Alpha India Quarterly Newsletter Oct- Dec 2012

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alpha india news

VOLUME 3, ISSUE 4 | OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012

THE QUARTERLY NEWSPAPER OF ALPHA INDIA

NEWS IN BRIEF

Alpha at Suvarta Kendra: Breakthrough in evangelization at the National Center for proclamation, Pachmarhi, MP Pg.4 New Partnerships Manipur Baptist Convention and the Cornerstone school, in Nagaland, partner with Alpha India.

Pg.5 GAT in Kathmandu, Nepal National Leaders from India lead a GAT in Kathmandu.

Pg.6 Interview with Pastor Rocky An indepth interview with the Pastor of University Evangelical Fellowship (UEF - Delhi).

Pg.7 Facebook Church and Alpha A simple and unique online church concept, used with Alpha to unite a body of believers.

Pg.8

Awakening Empowering Women, Influencing the World.

News from the South Read about how Alpha has changed the lives of many people.

Pg.9

Financial Partnership We appreciate your financial partnership. If you are inspired to support Alpha India please use the details below, or contact Josy Joseph at the Alpha India Office.

Alpha India Account: Account Number: 911020054880929 NAME: ALPHA INDIA BANK NAME : AXIS BANK LTD IFSC CODE : UTIB0000734 BRANCH : KALYAN NAGAR BANGALORE.

Acc Type: Current Account

About the conference When women heard the good news and they reached out to many far off regions. For instance, the woman at the well, in John 4, brought the whole village, Lydia in Acts 16, took the gospel to Europe etc. There is something about a woman that distinguishes her from menfolk. Her capacity to love, care and her compassion along with her perseverance are unimaginable.

We have been praying for the last few months to create a community of women leaders who engage homes, churches and communities to see transformation happen. We are also launching Alpha among these women. We will be addressing concerns regarding fairness, justice, dignity, inheritance, and economic issues that women face as well as training women to run the Alpha course. We expect this movement to snowball and gain momentum. We also plan to have regional conferences next year. Please pray for this conference.

Details on Page 12

2 National Alpha Office contact details: Alpha India:

219, 5th A Main Road, HRBR 2nd Block, Kalyan Nagar, 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:

Chris Sadler, Chairman of Alpha Asia-Pacific Scott Norling, Chairman of Alpha India J Varadaraj, National Director of Alpha India Don Anderson, India Country Head-Shell Lubricants Clarissa Anderson, Entreprenuer and Invester Mathew Anthony, Secretary for Evangelisation,

Archdiocese of Delhi

alpha notes

ALPHA INDIA NEWS OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012

READERS STORIES & PHOTOS Thank you for the testimonies, stories and photos that were sent to us. Once again in this issue your stories have been printed throughout the newspaper, along with other encouraging stories that we have received from across the nation.

Please send your stories to, Email: stories.alphaindia@gmail.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/alphacourseindia Twitter: @AlphaInIndia Postal address: Alpha India National Office 219, 5th A Main Road,HRBR 2nd Block, Kalyan Nagar, Bangalore - 560 043

Church Advisory Board:

Archbishop Vincent Concessao Bishop Rt. Rev. V. M. Malaviya Rev. Dr. D. Mohan, Superintendant of AOG India

Alpha India Regional Offices:

North West Region, Chandigarh: Rupak Nayak Email : rupak.alphaindia@gmail.com Mob : 090233-91414 West Region, Ahmedabad: Jimmy Harshkant Email : damorejimmy@gmail.com Ph : 09825-444197 East Region, Kolkata: Prabir Mandal Email : prabir.alphaindia@gmail.com Ph : 096744-61951 North East Region, Shillong : P.O Ryn Jah, Shillong - 793006 Ph : 090851-57153

National Coordinator’s Contact details:

Alpha in the Workplace: Santosh Chettri Mob: 090070-22889 Alpha for Prisons: Peace Khapai Mob: 09597-421832 Student & Youth Alpha : James Michael David Mob : 097429-98618 North-East Diaspora: Rampan Muivah Mob : 099029-90313

Coordinators’ Contact details:

Andhra Pradesh: Susheel K Chattar Mob: 098660-99184 Andhra Pradesh - Hindupur: Paul J L Mob: 094408-61979 Bihar: George Muller Mob: 094310-16124 Kerala: Binu N. Philip Mob: 093882-04322 South Karnataka: Sam Victor Mob: 099646-98118 North Karnataka (Hubli): Abraham Vinay Mob: 095914-22225 Odisha: Tushar K Behera Mob: 093371-41600 Odisha: Jayadeep Samantroy Mob: 098535-03813 Rajasthan: Kamlesh Parmar Mob: 099830-03637 Rajasthan: Johnson James Mob:098290-77374 Uttarakhand: Janus Peter Mob: 094581-90983 Uttar Pradesh: Vinay P Dayal Mob: 093594-86843 West Bengal: Dilip Debnath Mob: 098742-07760 Tamil Nadu : John Rajan Mob : 098434-95572 Northeast : Ninghor K Shimray Mob: 090851-57153 Kathmandu : Rupa Chetri Mob: 00977 98132-81683 Kathmandu: Reuben Pradhan Mob: 00977- 98020-25522 Marriage Course, Kerala : Mon C George Mob: 094464 83577 Youth Alpha, Chandigarh : Sameer Mob: 078370-51735 © Alpha India 2012, edited and published

by J.V. Raj for Alpha India

Catholic Fr. Vijay Shantiraj speaks of his experience with Alpha Dear Mr. J. Raj Loving greetings to you from Suvarta Kendra, National Centre for Evangelization, Pachmarhi. This short note is to acknowledge your valuable partnership in imparting the Good News of the Lord to the people of India.

