v.1). Mountains were associated with revelation from God, and especially with the law that God had once given to his people from Mount Sinai (Exodus 34).

Jesus didn’t leave us a lifestyle magazine. He sat down on a mountainside and began to teach.

How to deal with anger. How to handle money.

What to do when faced with difficult people.

Simple, memorable and profound, Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount are as relevant and as challenging today as they were 2,000 years ago.

Jesus then explodes the myth of finding happiness. True happiness is not about how we feel.

The Greek word for ‘blessed’, which appears nine times in the first eleven verses, conveys the idea of happiness, but it means much more than that. The word used by Jesus, makarios, means ‘blessed by God’, or ‘receiving God’s favour’. The Amplified Bible translates it as ‘happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous – with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favour and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions’.

In this engaging and fascinating book, Nicky Gumbel takes a closer look at the Sermon on the Mount, and present the life that Jesus wants us to live.

Chapter 1 Book Excerpt: Matthew 5:3–6 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

How do we find the secret of happiness? Magazines, newspapers and TV tell us that things like shopping, dieting, plastic surgery and fame are the means to find happiness. I read recently in The Sunday Times that ‘Fame is still the numberone ambition of pretty much every kid in the iPod world.’

The media also portray wealth and possessions as the means to happiness. As a society we are three times richer than thirty years ago and yet surveys have shown that Britain’s happiness is in decline. In the 1950s over half the population said they were ‘very happy’; now only a third describe themselves in this way. A recent TV programme on the BBC called Making Slough Happy, showed a group of experts attempting to teach the people of Slough how to make themselves happier. It offered advice such as, ‘Each day give yourself a treat.’

What happens when we have all these things that the media promotes? George Michael, the singer, had it all – fame, wealth, possessions. Yet he wrote these lyrics, ‘Well, it looks like the road to heaven, but it feels like the road to hell’.

‘We all want to live happily; in the whole human race there is no one who does not assent to this proposition, even before it is fully articulated’, said St Augustine, one of the greatest theologians of the church.

Jesus addresses this natural desire that we all have for happiness in the Sermon on the Mount.

The importance of this sermon, of which we probably only have an abbreviated form, is underlined by three phrases in the opening verses. First, Jesus ‘sat down’ (Matthew 5:1). In Jesus’ time, when a Rabbi sat down to teach, it was a sign that he had something of supreme importance to say.

Secondly, ‘he opened his mouth’ (v.2 rsv). The Greek expression used here conveys solemnity.

Perhaps the modern equivalent might be, ‘he opened his heart’. Third, as we have seen already,

Right at the start Jesus teaches us about what matters most in life. So often we judge people by what they do: their jobs, their achievements or even what kind of school they went to. Or we may judge them by what they have: wealth, looks, friends or possessions. Jesus says here that what matters most in life is not what we have or what we do, but who we are. When I was a student at theological college I was no longer ‘earning a living’. It was not so much the lack of money that I felt, but the lack of self-worth. When I was working as a lawyer I was paid for giving my opinion.

At college no one was the least bit interested in my opinion! I remember telling a wise Christian how difficult I found this. He said something simple yet so profound. He told me that my experience was a good thing because what matters in life is not what you do but who you are.

In the opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shows us that the secret of happiness is to be found in who we are. These eight Beatitudes, or ‘beautiful attitudes’, as Billy Graham described them, show us how our characters can grow. They are like the fruit of the spirit, in that they are for all Christians. They are not just for a spiritual elite; they are for all followers of Christ. The ‘you’s of the beatitudes are plural.

Jesus is helping (or teaching) us to live with others as well as ourselves.

In the opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus answers the question: What sort of people should we be? He describes in eight steps the kind of character we should have. The first four steps, which we will look at in this chapter, focus on our relationship with God. The second four focus on our relationships with others, and we will come to those in Chapter 2.

1. True happiness comes from being ‘depressed’. Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ (v.3). But what did he mean? When I say that true happiness comes from being ‘depressed’ I am not referring to clinical depression.

Rather, I use the word ‘depressed’ here in the sense of ‘being brought low, being weakened’.

What Jesus says here is totally surprising and totally shocking. We may be so familiar with the words ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ (v.3) that they don’t shock us in the way that they would have shocked the original hearers. Jesus is using the language of paradox, which G.K. Chesterton described as ‘Truth standing on her head, demanding attention.’

There are two Greek words for ‘poor’. One means ‘lacking wealth’ and therefore needing to work.

The other, which is used here, means ‘desperately impoverished’ and therefore dependent on others for support.

