Getting Started

Running your first Alpha can be a little daunting – but you’ll be so glad you did. Here are some tips from Crossover’s Andrew Turner – his home church in Adelaide got started in 2023 and now runs Alpha every term:

  1. Do it together – a couple of leaders and a couple of helpers makes a great team. It spreads out the work, making it easy, helps continuity if anyone’s sick or away, gives more people experience in running Alpha (as one course so often leads to more), and shows participants the body of Christ (John 13:13-35!) Choose your team wisely and prayerfully.

  2. Sign up to MyAlpha at the Run Alpha webpage – it’s free. You’ll find a whole Learning Centre with helpful videos and articles. Trust the expertise! Go ‘by the book’ for a while before adapting to your setting.

  3. Chat with a like-minded church that’s also run Alpha – pick their brains! And make the most of Ryan Vallee – Alpha’s dedicated support person for Australian Baptists!

  4. Don’t do it half-heartedly – if at all possible make the food, video and room set-up high quality. That’s a witness in itself.

  5. Register your course on the MyAlpha site – even if you’re doing an in-house ‘dry run’ first (you can label it as Private).

  6. Keep going with a repeat course if you can – you can learn so much by reflecting on one course and tweaking the next. This also gives participants opportunity to invite other friends, and it’s so helpful to link with other outreach ministries if you always have another Alpha starting soon.

  7. Don’t choose between advertising widely and inviting personally – do both! Give everyone the opportunity to explore Christian faith and you’ll be surprised how many are keen to.

Jason Elsmore (Director of Queensland Baptists)

“We baptised more new believers in Queensland Baptist churches than ever before, in a year when more churches in our Movement led more Alpha courses than ever before.”

MARK WILSON (ABM DIRECTOR OF MINISTRIES)

“We’ve seen an increase of 34% of baptisms with the launch of Baptism Week in which Alpha has become a key strategic resource. When a local church participates by regularly hosting Alpha there is a direct impact for the Kingdom.”

Christianity Today

“Alpha has succeeded in many cases in turning faithful churchgoers from an inward focus on church work to an outward focus on evangelistic outreach … “

Jason Elsmore (Director of Queensland Baptists)

“We baptised more new believers in Queensland Baptist churches than ever before, in a year when more churches in our Movement led more Alpha courses than ever before.”

MARK WILSON (ABM DIRECTOR OF MINISTRIES)

“We’ve seen an increase of 34% of baptisms with the launch of Baptism Week in which Alpha has become a key strategic resource. When a local church participates by regularly hosting Alpha there is a direct impact for the Kingdom.”

Christianity Today

“Alpha has succeeded in many cases in turning faithful churchgoers from an inward focus on church work to an outward focus on evangelistic outreach … “

what is Mission 25?

Mission 25 is a collective of churches joined together to share Jesus across Australia through prayer, invitation, and running Alpha in Term 2, 2025.