Besides the two Alpha trainings we had earlier, this was the third Alpha training in the Catholic Context conducted at Suvarta Kendra, the National Centre for Evangelization, Pachmarhi for 33 priests and religious sisters from 19 dioceses, from August 20-22, 2012.

The training was conducted by Mr. Vinay Dayal and Mr. Rahul Pant from Alpha. I admire their faith and the commitment they have made to the Lord. On these 3 days we really experience the Lord. Both of them motivated us to conduct Alpha courses in our respective places. As a result, on the third day an action plan was drawn to run Alpha in 19 dioceses.

The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India is grateful to Alpha India for your great commitment to the Lord and your partnership in sharing the Good News of the Lord to all the people of India. My special acknowledgement and thanks to you, Mr Raj, the National Director and Mr. Francis, the Training Manager, for your willingness and readiness to collaborate with us.

With best wishes and assurance of my prayers for you, Yours in Christ Jesus, Fr Vijay Shantiraj Executive Secretary and Director, Suvarta Kendra CCBI National Centre for Proclamation, Madhya Pradesh- 461881 Read more letters on Pg. 5

Alpha India Staff updates

Arthi Kamak

Seema CORNEL

RUPA CHETRI

Communications Administrator

Training Administrator

Regional Coordinator, kathmandu

ABRAHAM VINAY

JOHNSON JAMES

REUBEN PRADHAN

Associate Regional Co-ordinator, Hubli

Associate Regional Coordinator, Jaipur, Rajasthan

Regional Coordinator, Kathmandu

ALPHA INDIA NEWS OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012

alpha notes

FROM THE DESK OF THE NATIONAL DIRECTOR

How soon time flies by. We can only redeem the time that we have, otherwise, it will become a part of history. I keep wondering as to how we can best serve the cause of the great commission in our time. Each day of serving the great commission makes life worth living because the great commission is about the Great Commissioner who said, “I am with you always�.

Our joy has been complete as we are enabled to diligently serve Him. What the Lord is doing is much bigger than our investments in terms of our energy, time and funds. We continually pursue in prayer and hard work. We long to see a fresh move of God in our days.

I am amazed to hear that all ministries are reporting encouragement from the fields. This emboldens us to ask for more fresh impetus and new moves.

We continue to seek the face of the Lord to see breakthroughs in the field. We believe in a Lord who can transform the whole nation in a day. In our neighbourhood, Nepal is seeing exciting times in our ministry.

Some of the regional leaders met in Singapore which was a great encouragement. I find the need to be continuously encouraged so necessary.

We have been praying and working towards the National Women Leaders Conference in Jaipur, for more details please see page 12. The purpose is to engage Christian women leaders and create a community of women leaders to influence other women in our country. Issues concerning women like fairness, dignity, justice are all still a distant dream. Please pray that this will be a blessing to the nation.

While a lot of work is happening in seeking to reach out the world with the gospel, a lot more needs to happen. Certain issues concerning children, like malnutrition, education, healthy environment continue to trouble. Issues like connectivity, transportation, supply of pure drinking water are all a matter of concern and prayer.

We are asking the churches to pray for us during a week in November 2012. In this newsletter, we have given models which can be used.

Please join us.

We welcome all the new staff.

Please write a note, should you want to bless us.

Warmly,

Raj National Director Alpha India

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from the field

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ALPHA INDIA NEWS OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012

alpha at suvarta kendra

- Vinay P Dayal

Breakthrough in evangelization at the National Centre for proclamation, Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh 33 Roman Catholic priests and sisters from 19 dioceses in Suvarta Kendra (National Centre for proclamation, Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh) attended a training that was conducted to teach them how to use the Alpha course to evangelize people in their native places. The main focus during these three days was on how the Alpha course works and how it can be used for the extension of His kingdom.

The presence of the Holy Spirit and the hand of the Lord were very evident in these three days. The delegates learnt about the Alpha course and as a result a lot of questions were answered regarding evangelism, church growth and the usage of Alpha in different contexts.

The delegates actively took part in the small group discussions and were very captivated with how the Alpha small group works. Every day, time was set apart so the delegates could pray for each other.

Sessions on the Holy Spirit came as a new experience to a lot of the delegates and many of them experienced a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit. This training imparted a lot of interactive learning to the delegates and they got an overview on how the Alpha course practically works.

