Alpha press release - September 2002

People like Joanne Somers, a 32-year-old mother-of-two, who says her life has opened up in so many ways since she went on an Alpha course earlier this year.

But like many people who join Alpha, Joanne, a single mum, of Thornton, wasn't sure about joining and took a long time to come round to taking that first step on her journey. She said: "I can't remember how many years ago it was that a good friend told me about Alpha - but I felt I just wasn't ready.

"Then, my mum Ann went on an Alpha and got more involved with the church. It began to dawn on me that maybe I should find out what it is all about, when I got a call from two Junior Church leaders asking if my daughter would like to do a Junior Alpha. I had the sudden urge to do it myself - after years of just 'thinking' about it!"

No two people who join Alpha are the same, but Joanne's experience has been echoed by many who have completed the course. She added: "I suppose what Alpha meant to me was becoming a Christian and accepting God into my life.

"At first I thought Alpha was just for older people, but there's all sorts of people and all ages there. It's something I felt I fitted into and could grow with - and at the end of it I decided to get confirmed."

Joanne joined her daughter Lauren, aged 12, in getting confirmed at Liverpool Cathedral recently. Joanne is now a regular member of the congregation at St Luke's Church, Crosby.

Going on the Alpha course has had another benefit. Speaking to the congregation about her experiences of Alpha, she admitted: "I used to swear a lot - but since going on Alpha thankfully I've stopped!

"I was also obsessed with horoscopes and used to read them every day. Now I've given them all up."

Joanne has decided to help on the next Alpha course, when she hopes contribute her own experiences to others' apprehensive about starting, and to learn more about her own faith too.

Alpha is a free-to-join, 10-week course open to everyone. It runs on one evening or afternoon a week, and addresses some of the big questions about life, Christianity and God.

Devised as a modern programme to help people understand some of today's key issues by Holy Trinity Church in Brompton, London, it has gone on to become a major force for good. In 2001 a 10-week national television documentary series on Alpha was broadcast on ITV and hosted by Sir David Frost who described the course as "a phenomenon - an extraordinary story".

To date more than 1.3 million people in the UK have completed Alpha, and a staggering four million world-wide.

To introduce even more to its welcoming message, 1,500 billboard sites across the UK are currently carrying Alpha posters, including sites in Oxford Road in Waterloo, Hawthorne Road in Litherland, New Strand Station in Bootle, Asda at Aintree, and on the approach roads to Liverpool city centre.

Here in Crosby a course is running at St Luke's Church, Liverpool Road, Crosby, on Thursday afternoons (1:00 to 3:00 pm) or Monday evenings (7:30 to 9:30 pm), starting on Thursday 26 September and Monday 30 September.

If you would like more information about this course, or future events, please contact the parish office.

You can find out more about Alpha by visiting www.alphacourse.org.

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this page was last modified on 11 September 2002