A team of Hong Kong Alpha Course hosted a training day in the United Kingdom for the very first time, reaching out to the Chinese churches.
Sponsored by the Chinese Overseas Christian Mission (COCM), around 60 people from different cities in the United Kingdom have attended the gathering at the COCM Mission Center, Milton Keynes on May 29, according to a local Chinese Christian newspaper Kingdom Revival Times (Hong Kong).
The event "Chinese Alpha Course Training" was conducted in Mandarin. For churches or fellowships that have passion to reach out to Chinese students, it aims to explain the basic concept of the Alpha Course, how to lead small groups, shepherding, operation and intercessory prayers.
Originated from the United Kingdom, Alpha Course is adopted by 7,200 English-speaking churches all over the country. Since many Chinese churches have also showed interest in the event, the team of Hong Kong Alpha Course was therefore sent to England to introduce the skill.
Among the attendants, most of them come from Milton Keynes, London, Liverpool and even Scotland. Half of them are Hong Kong people living in Britain, and half of them are immigrants or overseas students from Mainland China, Kingdom Revival Times reported. Many of them have inspired by the effectiveness of Alpha Course in evangelism to Chinese, one attendant said that he would try to use the Alpha Course to evangelize his family members when he got back to his home country next month.
"The coworkers that came for the training day this time are those who have participated or led Alpha Course in some English-speaking churches. There are also some who have just turned to Christ in some Mandarin Alpha courses and they want to serve the Lord through the Alpha Course," said Rev. Edward Wei, Director of Mandarin (China Students) Ministry in the COCM, to the Kingdom Revival Times.
According to COCM, almost 80 percent of the baptized Chinese Christians in Europe are students from Mainland China, so they have become the target of evangelism. Sister Poon, who was born in Hong Kong and now lives in Cambridge, has also come to share her past experience in leading Alpha Course in the Harvard University in the United States.
The Alpha Course in England has emphasized on this training. Development manager Bonnie Yule-Kuehne and the other two consultants from churches in Milton Keynes, have come to share their experiences and made contact with Chinese churches. Since Alpha Course in England is very popular, and it has set up "torch churches" in each cities, and these churches will help the newly set up Alpha churches.
According to the statistics, around 97 percent of Chinese in Europe are not Christians yet, so the harvest field is very big. Through the training day, it is hoped that the Alpha Course will become a new force in Chinese evangelistic ministries in Europe. Rev. Wei plans to start "Chinese Alpha Course Training" in many other European countries such as the Netherlands and France, Kingdom Revival Times reported.
