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1. Consult your Chaplaincy team / contact the Alpha Office
2. Attend an Alpha conference
3. Choose your team and appoint a course leader
4. Train your team
5. Register your Alpha course
6. Select a venue and set a date
7. Order resources
Check with your Chaplaincy team as to whether they are already running an Alpha course. If not, consult them about starting one.
Running an Alpha course in a prison offers unique challenges, such as the high turnover of prisoners and strict prison regimes. The Alpha Office aims to help address such issues and offer further support to those running Alpha courses in prison.
We can also provide the following:
Link to a prison and key contacts running Alpha under similar circumstances
Link to local churches running Alpha
Advice on running Appetisers and the Alpha Day
The two-day Alpha conferences are designed to train and equip you and your team to run an Alpha course. They cover the principles and the practicalities of the Alpha course, including a ‘Model Alpha Session’ and an Alpha for Prisons seminar that focuses on the specifics of running Alpha in a prison.
Nicky Gumbel has said, ‘Running Alpha without attending a conference is like driving a car without taking any lessons.’
It is vital to get the right people leading and helping on your Alpha course. The right team transforms a course. The ideal team for running Alpha in prison would be made up of volunteers with experience of Alpha as well as in prison visiting and prayer ministry.
Course Leader
The course leader will benefit from having attended an Alpha conference and having done several Alpha courses. He or she will host each Alpha session. If the leader is not on the Chaplaincy team it is helpful if he or she has some experience with speaking in prison.
Small Group Leaders and Helpers
We would recommend the ratio of eight prisoners to four leaders on an Alpha course (ie two to one). In prisons where the Alpha course is run regularly, prisoners who have completed a course are encouraged, following training, to help lead small groups on future courses. Leaders and helpers on Alpha should be positive and outgoing, who also relate well to people from all backgrounds. There is a simple test for good leaders and helpers. Ask yourself: ‘Would I happily put my closest friend who is not a Christian in that person’s group?’
The team should be trained using the Alpha Leaders’ Training material. It is also important to highlight the differences in helping on prison Alpha course – these are outlined in the Alpha for Prisons Leader’s Guide. If the team members have no experience in prison work, it is useful to invite a prison Chaplain, the Alpha for Prisons’ Advisor or the Regional Volunteer Coordinator, Department of Corrections, to speak to your group about regulations, security and the practicalities of ministering in a prison environment.
Ways to register your Alpha course:
• Contact the Alpha office for a registration form
• Complete the registration form you receive with Alpha News
Benefits to registering your Alpha course:
Courses can be accessed on the website by anyone looking for a course in your area. Many prisoners who are moving between prisons, wish to know if Alpha is running in the prison they are moving to. Using the register, people can find courses not only for themselves, but also for their friends and family.
Those registered receive information about special Alpha related events that may be taking place as well as the development of new Alpha resources, etc.
Select a venue
Select a room for the weekly meetings based on the anticipated size of the course. If possible, ensure that your venue has enough space for the small groups to meet in private. The prison chapel is often the best place for privacy.
Be sure to reserve all the rooms that will be needed for every aspect of the course so that there is no clash with other events.
Set the dates
Decide on the time scale of your course based on your prison regime.
Select a morning, afternoon or evening carefully so as not to coincide with other Christian meetings or prison events. Keep in mind that volunteers are usually easier to find to assist during evening slots. Remember also to schedule dates for the three Leaders’ Training sessions. The first two should occur before the course starts, with the third falling in the week running up to the Alpha Day. Prison teams can often link in with local churches running the training session.
Alpha publications are now available in over 70 languages.
In the Prison
Strong friendships are often forged on an Alpha course. It is good to encourage the group to keep meeting and growing in their relationship with Christ. Several resources are available to assist with follow-up:
A Life Worth Living:
An eighteen session course based on the Letter to the Philippians, aimed at new Christians. (available in book, dvd and audio format ).
30 Days:
A selection of 30 passages from the Old and New Testament. An excellent introduction to Bible reading. (available in book format).
Heart of Revival:
Based on the second half of the book of Isaiah, Nicky Gumbel draws out important truths for today by interpreting what revival might mean and how we can prepare to be part of it. (available in manual and audio cassette).
Searching issues:
Over seven talks Nicky Gumbel tackles the issues most often raised on Alpha such as the question of suffering, the validity of other religions and sex before marriage(available in book and audio cassette).
Challenging Lifestyles:
Nineteen Bible studies which seek to apply Jesus' teaching on the Sermon on the Mount to our daily lives (available in book and audio cassette).
Coming soon in DVD
The website of the New Zealand Alpha Office
11 Marewa Road, Greenlane, Auckland 1051 Tel +64 9 522 1360 Fax +64 9 522 1361