The training ended with the delegates creating a road map on how the Alpha course can be started in their respective congregations.

Read about what Fr Vijay Shantiraj the Executive Secretary and Director of Suvarta Kendra has to say about Alpha on Page 2

People challenged to share

75 pastors from UP attend Alpha

Prayers answered in Uttarakhand

- Rampan Muivah

- Vinay P Dayal

- Janus Peter

We have trained leaders from various cities like Imphal, Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. Some of our trainings immediately resulted in courses. Our greatest joy was to see our friends from other faiths join the Alpha course and enjoy it.

When Alpha was introduced to the diocese of Lucknow (Church of North India), Bishop Morris E. Dan wanted to train all his Presbyters-in-charge to use Alpha for evangelism and growth of the churches.

Hence, we decided to have a two day training programme for all the pastors. This training took place at Allahabad, with 75 pastors from different parts of UP attending. Rt. Rev. Morris E. Dan encouraged his colleagues to focus on the Great Commission and remember God’s calling. The evangelistic training focused on reaching the unreached.

A one day Alpha training was conducted in Nanakmatta, Tehsil, Khatima and Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand at the Missionary Church on 20th August 2012. Seventy two people attended the training. Pastor Kamal Singh Rana who organized the training said that the Church prayed for a month to prepare for this training.

One of the leaders in Chennai was so fascinated with the Questions of Life book that he is presenting it to everyone who partakes in the talk during the Alpha course.

Another exciting part was to see our advisers involved in trainings that they have organized by themselves in their areas of influence.

We are mainly focusing on evangelism and some of our training’s have had a great impact in the hearts of people. Few people who attended our training had mentioned that they have never been able to share their faith before and that the Alpha training has really challenged them to share their faith.

It was overwhelming to see such a good response and also be blessed during the training. There was a strong presence of the Holy Spirit and many people were in tears as they confessed their sins and committed their All the pastors were very keen to know more lives to God. about Alpha India’s ministry and how it can The Missionary Church has as many as be used in different contexts in UP. They were 20 pastors and Deacons in Khatima and convinced that the Alpha course could indeed Sitarganj. 10 pastors have signed up to run make a huge difference in their Church the Alpha course. ministry.

from the field

ALPHA INDIA NEWS OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012

NEW PARTNERSHIP Alpha India and Manipur Baptist Convention

The MBC consists of 29 associations and 1330 churches under its wing. The MoU has been signed for a 10 year period to ensure that all the associations and churches would be equipped and enabled to reach out to their respective communities.

- Rampan Muivah

Alpha intends to cater to the different needs and groups of the MBC. Interventions would include and not be limited to Student Alpha (for college graduates), Youth Alpha (a course designed exclusively for teenagers), Jesus Lifestyle ( a series adapted from the Sermon on the Mount), A Life Worth Living (the official follow up to the Alpha Course based on the book of Philippians) in addition to the Alpha course.

This partnership requires your ongoing prayers in addition to your participation. As the first phase of this new strategy, the youth secretaries of MBC would be trained and equipped to run the course with their youth secretaries.

The month of July ushered in a new wave of God’s blessing and favour on Alpha along with the largest Christian body in the state of Manipur. After months of prayer and planning, Alpha India along with the Manipur Baptist Convention (MBC) signed an MoU towards a new strategy for evangelization.

We would also like to thank Rev. Dr. W. Konghar (General Secretary) and Rev. Mathotmi Vashi (Youth and Literature Secretary) for their commitment and dedication to further God’s kingdom in the state of Manipur. Their burden for the community paved the way for this partnership.

OTHER PARTNERSHIPs Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – Evangelical Lutheran Church with Bishop Emmanuel Panchoo said, “We have trained 40 senior pastors in total. We will take Alpha to our church.”

Durgapur Diocese – CNI churches with Bishop Probal Dutta. Our regional managers and their team have trained 24 senior pastors. They will implement the Alpha course in 60 churches.

Zunheboto, Nagaland - Cornerstone School Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh – Indian Evangelical has partnered with Youth Alpha to integrate Team with Rev. Renny Chacko. 45 senior the course into the curriculum for grades seven through ten. Additional courses like pastors from across MP have been trained.

Searching Issues, Jesus Lifestyle and A Life Lucknow – Christian Training College with Dr. Worth Living will be covered as well.

S.W. Prasad.

Lucknow - CNI Diocese with The Rt. Rev. Mumbai – New Life Fellowship International Morris E. Dan Church with Pastor Shekar Kalyan.

Letter from The Rt. Rev. Morris E. Dan It was with great joy that I saw the Alpha training provided to our Ministers of the Diocese of Lucknow. I believe Alpha is a programme to initiate and open the door of friendship with one man and when the friendship grows it could become a group. This programme should be confined to a smaller group to provide them the Christian understanding and the joy of salvation.

May God bless the organization and utilize them more.

Yours in Christ The Rt. Rev. Moriss E. Dan, Bishop of Lucknow, CNI

Alpha in a Hindi Newspaper The Alpha course is reaching every nook and corner of India. The Alpha course was introduced at the Methodist church in Pitthoragarh.