To be ‘poor in spirit’ does not mean having no spiritual backbone; rather, it is the opposite of spiritual pride. It is the opposite of saying, ‘I have led a morally good life.’ The person who says that can only have compared their life with others and not with God’s standards. It is also the opposite of saying, ‘My life is basically fine’. It means to look at our lives, and more so at the world we are living in, and to recognize that something is lacking and that something needs to change.

Before I became a Christian I was quite content in many ways. I thought, ‘My life is fine. I don’t need God. I try to lead a good life. I don’t rob banks. I don’t do anybody any harm.’ But in other ways I was very dissatisfied. I was constantly searching. I felt an emptiness inside and tried to fill it in all sorts of different ways that ultimately did not satisfy. When I became a Christian, this situation was reversed. The more I looked at Jesus and his teaching, the more aware I became of how far

I fall short. The more I read the Sermon on the Mount, the more I become aware of my weakness and sinfulness, and all I have been able to say is, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner’ (Luke 18:13).

Jesus’ response is wholly encouraging: the kingdom of heaven flings open its doors to beggars, ‘for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ (v.3). It is precisely when we feel spiritually desperate or a complete failure that we come under the rule and the reign of God; not just for this life, but for all eternity. The Psalmist says: ‘In your presence there is fullness of joy. In your right hand are pleasures forever more’ (Psalm 16:11 rsv).

2. True happiness comes from ‘grieving’. By ‘grieving’ I don’t just mean crying. Personally, I cry very easily. I cry at soppy romantic comedies and even every time I watch The Sound of Music!

When Jesus said ‘Blessed are those who mourn’ (v.4), he was not talking about that kind of crying.

The Greek word used for ‘mourning’ is a stronger word. It is frequently used in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible for mourning over the dead. It is the word that is used of Jacob’s grief when he believed his son Joseph was dead (Genesis 37:34–35).

There are two mistaken views about the Christian life. One is that Christians should never be happy – always carrying the world’s cares on their shoulders – and that there should be no smiling

ALPHA INDIA NEWS JANUARY - MARCH 2011

post-alpha discipleship

or laughter in church. Equally, it is a mistake to think that Christians should never be unhappy.

This is the cheerleader approach: ‘Come on, guys, let’s smile and be happy!’ As the writer of Ecclesiastes points out ‘There is a time for everything … a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance’ (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4).

upon the face of the earth’ (Numbers 12:3, KJV).

And in the New Testament, Jesus, who was the saviour of the world, says of himself, ‘Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart’ (Matthew 11:29, KJV). Jesus was meek because he was under control. He was submitted not only to God but also to his parents and to the law; he even submitted himself to Pilate.

It is not wrong to weep and to mourn at the loss of those we love, just as Jesus wept on hearing that his friend Lazarus had died (John 11:35). We may also weep over the mess we see in the world and in the lives of others. Paul wept over the enemies of the cross of Christ (Philippians 3:18).

The preacher and writer Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones defined meekness as ‘essentially a true view of oneself, expressing itself in attitude and conduct with respect to others’. He goes on further to say:

When I became a Christian I remember being convinced in my mind that Jesus was alive. After experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit this knowledge dropped from my head down to my heart as well. He gave me a deep inner certainty that Christianity was true and filled me with joy. A few days later I found myself weeping as I realised that if it was true this had implications for those people I knew and loved who were not following Jesus.

The man who is meek is not even sensitive about himself. He is not always watching himself and his own interests. He is not always on the defensive.

We all know about this, do we not? Is it not one of the greatest curses in life as a result of the fall – this sensitivity about self? We spend the whole of our lives watching ourselves. But when a man becomes meek he has finished with all that; he no

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Christian who opposed Hitler in the 1930s. He was arrested, imprisoned and shortly before the end of the war he was martyred for his faith. Bonhoeffer wrote a commentary on the Sermon on the Mount called The Cost of Discipleship. Writing about this verse ‘Blessed are those who mourn’ (v.4) he said, ‘[Those who mourn] see that for all the jollity on board, the ship is beginning to sink’.

There is great precedent for God’s children weeping not simply for themselves, but for the cities they are part of and for the land in which they live.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem because its inhabitants were so blind to what was going on in their midst. I am ashamed that I do not weep more when I see pictures of children dying of starvation or AIDS; or images on the TV news of those killed or injured in war. We should weep at these things.

However, Jesus’ teaching here is perhaps more concerned with our own sin than the sins of the world around us. He speaks to us about the times when we think, ‘Oh no, I’ve messed up again!’

When Peter realised how much he had let Jesus down he wept (Matthew 26:75). Jesus says, ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted’ (v.4). The word ‘comforted’ has the same root as ‘Comforter’, a word that Jesus uses for the Holy Spirit (John 14:16). When the Spirit of God comes upon a man or woman the experience is sometimes accompanied by tears. Sometimes past hurts are being healed. Often someone is mourning over opportunities that have been wasted, or a sense of spiritual poverty. When the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, comes he embraces us, he comforts us (Acts 9:31), and he pours the love of God into our hearts (Romans 5:5). Out of that love flows a compassion for those around us. This is why the second step to true happiness comes from this grief that drives us into God’s arms.

