We were both volunteers and last Thursday was an exciting day for many of us! It was the last day of the Alpha Course and there was a special ceremony planned for all the participants.
It is a well known fact that there are fewer and fewer people attending church services on Sundays with many of which experiencing declining attendances for years. It appears that the wealthier a nation is, the fewer of its citizens seem to care for the church.
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| Guests were warmly received by our receptionists. |
The Alpha Course was one such program started in London, England in 1976.
It has evolved from a course for new Christians to a world wide ministry focusing on people from outside the church.
Our church, the Toronto Christian Community Church, offered the Alpha Course about six or seven years ago but with not-so-satisfactory result.
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| Participants of the Alpha Course enjoying coffee & fellowship in our church gym |
But in 2014, the church relaunched the programed and this time with renewed determination, courage and perseverance from the leaders involved, the results were much more positive.
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| Rev. Joseph W. was in charge of the Alpha Course |
The Alpha Course is a ten week course.
Each session of the course consists of a dinner, talk, coffee, and a small group meeting.
For the past ten weeks, Rev. Joseph W. led the weekly meeting assisted by a team of pastors, deacons and volunteers from the church.
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| Pastor Jonathan at one of the meetings |
Many people are reluctant to go to church when they don't know anyone there while others may find traditional services a little intimidating.
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| Greeting new friends at the meeting |
On the contrary, the atmosphere of the Alpha course is non threatening, inviting and friendly.
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| Meeting people in a non threatening environment |
The Alpha Course encourages participants to make friends, to have fellowship with others and makes the experience fun for all.
There were between twenty five to forty people from outside the church taking part in the weekly meetings of the spring session of the Alpha Course.
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| Meeting people in small groups |
Most of our guests were invited by people from our church.
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| Volunteers serving Alpha participants week after week |
We had almost as many volunteers working to serve our guests each week.
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| Washing dishes |
Running a 10 week program takes a lot of hard work by a team of dedicated volunteers who committed themselves week after week doing all sorts of planning, organizing as well as chores in the kitchen.
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It was the epitome and demonstration of collaboration and team work! Praise God!
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| Cooking Team volunteers preparing meals for the participants |
While my husband volunteered on the Set Up Team, I, along with another dozen people were on the Cooking Team preparing food for the ten weeks.
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| Joseph showed us how to weigh serving portions |
Joseph, a professional chef, led the team and served up weekly delicious French cuisine to all participants and volunteers, anywhere between sixty to a hundred people.
It was a joy for me to be working with Joseph on the Cooking Team for the past many weeks!
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| Dedicated volunteers serving joyfully & faithfully each week |
All team members have a passion to serve God!
We worked really well together to get the job done.
We all had loads of fun too!
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| Volunteers work well together |
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| Dishing out the food to customers |
Joseph set a high standard for us: from cutting, dicing, cooking,and to the way we plated the food and serving the meal to our guests.
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| We served delicious meal each week to the Alpha participants |
We all learned a lot about cooking and many other things from him!
The food we served was delicious and of five star restaurant quality!
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| The tables were beautifully and lovingly laid out for our guests |
The Set Up Team set the table nicely with tablecloths while the participants were having their meeting.
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| The three course meal was ready and served precisely at 11:45a.m each week |
Working with military precision both in timing and food quantity, Joseph directed the Cooking Team in the kitchen to prepare and serve a three course meal to all Alpha Course participants every week.
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| Alpha Course participants and their group leader breaking bread together |
We served food to our guests at exactly the time when the meeting was over.
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| Alpha Course participants enjoying conversation with new friends during meal |
It was a real satisfying feeling when we saw how much the course participants enjoying the food we prepared and making new friends at the dining table!
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| The church reaching out to new people through the Alpha Course |
Most important of all, we were reaching out to non Christians and leading them to Christ!
May God bless and continue to use the Alpha Course to bring people to the gospel!
R.T.
Markham, Ontario
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