The Methodist church is the oldest mission here. At present there are about 5 churches in this city. The Alpha introduction was covered by the Hindi regional newspaper, “The Amar Ujala”, which has a reader base of over 2500 people.

5 The Alpha course FAQs 1. How do I get started running Alpha?

Prayer is vital to the planning, preparation and effectiveness of your Alpha course. Find a group of people who will pray for every aspect of your Alpha course.

Step 1 - Pray Step 2 - Participate Step 3 - Plan your course Step 4 - Prepare your team Step 5 - Procure your resources Step 6 - Persevere Step 7 - Pass on the vision 2. How do I run the Alpha course outside of my church?

Using the same Alpha course content and structure, you can run an Alpha course at school, colleges, workplace, prisons, hospitals, homeless shelters, army bases, slums, among eunuchs and red light districts.

3. What resources and training opportunities are available to me?

• Access to Alpha’s national training conferences and local training events.

• Access to a full array of products through the Alpha India website to promote, run and augment your Alpha course.

• Access to a network of Alpha coordinators and Alpha advisors 4. How do I contact Alpha India?

You can contact Alpha India National Office, Regional Office, State coordinators to help you locate a training event happening near your city.

Please find the contact details on Pg. 2

ALPHA RESOURCES Alpha course resources are available in English, Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi,Gujarati, Kannada,Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Oriya, Assamese and Urdu.

Contact : resources@alphaindia.org

FROM THE FIELD

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ALPHA INDIA NEWS OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012

GLOBAL ALPHA TRAINING in KATHMANDU, NEPAL - Rupa Chetri National Leaders from India lead a GAT in Kathmandu While in Nepal we shared the blessings that we got through the Alpha course with a group of Pastors. We gave them an introduction to Alpha and the pastors were very encouraged and they requested for a training. Pastor Sundar Thapa was the first one to encourage us to train his church leaders.

I prayed and asked God to help us train them well so that the churches in Nepal would be blessed through the Alpha course. God heard my prayers and He turned a simple training into a GAT. My prayer was answered with more than what I had asked for. A team from India including the National leaders of Prison Alpha, Youth Alpha, Student Alpha, Marriage Alpha, and God at Work course along with the National Director came to train us. Pastor Sodemba, encouraged and helped us.

On the second day of GAT the mothers group from Siloam Bansbari church led a spirit filled worship.

For example - Mrs. Deu Maya who is a mother of four and grandmother of 6 led us into worship with an electric guitar. All of us were rejoicing, and dancing. It was like tasting Heaven on earth as we sang “Hosanna to the King of kings”.

We were trained on facilitation skills and after that we broke out into 11 small groups for group discussion. People from 26 churches from Kathmandu came for two days to learn how to run an Alpha course. There were around 200 leaders from these churches. After the GAT, many Alpha courses have started in Lalitpur and Kathmandu districts.

Youth Alpha at the Ever Vision School

Guwahati Alpha Training

World Vision and Alpha in MP

- Reuben Pradhan

- Rev. Ninghor Shimray

- Vinay P Dayal

Earlier this year the Ever-Vision School, funded by a Korean Christian Agency, conducted a two month course called “Spiritual Development” for 45 of their final year students. While planning for the course, I decided to take them through the Youth Alpha course.

The first Alpha training for Pastors and Missionaries was held at the Council of Baptist Churches in North East India (CBCNEI), at their conference hall at Guwahati. In spite of heavy rain for two consecutive days the training was attended by 41 Pastors and Missionaries from various churches and denominations. We are thankful that there is a desire to run the Alpha course in Guwahati, Assam and in North East India.

World Vision organized a 4 day conference for church leaders to enable and equip them to be more effective in their communities. The first district leadership conference took place in Jabalpur with an audience of about 135 church leaders.

Bijoy Basumatry, (Pastor of Zion Rivival Church), was one of the participants during the Alpha intro and he said “I’ve attended the Alpha Training when I was a student in Kerala, it was conducted by Solo K. Phillip, it’s a very helpful and useful tool for Evangelism”. He was so excited to see the Alpha ministry reaching Assam. We conducted a local sponsored Alpha Training on the 8th of September. They have got 4 churches with 714 members.

Gwalior hosted a district leadership conference where Alpha was introduced, giving way to a number of enquires and requests for church leaders to be trained to run the Alpha course.

Some days were more difficult that others due to the travel and problems with controlling the students. Yet the love of God gave me the grace to continue to the end. Eventually some of them expressed their desire to follow Jesus or to join a church and some even testified of being healed during the prayer session after the lesson on “How to be filled with the Holy Spirit”.

One young boy testified that he used to have chronic stomach ailments but was healed as he was being prayed for. He has been reading the Bible since then with his Christian classmate.

Three other students gave wonderful testimonies on their graduation day about how after going through the Youth Alpha course their knowledge about Jesus grew and their negative concept toward Christianity changed altogether.

