You Alpha Series
As many of you know, I am a fan of the Alpha Series. It allows all types of people to explore the claims of Christianity in something that is altogether too rare these days, a low-pressure environment. I believe that if we trust The Holy Spirit, we can have conversations about Christ in this way, letting God do His work on His timetable.
Alpha has been wildly successful around the world and they have created various courses tailored to specific audiences. One of those courses is the Youth Alpha Series. I’m currently leading one of the courses and here is what I have learned.
The Youth Alpha Series is shorter than the original Alpha Series. Some of the videos are less than half an hour. This works well for the group that I am leading; they are teenagers and getting to the point, rather than providing a lot of details has proven to be helpful. The content is still relatively the same as the original Alpha Series, just lighter on details.
Also, the Youth Alpha Series is less serious than the original Alpha Series. Some of the stories that are more emotional or share grittier details of a life lived before conversion are omitted. It’s not like Sesame Street, more like a safe youth group product, even for kids who are in middle school.
The Youth Alpha Series does feature some unnecessary youth group corniness and some participants may roll their eyes, but it’s not out of place. It may resonate with some youth. You know your youth better than anyone else, so assess accordingly.
The Youth Alpha Series could be run anywhere… in a home, at a church, in a coffee shop, nearly any place where you have a monitor or TV, you can run the course. Other than the shorter format, it is very similar to the original Alpha Series.
I’ve found that the Youth Alpha Course works best as a refresher for kids who have already converted to Christianity or a conversation starter for kids who are not Christians yet. Due to the shorter format and the natural struggle that kids might have making a decision to convert to Christianity, I believe the low-pressure approach continues to work best with the Youth Alpha Course. Think of the videos as conversation starters, with the hope that those conversations lead to reflection and that reflection then leads to more action-oriented conversation. This is well-suited to a life-on-life setting, rather than the original Alpha Course, which often has participants that the hosts never see again. If you are a youth leader in any organization, you could lead this Youth Alpha Series and then patiently watch the fruit of it come up over a period of months or even years.
The Youth Alpha Series is free online or can be found by searching YouTube.