There are questions about life we all share (‘Is this it? Where have I come from? Where am I heading? Who am I? What’s the point of my life? Is there any real meaning and purpose to life?’). There are common objections to / preconceptions about Christianity (it is boring, untrue, irrelevant, dangerous). Alpha is an opportunity to explore these claims, to share what you think, and to explore these questions for yourself.
This session starts by showing the impact that Jesus has had on world history – then seeks to investigate who Jesus is. First, by looking at whether we can be confident that he really existed in history, and then by looking at his own claims about who he was and what he did, and finally assessing whether his claims can be taken seriously.
People pray in all cultures – and everybody prays in crisis. Why do we do that? Does prayer work? Does God answer prayers? Are there specific ways to pray? What are the benefits of praying? We have so many questions about prayer because for many it is a bit of a mystery, so in this session we dig into the topic of prayer.
In life, we all face decisions, big or small. We are increasingly faced with a vast array of choices and making decisions can be hard. We all need guidance. We are not alone in this life – that there is a God who desires a relationship with us and who also communicates with us and guides us.
Is there a devil? What would you even believe that he exists? What does it mean in the Lord’s prayer when we are told to pray, ‘Deliver us from Evil’? The Bible talks a lot about good and evil, and intuitively we know that there is a lot of evil in the world. This week we look at the topic of evil and how to resist it.
Why do Christians feel the need to 'share the good news' all the time? What's that about? As we are British, surely we shouldn't talk about religion and politics? Well, religion anyway - politics is too much fun at the moment :-) In this week's Alpha Course - we look at this idea of why and how should I tell others.
The church, as an institution, gets a lot of negative press. Some see the church as an organization that abuses people or has some political agenda. This is certainly a different picture than what Jesus drew for His disciples when He described a church that would “prevail against the gates of hell and become the hope for the world.”