Alpha was introduced at this conference and the local community agreed on the effectiveness of the Alpha course as a tool for evangelizing. In lieu of this a 2 day training The participants showed a lot of interest and programme was organized for the church wanted to start an Alpha training. After the leaders in Jabalpur and Ujjain. Consequently training; 13 churches registered to run Alpha opportunities to train leaders in IET and St. courses.

John’s Church, Bhopal opened up.

Bro. Khristi Gershombhai and Rev. Anil Martin require special mention for their commitment and dedicated work in furthering God’s kingdom in North India.

ALPHA INDIA NEWS OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012

FROM THE FIELD

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Transformation THROUGH ALPHA Pastor Vardan Lee

Rev. Subhas Lyngdoh Ms. Jatri Naik

I am a Youth Pastor in the Peace Tabernacle Church at Gorakhpur.

Members and new believers from different Churches came for the Youth Alpha course.

A lot of people who attended the Youth Alpha course were physically ill. During the talk “Does God Heal Today?”, we asked the people who wanted healing to come forward for prayer. One of our Church members was addicted to tobacco for many years and has tried to quit but failed every time. However after receiving the touch of the Holy Spirit, his life totally changed. He quit his bad habit and is now a powerful worship leader in Church.

We had a 4 day GAT where Ranjit De and Rajesh trained us to run the Alpha course.

Since then my Church has started running the Alpha course in 4 places in Shillong and the number of people attending our church has increased. Many young people who attended the Alpha course believed in our Lord and were baptized. Our church members were excited to learn basic doctrines through Alpha.

Many young people were struggling with a lot of doubts and questions – how and who will guide them, etc. We prayed for them, counselled them from the Word of God and at the end of the Youth Alpha course, they testified that it helped them make the right decisions.

After attending an Alpha Master Training I started conducting Alpha Trainings in different churches and denominations in various North East Indian states and Nepal. Due to this, Pastors started inviting me to introduce Alpha and conduct trainings in their churches.

Today, around 45 churches are running the Alpha course in Meghalaya.

I am from the village of Charighariya. In the past 50 years of my life I had never heard about Jesus. I spent my life in darkness by consuming alcohol and smoking; my life was terrible.

One day I got an invitation to attend the Alpha course. At the course I found answers and a purpose to my life. I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour and was baptised.

interview with pastor rocky Rev. Rocky Angumei - Pastor of University Evangelical Fellowship (UEF-Delhi) AI - Why have you one girl from Uttarkashi and one from Bihar. been running the Another girl- Sidi Segal joined the Alpha Alpha course? course and immediately accepted the Lord.

She said “I am ready, I want to be baptised”.

Pr: Well, I heard so Another person, Dr. Raman a dentist from many good things Haryana joined the Alpha course through one about it. Alpha was of our student leaders and he just loved the introduced to us in Lord. When I look back I can smile and say Hong Kong in 2001 “it’s worked!” It has been worth doing the by my wife’s church.

Alpha course.

After a couple of years when we came AI - Any particular struggles you have back to Hong Kong faced while running the Alpha course? we saw a huge difference in the attendance Pr: Well yes! Our leaders were not trained there. I asked them what was the secret they to run the alpha course so I think we miss said it’s the Alpha course. I was very fascinated out on the small things which are important. by it. One of the Pastors presented us the I think the details are important. Secondly, Alpha course material while we are returning sometimes our guests don’t understand the to India to pastor the church in UEF, Delhi. jokes and some of the points made by Nicky I went through all the books and decided to Gumbel, so I have to lead the course along start running the course right away with our with one helper. Thirdly, we have experienced Student Leaders group in 2008. that when we don’t prepare or are very busy AI - How long have you been running with others things and then we lead the course the Alpha Course? And how many have it’s so dry. If we don’t prepare well it doesn’t attended the course? work so we have to really prepare. Other than that it has been very positive and that is Pr: We have been running it since 2008, this why I want the Alpha course to be part of the year we have run it just twice and next month main curriculum. I think all the students and we are going to start again. Around 130 members that join UEF henceforth should go -150 people have attended the Alpha course through it. through UEF Delhi.

AI- Any best practices you’d like to share; AI - Have you seen any specific difference so when we publish this people will read it after running the Alpha Course? and say “wow, I can try that in my church!”

Pr: Yes definitely, I would say most of the Pr: Alpha is very simple and friendly. I really courses we did were successful, of course like the fellowship and how we always feel some people drop out. The interesting thing welcome. Each time in great excitement I about Alpha is that some of the non believers buy a whole set of new tablecloths, ball and who attended the course have now become glasses. All this makes a difference and I think believers. Recently I baptised 2 non believers, that is very important. As hosts we have to be

- Rampan Muivah

very humble and friendly. If you can, prepare delicious food because the more food we eat together the closer we become. I have noticed this especially with people from other faiths during the Alpha course.

I cannot say enough about Nicky Gumbel.

The way he teaches and communicates is excellent. I think I have seen his DVD more than 15 times and every time I watch it I learn something new. It’s like it’s a living thing. The Alpha course has been a great blessing to me.

