Saturday's Alpha training went quite well despite only having 6 people present when we began. Fortunately, in Peruvian fashion, more came and there ended up being a total of 16 people, a few more than I expected. One surprise is that 2 pastors ended up coming even though I couldn't get a hold of them and was told they were out of town.

Having never seen or participated in an Alpha course, the leaders can have a difficult time understanding the concepts. I think it can tend to be a bit abstract at times. To counteract that, I had about an hour and a half workshop time where we acted out a few different small group scenarios, talked about good questions vs. bad questions and practiced some of the techniques presented in the video.

I tried to focus a lot on the leaders answering their own/each others questions so that they will be better prepared to handle and think through the difficult situations once I've returned to the States. It went quite well and in the end they appeared to have a strong understanding of the concept and strategy of the small groups. Plus they had practice coming up with their own questions and reshaping them to help draw people out.

Next Saturday and I'm going to be spending more time talking about the administration of the course and how to best adapt it to each church's situation. I think it will be good and I hope people will leave ready to start their own Alpha course.

Thanks for your prayers. They were heard.

2 comments

1. Hannah Murray on January 18, 2010 at 10:10 PM

   YAY TIM!!!

    
2. May on January 20, 2010 at 1:31 PM

   Well, Tim, you are a wonderful teacher--whether you mean to be or not! I love that you have stretched to do something you feel is important and that has the potential to make a difference in Peru long after you return to Charlotte.