3. True happiness comes from being ‘broken’ Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the meek’ (v.5). The Greek word used for ‘meek’ does not mean ‘weak, spineless, feeble’. Rather it means ‘gentle, considerate, and unassuming’. Meekness is the opposite of arrogance and self-seeking. It means ‘broken’, not in the sense that glass is broken, but in the sense that a horse is broken in when it is tamed. With a broken horse there is great strength under submission. This word is used of two of the greatest men in the Bible. Moses, who led the Israelites out of captivity, is described as ‘very meek, above all the men which were

longer worries about himself and what other people say. To be truly meek means we no longer protect ourselves, because we see there is nothing worth defending. So we are not on the defensive; all that is gone. The man who is truly meek never pities himself, he is never sorry for himself.

He goes on to quote John Bunyan: ‘He that is down need fear no fall.’

When we are in this position Jesus says we will ‘inherit the earth’ (v.5). Everything we receive is a gift because we know we don’t deserve it.

When we reach this state we are in a position to know how to receive what God wants to give, both in this life and the life to come – he will give us everything.

4. True happiness comes from being ‘deeply dissatisfied’. Jesus says, ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness’ (v.6). Most of us in the West have no idea what it means to be hungry. The person who is really hungry (as opposed to having hunger pangs) or the person who is really thirsty (as opposed to feeling like a drink) is so desperate that everything else is excluded from their desires.

William Barclay, who was Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at Glasgow University, describes the thirst a person might experience in Palestine in these terms: A man might be on a journey, and in the midst of it the hot wind which brought the sandstorm might begin to blow. There was nothing for him to do but to wrap his head in his burnous (a hooded cloak) and turn his back to the wind, and wait, while the swirling sand filled his nostrils and his throat until he was likely to suffocate, and until he was parched with an imperious thirst. In the conditions of modern western life there is no parallel at all to that.

When we are truly desperate, satisfying that hunger or thirst becomes a consuming passion, a

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grand desire, and an overwhelming ambition.

Jesus says we are to have this attitude towards ‘righteousness’. We should long to live in a right relationship with God, to be seen as righteous by him and to see his righteousness in the society around us. In the Greek New Testament text the word for righteousness is in the accusative case and not the genitive. If it were in the genitive case it would mean to desire partial righteousness - a slice of the loaf. As it is in the accusative, it means a hundred per cent righteousness - the whole loaf. It means to desire to be entirely righteous. We’re not to be satisfied with anything less than a righteous life. It is not enough to live a Christian life when we feel like it and do what we like at other times. A righteous life is one that is righteous twenty-four hours a day. It is an integrated Christian life that is lived out in an ongoing relationship, with God affecting everything we do, say and think. The problem with many of us is that we are not that desperate. We do not want to pay the price. We say ‘Lord, make me holy but not completely holy quite yet, if you don’t mind’.

When we are really desperate, Jesus says that God will fill us and we will be satisfied. One woman who seems to have grasped the truth of this beatitude is Sister Wendy Beckett. A graduate of Oxford University, Sister Wendy entered the Notre Dame Community in 1946. She lives simply in a caravan in the garden of a monastery in Norfolk.

All she owns is a foldup bed, a mattress, a bookcase, a table and chair, and a manual typewriter.

She gets up at three am every day. Since 1946, when she joined Notre Dame Community aged sixteen, her daily prayer has been, ‘Oh God, it is to praise thee that I awake. I start off each day with a wonderful spring of happiness.’ In recent years, Sister Wendy has found fame as an art historian and TV presenter. However this has not affected her frugal life. She allows herself four crisps each day. Her great friend Delia Smith used to buy her a box of chocolates for her birthday in February, but stopped doing so once she discovered that there were still some left at Christmas.

She spends seven hours a day in prayer and two hours working. Sister Wendy says this: It’s a great disappointment that I’m too old to die young. Death is the supreme act of faith. I hope that when it comes I’ll have long enough to say a total “Yes!” so that it’s a real death, a jumping off point.

Before bed at ten o’clock I put my feet in lovely hot water, I’m very tired, and I say, ‘It is you, O Lord, who are my happiness.’ And I lie there drifting off into sleep. There’s a psalm: “I sleep but my heart watches.” By two o’clock I’m awake again, a very lucky woman with a very happy life. Looking back, the years in Notre Dame deepened my desire for God. I had a pool of desire when I first started; now I have an ocean full for him, and I couldn’t be happier.