I do this course mainly because it is helping me personally. In the process I see lives being changed and because of this most of the people who attend bring their friends and introduce them to the Alpha course. This is how the Alpha course has been running so far.

AI - If you were to talk to pastors and church leaders about the Alpha course in India or abroad what would you say?

Pr: I would say go for it! Now that we are connected with you we can help more churches in the northern part of Delhi. Trust me the Alpha course is really needed in our churches today.

Master Training at UEF-Delhi

from the field

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FACEBOOK CHURCH

Introduction of Facebook church

Alpha India and the Facebook Church

Gaurav Singha Ray is an assistant manager with an MNC bank who heads is heading the Facebook church. He is also an evangelist, apologetic and motivational speaker.

The youth of Kolkata were buzzing with excitement when Alpha India and The Facebook Church met for a 1 day presentation of the Gospel.

The Facebook church is a very simple and unique online Church concept that is used to unite a body of believers online. As we all know many people (especially the youth) spend a lot of time on Facebook without a purpose.

So we thought why not add a purpose and meaning to their lives. There are also many believers, new seekers, and friends from other religions who are searching for the truth and want to know more about Jesus Christ.

So I created a group called “The Facebook Church”, where a congregation of followers of Christ can meet like they would in a Church.

But this time the location is Facebook!

ALPHA INDIA NEWS OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012

alpha.org

alphacanada.org

God at Work and the Alpha course were discussed at the meeting. Celebrated preachers representing various denominations and circles joined in. Owing to the good promotion about the Alpha meeting on Facebook, people from far and wide wanted to join us. So we initiated a unique concept; for the first time this meeting was online and live on Skype. People joined us from Delhi, Mumbai, Australia, and USA for a live online session.

We discussed how we could reach out and start a focused training for the city. We identified future prospective youth leaders. We prayed that whichever denomination they belonged to, they will bring a mighty revival to their churches.

YESHUA ADONAI YOUTH

- James Michael David

To know Christ and to make him known The Institute for World Evangelisation ICPE Mission (ICPE stands for Istituto Cattolico Per l’Evangelizzazione in Italian) is a Catholic Mission made up of Christians committed to the goal of world evangelisation.

The ICPE Mission is dedicated to the formation and training of Catholics so that they may become more effective evangelisers.

The Institute for World Evangelisation-ICPE Mission India is situated in Bangalore. The ICPE Mission India was officially opened in 1999 by the then Archbishop His Grace Ignatius Pinto.

have been using the Alpha course to do this. AI- How do you run it?

A committed core team provides dedicated Maria- We have daily and weekly intercessions. support. We spoke to Maria a member of the An hour of praise and worship with activities. core team and the Alpha course coordinator: A short activity based on the session. Nicky AI- Why are you running the Alpha course? Gumbel’s video is played for the talk followed Maria- Alpha is about revisiting the basics of by a live summary by one of our youth group our faith. We think we know God but the truth members. Small groups discuss in groups of 5. is we can never know God enough. There Fellowship continues through the week where is always some facet of him which we can the small group members stay in contact discover and re-discover every second if we with their leaders for doubts, prayers etc. are open to him. Alpha does just that. It helps We also have skits and videos that are related people to build that solid lasting relationship to the topic.

with Christ using the basics of Christianity. The entire history of salvation can be summarised in just one sentence ‘We forget. God reminds.

We forget. God reminds’ If you look at the bible it is this story which is repeated infinite Every week the ICPE community ministers number of times through the years. Somehow in the local area through various ministries; we forget the basics and God continuously one of them is the Yeshua Adonai Youth reminds his people that he is there and running where they help teens and youth in their walk the Alpha course is great to put that zeal and of discipleship through regular Praise and spark back in us irrespective of where we are Worship, teachings, outreaches to educational in our walk with God. institutions, mentoring and sharing of life. They

AI - What is the impact of running Alpha?

Maria- The impact is tremendous. It really helped us to rediscover the richness of our faith. It has also helped us in building a close knit community of believers who share one heart and are of one accord bound together in cords of love.

In running the course many of us discovered our gifts and talents in ministry.

ALPHA INDIA NEWS OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012

from the field

news from the south Training in Tamil Nadu

God at Work course at Infosys

- John Rajan

- Santhosh Kumar Chetri

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UPCOMING GAT Secunderabad 25th - 26th October 2012 YWCA Secunderabad, AP Susheel Kumar Chattar 09866099184 MADURAI 29th - 30th October 2012 Pillar, Madurai, TN John Rajan 098434 95572 Pr. Jeyaraj 9360218120

We had an Alpha training in Pudukkottai and as a result many Pastors started running the course. Pr. Jacob Robert has started running two Alpha courses. At one of the courses, in Uthayasuriyapuram he noticed that Mr.Prabhakaran and Mr. Selvam, who had a huge loss in their business, came regularly for the course and they experienced God’s hand in their life and their business improved.

Sam is a trainer at Infosys and he is presently running the God at Work course at Infosys, Bangalore.

