Youth Alpha in New Hampshire

Dick Kiernan has been Field Ministry Director of Alpha New England for five years. Last year, Dick and his wife had the chance to run their first ever Youth Alpha Course with a team of seven teenagers. The course was attended by 19 regular guests from six local high schools and seven local churches. Below he describes why the experience, "greatly exceeded...expectations!"

HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT YOUTH ALPHA?

Last February I brought my wife, two teenage kids and another teenage friend to attend a Youth Alpha gathering hosted by Peter Carpentier of North Shore Christian Ministry near Boston, MA.  Our teenagers loved the evening and were interested to run a course back in NH. 

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO RUN THE COURSE?

We decided to run the course for several reasons.  First, I was pleased to hear of the successes of the Youth Alpha courses in the Boston area and the development of the resources.  We also wanted to equip our teenagers to become effective at sharing their faith, and of course, we wanted to reach the youth of our times because they are in such obvious need of faith in their lives. 

Within a month of our trip to MA my wife and I began to pray.  We ordered the Youth Alpha Leader's Guide, which was a great help, gathered a team of five teenagers (two others joined the team in the first few weeks of the course) and held some meetings to get to know them and make plans for our course.  We found a church in our town that was thrilled to host our course, so we made up a schedule and posters.  Over the next month our team continued to pray and invite everyone to join us.

HOW DID YOU RUN IT?

We held two “Ice Cream Social” introductory events.  The first was at our home with about 18 of us packed into our living room.  The following week our second intro event was held for 12 guests including 2 parents (who wanted to find out what it was about).  At both events and in the beginning of the course the icebreakers were very important in making everyone comfortable.  We used the Tech (multimedia style) showing video and internet clips to highlight the points made and these were very effective in our course.  The teenagers also began to share faith witnesses on the 3rd week.  Another key part of the course involved starting a music ministry to lead the worship; it was eventually excellent. but it required lots of patience at first!  

WHAT WERE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE COURSE?

I was most amazed that the impact of our Youth Alpha course was the same as my experience with adults.  For example, one girl had no interest in our course but decided to come to the ice cream social and liked it so much she decided to try it.  The course became the highlight of her week.  At the end of the course she said we couldn’t end this experience and she wanted to know what we were going to do next!  Amazingly, the course revealed that some of the church kids we thought were strong believers were actually very unsure of their beliefs and the course led them to a real faith for the first time.  There were also three seekers who were long-time friends of other Christians on the course.  One seeker loved Alpha, but couldn’t make the overnight retreat and didn’t quite come to faith on the course.  The other two seekers became believers on the overnight retreat and gave great testimonies at our Celebration Event.  All of us loved the course and we became a very close community.

WHAT WAS THE RESULT OF THE COURSE?

The group have remained in touch with each other and have begun to do socials together.  For example, they all recently invited other friends to see Prince Caspian together.  The new believers are joining their friends church youth groups.  Together the whole community is planning to hold other socials, reunions, faith sharing, and service projects on an ongoing basis.  It is our hope that the “buzz” generated from this course will lead to several more courses at various churches in the coming year.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHERS CONSIDERING RUNNING YOUTH ALPHA?

If possible, take a group of teens to visit a vibrant Youth Alpha course or ask an experienced group of leaders to come share their Youth Alpha story so that teens and adult leaders can get excited about running their own course. Ask the Lord for guidance and provisions to run the course, get the Youth Alpha  Leader's Guide*, and find training and support.