"You're an intelligent woman. What do you believe in God for?"

Young Wellington schoolteacher Jo Matheson is often asked this question when people learn she is a practising Christian at her local church. Says Jo: "What they're really saying to me is that they want me to tell them about my faith."

According to Jo, people who say they're just too busy to go to church or that they haven't time to do something like an Alpha course have allowed themselves to get sidetracked by the business of life and are making time for the wrong things. The very people who need to do Alpha are those who think why should I bother?

With a good university degree behind her and an assured career in television, Jo was living and working in London when she decided to return to New Zealand. Physically fit, healthy and active, everything in her life was fine but she felt something was missing.

Shortly after returning home Jo was invited to an Alpha course by some Christian friends.

"I wasn't sure about Christianity and I wondered if it was really relevant. Did I have to change and become really boring to all my friends? If I became a Christian could I still make mistakes, as I didn't trust myself not to."

She quickly found that the people who do Alpha courses and help run them are not perfect people that tell you what their trick to life is. "They were ordinary down to earth people who are just as normal and regular as you or me."

It was during Alpha that she decided to commit herself to Christ and prayed for the Holy Spirit to come into her life. She completed secondary teacher training and was fortunate to be accepted immediately for two jobs. Stressed, irritable and anxious to make the right choice she decided to pray for 10 minutes and asked God for blessing and direction. Later that evening while not even thinking about the problem she walked into her lounge and just knew which job she was going to accept.

Says Jo: "I constantly see people who are churned up inside by personal relationship problems, career problems and big life issues that would benefit from asking themselves some basic life questions."

She believes Alpha is the perfect forum for taking time out to examine the spiritual side of life. The course gives people the tools to help them not to be judgmental, to help avoid further conflict in their workplace, home or family.

Not long ago a work colleague told Jo he would like to do Alpha but that he felt he couldn't go from being doubtful about God to believing that God exists, without feeling he was brainwashing himself.

A great many of those attending Alpha courses are non-believers or sceptical about their level of faith. The key thing to remember about Alpha is that the environment is low key and non-threatening. You come and have a meal, watch a series of videos and chat. There is no pressure to attend and no follow-up afterwards.

Jo sums it up. "You don't have to be in a time of crisis to do Alpha. People who think they're fine could be missing out on a whole new dimension to themselves. I know I was. Just go to an Alpha dinner at your local church and see for yourself."

Jo Matheson teaches at Wellington College and worships at Karori Baptist