If you’ve been involved in the church world for any stretch of time you’ve more than likely heard of the Alpha Course.
Alpha began in the UK and was created by Nicky Gumble to provide a space for people to explore, discuss and discover the Christian faith in a small group atmosphere. Thousands of people around the world have participated in Alpha.
We’ve run the Alpha Course for a few years at Park and have seen many people go into the course questioning their faith or belief in God, and through the process of the course, cross the line of faith and express a personal commitment to Christ.
Alpha produces a number of promotional pieces for churches to use to promote the course that are all good, but weren’t really answering questions people in our church were asking.
Most of the Alpha created promo materials tend to center around the question, “is there more to life than this?”
Some examples of Alpha’s promo videos for churches:
Is there more to life than this? Alpha Cinema Video from Winston Tjong-Ayong on Vimeo.
Is there more to life? Alpha course from Winston Tjong-Ayong on Vimeo.
The challenge for us was that wasn’t a question people were asking. People who were taking Alpha at Park were asking tougher questions, centered on some harder ideas and thoughts, other than just the, “is this all there is?” question.
When I met with the Alpha coordinator about promoting our next round of the course at Park we agreed we needed to do something different.
We needed something that looked and felt more like Park, our people, and our context. We didn’t want to re-use the same stuff we had been using, and at the same time we didn’t think we wanted to use someone’s testimony who had taken the course before. (Stories are great, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I think we can over-use them.)
More than saying “here’s a place to explore your faith,” we found we wanted to change the tone and say, “this is a place where you can come with your questions and find the answer…”
With some inspiration from a church in the UK, we compiled a list of common questions that people asked over the past few sessions of the course. Then Jason Widney, our Media Arts Director, and Kirby, an actress who attends Park, took the idea and made something that I think is incredibly compelling. But don’t take my word, see for yourself:
Got Questions? We’ve Got a Place For You to Find the Answers. from Park Community Church on Vimeo.
Moral of the story: Context, context, context. Answer questions people are really asking. When your’re communicating, use a language and voice that’s reflective of the people you’re reaching. Be creative! Don’t pre-package stuff… be original (or at least take your own spin on something that’s already out there). And don’t be afraid to re-invent the wheel if you need to. Just because something is good doesn’t mean it can’t be better.
