Is ALPHA for Catholics? One of the fastest growing evangelization programs in Evangelical and. Charismatic Protestant circles these days is the . It has been. promoted to Catholics in the United States for six years by Christ. Life. Catholic Evangelization Services in Baltimore, which claims that . The purpose of this paper is to. Alpha Course, and to. Alpha, either in its original form or in the . How Can I Be Sure of My Faith? Why and How Should I Read the Bible? Why and How Do I Pray? How Does God Guide Us? WEEKEND RETREAT Who Is the Holy Spirit? What Does the Holy Spirit Do? How Can I Be Filled with the Spirit? How Can I Resist Evil? Why and How Should We Tell Others?
Alpha Program Nicky Gumbel BooksAlpha is for everyone, including those wanting to reinvestigate Christianity or consider it for the first time. Alpha is a tool for evangelization that is being used by thousands of Catholic parishes in over 70 countries around the world. Alpha is also run by churches of. Jim Charlton was serving on the evangelism committee at Wheatland Salem Church in Naperville, Illinois, when he first heard of the Alpha course. While the United Methodist congregation was evangelistically minded, it was searching for an effective method to mobilize the congregation for evangelism. Alpha Program use in Catholic Church Evangelization. Scott and Kimberley Hahn's Catholic adult education series Is available from www.saintjoe.com.It is longer than Alpha at 35 programmes, but you can't rush a good thing.It comes with a study guide and. What About the Church? Alpha. Dinner: Christianity: Boring, Untrue, and Irrelevant? The Alpha webpage lists over 6. Diocese of Galveston- Houston, sponsored by. Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian. Presbyterian, Baptist, Vineyard, Disciples, Foursquare, and three Catholic. This is not a Catholic adaptation of the Protestant. Protestant program with Catholic teaching presented. As the British office says, . Courses such as Exploring. Catholic Church and Drink from the Wells of the Church may. Catholic. teaching. It is the historic faith expressed in the ancient creeds. In addition, the current. Catholic ecclesiology. Only Baptism and the Eucharist are recognized. Rather than. taking what someone else has developed and making it into something else. We must also look at the specific content of the Alpha program. As we have seen, Christ. Life claims that in its presentation of. Evaluation of Alpha. An evaluation of Alpha materials reveals that Alpha does. The order of the. Course speaks volumes. First the individual believes in Jesus, then he. Bible, prays, is filled with the Holy Spirit, is encouraged to. Communion, told to resist evil, learns about. A Congregationalist Ecclesiology. Gumbel presents the Church as. It is a place where lasting Christian friendships can be. It is also a place where the gifts and ministries of the Spirit can. The congregation is a place where. In its. effort to present only what . And what it says about the remaining two is still problematic. It is also said to be an anticipation of heaven, a reminder of. Christians gathered, and a . Alpha is said to be evangelization of the unchurched. Catholics are told to consider it as . We have an offering which. This is a good opportunity to. Christian faith. We then invite. Jesus Christ to receive Communion, should. We pass round. the bread and drink, asking those who do not wish to receive it for some. Many comment on the beautiful. God. If we compare the amount of space. Alpha is not interested in. Contrasting the one small paragraph on Baptism, and. Though Gumbel says not. Recall that these chapters precede mention of the Church. Evangelical way). Recall as well that Catholics are. An Anglican Criticism. As mentioned out the outset, Alpha was developed by a parish of. Church of England, Holy Trinity Brompton in London. From Anglicanism. Christian groups. Yet one of the first detailed. Anglican source. Mark Ireland, Diocesan Missioner for the Diocese of. Lichfield, in the year 2. Ireland questioned the 4. Bishop followed up with a letter to the parishes which used Alpha. The Area Bishop of Stafford. And it was (is) the. Lord gave of His Passion (as St. Gumbel ducked the question by. Alpha is used . Again, Millar and Gumbel. Pentecostals who insist on tongues and others who reject. They were very keen to encourage and support us. Alpha work at local level, but the core product was. This reinforces dependence on the source of the product . Over 6. 1% of the parishes in his. With any such tool, adaptation, balance, constant. We are told to accept Alpha ? What can we affirm in the approach of. Alpha, and what should concern us? The General Directory for Catechesis says, . The fact that. Jesus Christ is the fullness of Revelation is the foundation for the. Alpha does anything well, it is this; and this is perhaps one of the. It is meant to introduce an inquirer to the. Jesus Christ. We can affirm as well Alpha. GDC 4. 7Primary proclamation (the responsibility of all Christians) implies. Both activities are essential and mutually. But though primary proclamation and catechesis are distinct, we. Alpha seems to. suggest by saying that . There must be some content, which provides the basis for the. Christ; thus the GDC speaks of a . Again, we can. affirm the central emphasis of Alpha. The guide to this structure is the. Apostles. GDC 1. 15. And the GDC rejects an individualistic piety, for . Christ founded the Church on the apostles, to whom he gave the. Holy Spirit, sending them to preach the good news to the entire world. The. Church through all ages bears the fullness of the divine Word, in. Scripture and Tradition, guided by the Spirit speaking through the. Magisterium. Those who evangelize have a . The Eucharist is. Alpha does not fulfill the. Catholic catechesis and evangelization, and presents what. Catholics must see as an impoverished and distorted Gospel. To tack Catholic. Church and. Sacrament, denies the integral nature of Christian revelation. Notes. Christ. Life Catholic Evangelization Services, n. University of Sheffield at Cliff College, 2. Page numbers correspond to the printed copy I made. Pagination could therefore. References are to Pete Ward, . Ireland, . For another critique of Alpha. Stephen Hunt, Anyone for Alpha?: Evangelism in a. Post- Christian Society (London: Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd., 2. The Alpha Course Manual. London: HTB. Publications, 1. Colorado Springs: Cook Ministry. Resources, 1. 99. Gumbel, Nicky. How to Run the Alpha Course: A Handbook for Alpha. Directors, Leaders, and Helpers. Colorado Springs: Cook Ministry. Resources, 1. 99. Gumbel, Nicky. Questions of Life: A Practical Introduction to the. Christian Faith. Colorado Springs: Cook Ministry Resources, 1. Gumbel, Nicky. Telling Others: A Practical Approach to Sharing the. Christian Faith. Colorado Springs: Cook Ministry Resources, 1. Gumbel, Nicky and Sandy Millar, . London: Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd., 2. Ireland, Mark. University of Sheffield at Cliff College, 2.
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