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David Hayward 1 year, 3 months ago.
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AnonymousHas anybody been through Alpha or any of the similar “Christianity 101″ type classes? I went through a Vineyard program called Seek a few years back. Although the classes are typically advertised for non-believers who want to learn about Christianity, it seems like they are usually packed with people who are already Christians. My group had two or three non-Christians who showed up regularly, as opposed to between eight or twelve Christians who would come. I read three different blogs written by atheists who went through Alpha courses and they all had similar ratios.
Why is this? I can understand why attendance by non-believers would be on the low side, but why are so many Christians going to these classes?
We did Alpha in our church years ago. We used mainly as a class for new christians and advertised for everyone. Except for the first time doing it, I think it was pretty consistently attended just by new converts and a few non-believers – mainly just friends or co-workers of people in the church.
As far as why so many Christians going? If their experiences are anything like mine, there was a lot of pressure to go to every church function and a hell of a lot of guilt if you didn’t
My old church had a series of courses like this. They called it something like Christianity 101, 201, 301, and 401. I took the first 2. The first one was for new-comers to the church. The rest were for the rest of the congregation. Everybody was expected to eventually take all the courses. The courses where enjoyable but at the end of each one they had you sign an intent document where you would pledge to accept the church doctrines and tithe. I was always uneasy with this. I did tithe (although at a lower rate than what they wanted). The thing that annoyed me the most about the tithing was that the church said they spent 10% of the tithe money on charitable activities – that is, the church itself “tithed” at 10%. That means that only 10% of the money I gave the church went for charitable activities. The other 90% went for evangelism, salaries, utilities, and church upkeep. It wasn’t a vey efficient way to give to charity. I would imagine that this is probably standard for smaller churches.
Interesting thoughts.
I did “Alpha” quite a number of years ago. It was run in a way so as to encourage people to find friends to bring along, and some did. And for existing Christians, it was pitched as a “refresher” of what they were supposed to believe. So it pretty much worked for both types. OTOH, a version of Alpha specifically targetted at existing Christians might’ve been a good idea, too.
There was another that did the rounds, too, called “Christianity Explained”. This really was for new believers and my church ran it that way (it needed a much smaller group). I only found out about it because my father ran one session.
Of course, after having read Frank Viola’s book “Pagan Christianity”, I understand a lot more the type of instruction I’m seeking! I want my church to run teaching seminars that go a lot further than the same-old-same-old that “Alpha” and other programs teach and re-teach, because I’m tired of the treadmill. So I went exploring myself. I’ve rather left the standard church teaching behind and am much less ‘churched’ as a result. If I were to do “Alpha” again now, I would be highly disruptive because I am not the target audience.
Wade.
Joshua, I’m not sure I can answer your question, “why is this?” But I was part of Alpha and it seemed perfectly logical and good when I was part of it. Now that I have stepped away from church is seems contrived, and agenda driven. I have no interest in anything remotely like it these days. It’s the story of christianity with the opportunity for folks to ask questions and seek the answers given by the Alpha folks. It was someone’s good idea. If you want to learn about what Alpha believes is the right way to believe in Christianity then it serves it’s purpose.
My experience in the UK is that Alpha is all about inviting non-members to a series of meals and talks where the ten lessons can be expounded. On the first occassion the ratio on each table would have been 7 or 8 church members for each 3 or 2 ‘visitors’ – and all of the church members were primed for the expected questions on the topic that evening.
Some years later a charismatic reformed church (no I haven’t made a mistake) asked to use a cyber cafe that I was involved with. The elder invited me to attend, but I explained something of my unorthodox beliefs to him, but he invited me anyway. I think it was on the third evening when the question of sin cropped up. The emphasis was on our total depravity. I gently asked the speaker if he could define sin for me. One of the other church members who knew that I was a ‘Christian’ suggested that if I had read my Bible I would know the answer to that question. I let the comment go but spoke to the man concerned afterwards. I was amazed at his attitude. He was almost foaming at the mouth because I was undermining the truth about sin and would be responsible for anyone who agreed with me going to hell.
Needless to say I didn’t attend any more meals!
Oh my goodness, @Jeff Prideaux, did you go to a Willow Creek-associated church? I did, and we called our classes 101, 201, 301, 401. I believe the were designed at Willow Creek. The first one was basic Christianity, and it was for anyone who wanted to join the church, for new Christians, and for those wanting to find out what the church/Christianity were all about. In my experience, it was a lot of people new to that particular kind of Christianity. We had a ton of former Catholics, because that brand of evangelicals didn’t think Catholics were “real” Christians. It was mostly the same old, same old in terms of “You’re a bad, bad sinner; you deserved to have God kill you; Jesus died instead of you; believe what we’re telling you and you’ll go to heaven instead of hell when you die.” The 201 class was about “disciplines” of Christian living, 301 was “spiritual gifts,” and 401 was evangelism. I took all 4. At the time, I felt uncomfortable with some of the teaching, but I put it aside because being part of that community was important to my family. It took several years before I uncovered a lot of unloving and even abusive practices at the church stemming from the core values taught in that first class.
oh crap…i feel a rant coming on….
