Introducing and Promoting the Weekend Away

Week 2

Start promoting the Weekend or Day Away on Week 2. Don’t say too much at first. Just say:

"The Weekend/Day is coming up [provide the date/s]. It is a very important part of the course and it is a lot of fun.  Please make note of this date on your calendar.  We will give you more information about this next week." 

Week 3

You may want to say something like this:

"The thought of a Christian Weekend may conjure up images of people sitting around, holding hands and singing Kum Ba Ya.  We promise it will not be like that.  Think of it as taking time to consider a very important part of the course, which is the person and work of the Holy Spirit.  

It is also a great time to get to know a few new friends.  We are going to be at [ insert where the Weekend or Day Away will be held ]. It is a beautiful place and you can go for walks as well as [ list what else is available recreationally]. 

People have told us that missing the Weekend Away is like missing half of the course.  The information shared here and the time to get to know each other is an extremely valuable part of the whole Alpha course". 

You may also want to consider having a testimony from someone who has been on the weekend.  Here are suggested questions to use to promote the Weekend Away.

Have fliers available this week. Here is an example of a flier used to promote the Weekend or Day Away. It is a Word document, so you can edit it to meet the needs of your course.

Week 4

Make sure you have fliers available this week (see above).  It can also be effective to use comments from past evaluations:

"You may be wondering why I am emphasizing the Weekend so much.  Here is one guests response to a question on the evaluation form collected at the end of the course.

Under ‘In what way could the course be improved?’ This person noted to please emphasize the Weekend more.  I missed the Weekend and I was so disappointed when my group came back and talked about it and I realized what I missed out on.

[Note: please feel free to insert you own evaluation examples.]

So that is why I am emphasizing it - because I have been asked to".

We highly suggest to find a way to provide scholarships for those guests that may be stretched financially.  If you are able to provide this, then please mention that there scholarship money is available.

If time permits, have another testimony.

Week 5 until the Weekend

Continually build up to the Weekend or Day Away using testimonies and promoting during meal time and from the front.