He says “We have almost come to the end of the course with only the sessions on Managing stress and Work-life balance remaining. The response so far has been good. Our Lord has been working in the hearts of the 14 people who have been regularly attending the At the course, in Pudukkottai, two women said session. that they had many problems in their life- as I believe God has opened a door for me to their husbands had left them and they were reach out to professionals to help them take considering ending their lives but after coming their faith to work. In the process while I to the course they were so encouraged and prepare prayerfully for the sessions, He has they decided to live their lives for Jesus. revived my passion for Him.”

Pastors in Tamil Nadu Alpha helped me speak on Alpha: grow in faith Pr. Anbaiya, Maranatha church - “It is the best, most systematic and effective weapon to transform society”.

Pr. Yesurajan, Sankarankoil - “Alpha is the easiest way to share the Gospel” Pr. Kumar, Sankarankoil - “I will take up the course and use this tool in my church because it will surely help me in the development of my church. It is a powerful tool”

I am T. Rekha Samba from Maharashtra, I moved to Hyderabad with my children in search of a job. Life has been very tough in a new city. Due to various circumstances I was not interested to know about Jesus or experience Him personally.

After I started going to the Banjara Hills Pr. King David, World Missionary Evangelism, church, the desire to know God has gradually Tanjore - “Alpha is one of the easiest ways to increased in my heart. I attend the Alpha share the gospel and to win souls for Christ”. course every week and my whole family is Pr. Nixon, Praise of God Church - “We are so growing in faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. thankful to Alpha because it really helped our The Alpha course has been a tool for me to church grow. We plan on starting many more develop my inter-personal relationship with Alpha courses. It is one of the most powerful Jesus, to hear Him and to speak to Him. The tools that can be used for the growth of the Alpha course is helping me to witness to church”. others with full confidence as I now know why Pr. Samraj, MPA King Jesus Church, I believe in Him. Thirumayam - “The Alpha course has helped people know more about Jesus. All the 15 topics covered in the Alpha course are simple and easy to understand and it will surely help unbelievers to grow in Christ.”

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Pr. Carmel, Tamjore - “It is one of the most effective tools for the growth of the church.”

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Jharsuguda 8th - 9th November 2012 Utkal Jyoti Educational Society, Jharsuguda,Odisha Jayadeep Samantroy 098535 03813 DELHI ALPHA FOR PRISON GAT 19th - 20th November 2012 Mayur Vihar, Delhi Peace Khapai 095974 21832

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alpha indias week of prayer

Sunday Change the Nation Psalm 14:5, 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Prayer points: • Sovereignty of our nation

• Liberty - To assure that every citizen of India has the freedom of speech and expression, religious independence and the choice of going by one’s own belief • Protection against terrorist attacks on India Prayer:

Lord we pray that you will enable our • For leaders with good character to function country to have a stable government that as per the constitution of the land will rule in righteousness and justice. We pray for your peace to reign in this country • For peace and prosperity of our nation and keep all terrorists and other forms of • The boundary of our land will be protected antisocial elements from harming our Nation.

• The rampant corruption in the country and We specially pray for our Prime Minister to churches will be checked and eradicated establish a stable government. We pray that other political forces will not unnecessarily by the leaders. target our Prime Minister and that he may • The disparity between the rich and poor govern this country peacefully. Let the will be reduced present government successfully amend the constitution of India for the benefits of the Prayer: people of this country. Amen.

Lord, we pray that your righteousness will fill our land. We bring our great nation to your presence for your mercy and grace so that it would move in the right direction towards peace, growth and proper development.

Tuesday Women in India

Help the members of our parliament to understand the need of the hour to stand up for truth and sincerity. Fill this land with Proverbs 31:30 your awareness; transform the lives of our Prayer points: country’s citizens by your word. Amen • Violence, crimes and sexual harassment rates to come down

Monday

• Status of women to improve and gender issues to be removed

Government of India

• Female literacy rates in India are lower than male literacy rates

Romans 13:1, Jeremiah 29:7, Psalms 127:1

• Domestic violence

Prayer points:

• Female infanticide

• Pray that the Prime Minister of India will • Trafficking not be targeted by unnecessary litigation and that he can concentrate on governing • Health issues the country in peace.

• Women who have unhealthy addictions • The Constitution of India for the people of Prayer India.

Dear Father in heaven, • Equality - To have equal opportunity We thank you for creating women. We pray for one and all that there will be a revival among women, • Justice - Fair judgement in the field of that they will open their hearts to receive the politics, society and economy good news and their lives will be transformed.

• Fraternity - Work towards keeping the integrity and strength of the country intact along with special stress on individual dignity

We pray that the women of India will be freed from violence, status issues, trafficking, addictions and life threatening sickness. We also pray that they will avail of the quality education that is available to them and use

ALPHA INDIA NEWS OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012

their abilities, vision, hospitality and gifts all to glorify God. Amen

Wednesday Firm Families Ephesians 3:14-16 Prayer Points : • Godly families that uphold Biblical values • Unity in the family • God’s peace to reign supreme in families • God’s guidance and counsel to be sought in all decision making • God would rise up all praying families. (A family that prays together stays together) • Faithfulness between the spouse and obedience on the part of the children would be the hall mark of all families • Separation and divorce would be unheard of in Christian families Prayer: God you are a God of families. We pray that you would rise up godly and praying families that have the Bible at their very foundation.