While attending a Purpose Driven Church Conference in the early 90s, I first heard Rick Warren and his staff explain their model for discipleship in the form of a series of classes 101, 201 etc. At the time…as a person invested with building the church….I loved it.
And now….it sickens me.
When I finally slowed down enough to actually look at what we were doing, it just made no sense to me. We were using classes and curriculum to try and impart spiritual truth. Our western academic model is wholly inadequate for discipleship of any kind, but these classes proliferate because it’s all we know….and its easier….easier than the messy work of being in people’s lives. Members feel obligated to attend, sometimes sacrificing family or self-care, and we think we are doing something grand for the kingdom.
I call bullshit.
These classes are intended for people inside the church while Alpha and SEEK are focused outward. I was heavily involved with Alpha for many years and actually appreciate Nicky Gumble. But the last few years we saw mostly Christians attending and it began to feel like were all trying to bolster people’s faith by creating right thinking. Again another faulty assumption. SEEK is a newer version trying to get away from apologetics and focusing on experience as a motivator to the Christian life.
Again…I call bullshit.
These models go to extreme effort to create a ‘false’ sense of community in order to teach principles. If these principles were actually an authentic part of peoples lives, we would not fucking need a class…members would be organically doing this stuff with their friends and family. For me, this is the linchpin of my problem with the church and what I am currently trying to separate from what I believe/don’t believe about God. I am no longer willing to spend one more minute involved in something that ignores the forest for the trees. Too much form over substance and focus on crowds over relationship.
Need an experience?…..We have a Sunday morning show for that.
Need healing? Want to grow? Want to serve? Want to lead? Have an unsaved friend?……..We have a class for that!!
We (or they) are so consumed with these faulty models that we are going right over our intended purpose and these misguided efforts have created the fake, institution-based, inorganic and unauthentic crap that so many are running from. This is ultra sad to me because the people I know who are entrenched in these systems awesome people just trying to get it right. But this formulaic approach reduces matters of life to a few bullets and feels synonymous to putting another notch in your belt.
AnonymousMcBeth…. you are so right on! (and I love your writing- this would make a good blog post! ) I was never involved in Alpha and but I heard about it. I so agree with you on how churches are just about running programs and putting on a show while trying to project a false sense of community. I am SO happy to be out of there.
McBeth…I second your opinion! and raise you one Fuckin Bullshit…all of it.
AnonymousI had briefly considered going to one a while back. I can’t remember if it was Alpha or something very similar. But the schedule did not work for me, and then I realized it probably would be the exact opposite of what I wanted.
Having grown up in a church, I think it is easily distracted with trivial matters and shallow teachings, and the lessons are almost always taught piecemeal. There are few classes that explain how all the little beliefs and opinions are interconnected to form a bigger picture. As a preteen, I remember going to a Christian camp, and it was the first time someone actually explained the big picture to me.
After briefly considering an Alpha-type course, I realized that the teacher would be telling me a long list of things he thinks I MUST believe or I’m not a trademarked Christian. No room for argument. It is really something I need to figure out on my own for it to mean anything. Having discussions with non-judgmental people from a variety of backgrounds challenges and helps me clarify my beliefs without feeling like I’m being steamrolled. Many church-goers would be too scared to do that: they want an authority figure to tell them what to believe, what to do. I used to be that way.
Thanks Kellie and Rhonda.
I haven’t blogged much since the shit hit the fan and I distanced myself from the church. I am still trying to get the courage to start saying these things a little ‘louder’….because, honestly, I haven’t been ready to deal with the backlash.
This forum helps with my courage.
I was a “helper” at an Alpha class towards the end of my church going phase. Honestly, I came mostly for the food and because the bible study I was attending decided to stop meeting and instead help out with alpha. I usually would just smoke some mary jane and show up for the delicious meals served before hand, then try and bite my tongue while they talked about various fundamentalist doctrines. There was just no way for me to take any of it very seriously at that point in my faith change.
I’m with you McBeth, Kellie and Rhonda.
AnonymousJeff, I’m not sure of the details at the church you referred to but more than one church I’ve been involved in made such claims. They tithed to outside charities. The argument can be made that all tithing to a charity goes either directly as benevolence, or indirectly as support (staff and overhead). Even the tithe that gets sent off to other charities has an overhead component. Some charities can brag about low overhead, but when you examine what they do it’s mostly buck passing.
I’ve been involved in fundraising and charity for the past decade. I’m not defending the tithing process, I think it’s all corrupt and it completely misses the point.
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