Vision

The vision of Alpha in the workplace is to connect people in the marketplace to God, in a manner that will lead to transformed lives, transformed businesses, transformed communities, and a transformed nation.

What is Alpha in the Workplace?

Alpha in the Workplace is a 15-session practical introduction to the Christian faith done in a relaxed and no pressure environment. Guests listen to a talk and discuss what they have heard. Questions are welcome and people are free to give their personal views.

The weekly sessions can be done during one-hour lunches, or in the evening after work when people are more relaxed. In lunch sessions, each talk is around 20 minutes, and guests have their meals while listening. In evening sessions, each talk is about 40 minutes and are typically done after a late high-tea. After each talk, guests break into small groups to discuss the talk and any questions, thoughts, and objections that they may have. This discussion time is conducted in such a way that everyone is free to ask or say whatever they wish. Lunch sessions are done in an hour and evening sessions are usually done in two hours.

Where have Alpha for Workplace courses been run?

Sites that have run Alpha in the Workplace include: BooksforLife, YTL Group, Sunway Medical Centre, Shell Damansara, Shell Cyberjaya, HSBC KL’s Christian Fellowship, HSBC PJ in PJEFC, Atria Shopping Centre, a major IT company, a major conglomerate, Jobstreet, and more.

Where permission can be obtained from management (as is often the case in the interest of supporting diversity), workplace courses are ideally conducted in the office. Where permission cannot be obtained, marketplace christians have often started courses in cafes or restaurants for their colleagues, as done by a group in Penang Free Trade Zone. In Shell Cyberjaya, they have opened their Alpha course to people from other companies.

Training

Alpha Malaysia has trainers that can equip Alpha teams to run workplace Alpha courses. Your Alpha team can also join training-days conducted in local churches, since the training to run Alpha in churches, offices and homes is similar  with the exception of the Planning Module. To find out when upcoming training events will take place, you can view the training calendar here. You can also call the Alpha Malaysia office for details. If no training events are scheduled in your area, then training can be specially requested by your team. To optimise the time of trainers, we usually recommend that an Introduction to the Alpha Course be done first for multiple churches and christian fellowships in your vicinity, so as many as possible are aware of what the course is about and can consider attending the training.

One Administrator's Story

Last September, four doctors at Sunway Medical Centre began an Alpha course for the nurses, medical technicians, secretaries and reps there. The course began with a cup of tea at 5:30pm each week, then the talk, discussion time, and they finished with dinner at 7pm. Doctor Samuel Ong shares his experience here:

16th September 2009: Dr Hendrick and I were novices, but we had this thought of starting Alpha at the hospital where we worked. Dr Kim, Dr Suren and Jennifer joined in and the idea soon became reality. Yet up to the day before we were to begin, we hardly knew how many (or few) were coming, and I was still sending out invitations, in person and to my Facebook contacts.

On Wednesday evening, one by one, they trickled in; some familiar, others strangers. We said, “hello”, smiled and shook hands, and mingled as best as we could over a cup of tea. 40 came! Hendrick began with some words of welcome and introduced the Alpha course. Then I led in singing and we sang just the one song: Amazing Grace!

Each week, the people continued to come, about 30. We were surprised! There were so many, especially women, that we had to call for help. Kim, Jane, Rosaline and Gay, all fellow Jesus-lovers, came to lend a hand. We were short-handed and God provided.

4th November 2009 (The Holy Spirit sessions): Nicky Gumbel had finished speaking on “How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit?” Then we broke into two groups, one for men and the other women, for prayer and ministry. Quite a few came up for prayer, and a young lady committed her life to Jesus Christ!

Conclusion: At first we thought perhaps a dozen might turn up. But God brought a crowd, even folks from outside the hospital. There was a palpable sense of Christian fellowship brewing. A young man asked, “What’s after Alpha? Can we have some kind of fellowship and bible study?” A man from Sabah spoke of how he had wandered  away from the Lord but this Alpha course had brought him back on track. A lady doctor was moved to take on a more active role in her family devotions, and her children were taken aback! God’s word went forth and lives turned around.

What people say

“Through Alpha, I have discovered that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is my hope to see many come to the Father through Jesus and Alpha is a good platform for that purpose.” - Philip Ng, CEO, Far East Organisation

“Alpha has really enriched my Christian life at work!” - Tan Hien Ming, Distribution and Pipeline Manager, Exxonmobil

“Alpha serves as a bridge between evangelistic organisations and churches. For example, at the Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship, we share the Gospel, have testimonies and people come to the Lord. But it is a different type of culture from the Church. We use Alpha as a ‘halfway house’ to help people get acclimatised before they go to church.” - Hugo Chan, Director, Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship, Hong Kong

“What I find amazing about the Alpha Course is the unity it brings to all Christians. Christians of all denominations worked together to run Alpha in the Workplace. It was a wonderful experience to share together our common faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” - Datin Kathleen Chew Wai Lin, Group Legal Advisor, YTL Corporation Bhd

“60-70% of pre-believers come to faith. Backslidden ones come back to God. What is amazing is seeing lives beginning to transform during the course itself. And seeing folks desiring to find God’s specific purpose for each of them. “ Low Mei Ling, BooksforLife (a bookshop that has run Alpha for the past four years).

“8 came back to the Lord in our last course. Christians were rejuvenated and each batch of guests went on to serve in the next batch. We are now seen as a place where there are listening ears and tender loving care. We don’t want to be just Christians having fellowship with each other. Now even people from other companies nearby like DHL are joining us.” Jerome Welch, Shell Cyberjaya

“2 out of 3 of our guests were saved! Alpha is easy to run. Just pack lunch boxes, eat, listen and discuss. We plan to start the next one again when we have cared and prayed enough, and God shows us who to invite.” May, a major IT company

“6 got saved and all Christians were rejuvenated in our first course! The anointing was great during the Holy Spirit sessions. Two came to the Lord then. We had a Christmas do and invited 200-300 colleagues for an evangelistic talk and makan. New believers  from our first course will attend the next Alpha and those touched but undecided were also invited to join Alpha again to explore further. New and old believers were energised to volunteer.” Benny Chew, team member in a major conglomerate, now running their second Alpha course with 20 regular guests.

“In the Atria Shopping Centre course, we had 20-25 guests each session. One came to faith, and another returned to the Lord with her life being touched as she was being prayed for. Yet another young believer, whose husband is not supportive of her faith, found herself so blessed to be able to attend the course and learn more about God that she was often moved to tears. The host team comprised people from different churches who were blessed to watch the Lord at work!” Cynthia Wong, Course Leader