Abstract:

The Alpha course is possibly the most widespread and best known evangelizing initiative of recent times. Billing itself as an introduction into ‘basic Christianity’, Alpha is an innovating course that has been adopted world-wide by tens of thousands of churches. This paper overviews the research methods of a national survey in the UK which were utilized in order to investigate and analyse various aspects of Alpha including its use in different contexts, who joins the programme and why, and its anticipated levels of success. These aspects of Alpha were explored through a variety of research methods; questionnaires; semi-structured interviews; participant observation; and a literature review.

Author: Stephen Hunt