May unity and peace prevail in families and loving hearts live in homes.

Let not the spirit of separation and divorce have any room in families. May the love for God and one another within the family unit prevail. Amen.

Thursday Burden for the Youth Ecclesiastes 12:1, 1 Timothy 4:12 Prayer Points: • 40% of our population are children, 400 million • 33% of children consume alcohol and narcotics everyday • 50% of new AIDS infections are between 15-24 year old’s • 21 million children are out of school • 16 students a day commit suicide • 17 million child labourers are in India

ALPHA INDIA NEWS OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2012

alpha indias week of prayer

• All children and youth Christian ministries put together reach only 4 million children Prayer: Our Heavenly Father we join our hearts and commit our children into your hands. Lord it is you who has said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the children. Lord when we look at the statistics before us, it is disheartening to see what our children are spending time on. Lord we pray for your hand of protection on our children as they travel during the day, we pray for their minds and what they learn from their schools, colleges, friends and the media today. There is a gap in their lives that they desperately try to fill with addictions, relationships and wrong choices. We cry out to you Father as a nation to forgive our children. We ask for wisdom as parents to be able to be role models for them, to provide for them physically, spiritually and emotionally.

Lord have mercy especially on the children who cannot afford to go to school, on the children who are abused, lost and searching for the truth. We ask for your Spirit to empower our families, churches, ministries so we can reach out to our youth so they may have a relationship with You that bears fruit and together they may take a stand for the nation. Amen.

Friday The Lord will build his church Matthew 16: 17 - 19 Prayer points • Gods constant revelation would be upon every leader and believers life • God would open the spiritually blinded eyes of the people • Believers ask for forgiveness for never praying for saints and church leaders • God would raise many leaders who would develop other leaders • Church leaders have the Boldness to address the issues with uncompromising truth • God would protect marriage life of Leaders as well as Believers • Parents will be a role model for children • Evangelism should be mandate in all the churches PRAYER: Dear Father, we thank you that the Church is your plan, for this very reason you have sent your son Jesus and promised that you will build Your church, we come before you as we are, acknowledging the fact that we cannot build it by our flesh and blood but by the revelation of the father by Your spirit only.

Please fill us today with a fresh revelation about Your Son Jesus and open our eyes to see what You have done and what You can do for our nation through the church. We ask forgiveness for not praying for Your saints and

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leaders of Your kingdom, we pray You would raise many leaders that would in turn develop many leaders and that they may proclaim Your truth uncompromisingly. We also pray as your servants are working in your vineyard; may you protect their marriage and families may you be reflected in our children in and through of our lives and finally we ask Abba father the great commission of sharing the Good News about Jesus would be taken as priority for expected transformation in our nation. Amen.

Saturday The World Psalms. 48:1-2,3, Zechariah. 12:5 Prayer Points: • Pray for peace in the emerging nations BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India China and South Africa) • Pray for all the nations to peacefully coexist with each other • Pray that the harmful nexus nations will not prosper.

• God to strengthen the leaders and people of Jerusalem and Israel to stand in His everlasting covenant and that Jerusalem, the City of the Great King, will remain the capital forever.

PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, we pray for all the nations to live in peace and harmony, to love and uphold the dignity of every individual. May all the Kings, Presidents and Prime Ministers who are in positions of high authority submit to our Lord. We also pray for the upcoming elections in the U.S.A that You will intervene as the nation desperately needs Your wisdom and direction. May there be a great awakening which would sweep across the world as the Lord’s people humble themselves in repentance and prayer. (2 Chronicles. 7:14)

Pray for Alpha India Praise Points: - Praise God for all the grace and blessings He showered on us all through this quarter.

- Praise God for the lives that were transformed and souls that were touched through the work of Alpha across the world.

- Praise God for all the partnerships that Alpha is venturing into this quarter.

- Praise God for the increase in number of trainings during the last quarter especially in the North and North West Regions.

- Praise God for the doors and opportunities that opened up in Universities and Schools for Student and Youth Alpha.

- Praise God for providing for all our needs in the last quarter.

- Praise God for expanding the Alpha Family; thank Him for all the staff that came on-board last quarter.

Prayer Points: - Pray for God’s hand upon the work of Alpha in India and across the world.

- Pray for the upcoming Trainings and GATs in India.

- Pray for the upcoming Women Leaders’ Conference, so that the right delegates can particiate and get equipped to bring transformation in the society.

- Pray for all the delegates who have so far attended the trainings, that they may be encouraged to run courses.

- Pray for God’s guidance and protection upon all the Alpha India staff and coordinators.

Awakening Empowering Women, Influencing the World.

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