By Sally Start

WHEN Stephanie and I met, we just seemed to click right away. I was immediately struck by her beauty - her piercing grey green eyes, and her unique sense of style.

But it was something more about this young woman that intrigued me - a certain fragility that belied the confidence she exuded.

When I learned more about her past, I realized why. Leaving home at 15, she had fended for herself for years. She had been involved in the club and drug scene, and some unsavoury relationships. But now God was doing a wonderful work in her heart.

From a broken past to a productive present, Stephanie is a walking example of how God uses Alpha powerfully to draw people into authentic Jesus-centred life within the Christian community.

She'd heard about Alpha before she came west from Manitoba; and when she got to Vancouver, she saw posters and billboards everywhere: Alpha, Alpha, Alpha. It was as if God was speaking to her.

She decided to go to a local church that had the signs outside, and ducked into the back - trying not to get noticed, or to have a relationship with anyone.

"I'd never done church before," she says, "and was just scoping it out." When the Alpha Course was announced, she decided to give it a try.

At the first meeting, Stephanie was skeptical at first, as the people in her small group were so different from her. But in spite of her reservations, she couldn't help warming to them when she started realizing these people were legitimately authentic.

She had been doing everything she could to keep people at arms length. But the love she experienced at Alpha broke through her defenses. "I wasn't trusting people, as a result of my past," she says. "Having people actually care about what I thought or said or felt was a different experience for me. I'd grown up in the system as a kid without this whole family mentality." Sitting around the table at Alpha was like having the family she'd never known.

Continue article >>

A key part of Alpha, in which participants spend a weekend focusing on the Holy Spirit, had a big impact on Stephanie. God convicted her about the living arrangement she had with a man at that time.

"I realized I shouldn't be living with this dude. My thinking started shifting as a result of me submitting to God." But leaving him was very traumatic, and Stephanie ended up in a women's shelter just around Christmas time.

It was then that her small group really became family to her. They prayed, they supported her financially - and one couple took her into their home.

"It really overwhelmed me," says Stephanie, "because I'd never had people actually care when I was in trouble - and I have been in a lot of trouble a lot of times, and didn't have anyone ever care. I realized they were for real - and they loved God too! They made me feel loved and cared about; and those relationships have been foundational in the development of my relationship with God."

Seeing this kind of authenticity encouraged Stephanie to get plugged in, and become active in the church, serving on Alpha and as a worship leader. She has grown in her life with Christ, in many ways.

For one thing, she admits that she once dressed pretty scandalously. "Over the years," she notes, "Jesus has helped me wear more clothes!" More importantly, she now has a heart to minister to the hurting and addicted in her city.

"I think Alpha's amazing," she says. "It's a great way to invite people to just check out Jesus, and to develop those relationships that are very hard to come by these days - relationships that you won't just find in a club or a pub or around the drug scene."

I thank God for the Alpha Course, which allowed my friend Stephanie to be embraced by Jesus and his church. Many thousands of Stephanies have attended an Alpha course in Canada. By God's grace, there will be many more.

Written by Sally Start, long-time director of Alpha Canada, who now heads up the Alpha Foundation. For an Alpha Course near you, go to: www.alphacanada.org.

March 12/2009