NEW Prayer Videos

Amp up prayer on your Alpha with these three new trainings.

Praying Together Before Alpha

Alpha is perfectly designed to fail unless God shows up. In this video, we walk through a simple, biblical model you can practically follow when praying together as an Alpha team.

Praying for Guests on Alpha

This video aims to empower you to pray for guests on Alpha by giving you a simple model. We hope you become a vessel for the tangible love of God—on earth, just like it is in heaven!

Leading Prayer Ministry on Alpha

If you are planning to lead prayer ministry on the Alpha Weekend, this video is for you! Learn how to wait on the Holy Spirit and create a safe space for Alpha guests to receive from the Lord.

Get the Videos Today

Would you like to access these videos at no cost to you? Simply register your Alpha course, and all three videos will be easily found in “Learning Center” under Prayer Training.

Why is prayer so essential to Alpha?

For someone who has never experienced the love of Jesus, prayer can change everything. 

God so loved the world that he gave his only son—this is good news for everyone. And when we pray and invite the Holy Spirit, the love of God is poured into our hearts. Suddenly, the message of God’s love is not just for the whole world but now is uniquely for you. By the Holy Spirit, we encounter the living Jesus and his love becomes real in our lives.  

Alpha is dependent on the presence of God because only God can open people’s hearts. And when we pray, we have the promise of God’s presence.  

Prayer Quote

“We put a lot of effort into running Alpha really well but saw very few people from outside the church. Nine months ago, we began meeting regularly to pray at our church, and this provided an opportunity for united, consistent prayer for Alpha. We are now seeing significant change. Nearly every one of the 24 people on our Alpha is not a Christian, and there is a genuine openness to the Gospel. We are aware of God being present in a way that he has not been before. Very importantly, he seems to be peeling off some of the things in our own lives that have hindered us from being effective communicators of the Gospel.”

Anna
Alpha Administrator

How do we pray for Alpha?

Alpha is not just evangelism—it is Holy Spirit fueled evangelism—and prayer is the engine. Here are five different ways you can catalyze Christ-centered, mission-minded prayer for your Alpha: 

Mobilizing the Church to Pray 

Even though not everyone at your church will volunteer on Alpha, everyone can pray for Alpha. Whether during Sunday services or a weekly prayer gathering, the church body can be mobilized to intercede and root your Alpha in prayer.

Luke 11:02

Before we invite guests to explore faith on Alpha, we pray about who we will invite—prayer precedes the invitation. Luke 11:02 teaches us to pray ‘Your Kingdom come.’ At 11:02 a.m., each day for 21 days, we invite the entire church to pray for their city and for three people they want to know Jesus.

STEP 1: Invite the congregation to write down the names of three people they would like to invite to explore faith.

STEP 2: Have those participating set a daily alarm for 11:02 a.m. as a reminder to pray for their three people. [Luke 11:02]

STEP 3: Encourage everyone to be open and expectant to see how God might use them to invite their people to Alpha.

Empowering Your Team  

Hosts, helpers, and volunteers meet together before each Alpha to pray. Hosts and helpers are best positioned to pray for the guests because they will come to know the names and needs of each individual in a way that no one else can. It is essential for hosts and helpers to pray regularly for the guests in their group.

Alpha Team Huddle Notes are designed to help you confidently lead your team before each session of Alpha—whether in person or online. The notes include prayer prompts, admin for that week, and small group coaching.

Establish a Prayer Team

While the hosts and helpers must take primary responsibility for praying for their guests, others in the church may also be willing to pray for Alpha. You can empower a prayer team by communicating regularly about specific needs and sharing what God is doing in each session. In return, ask the prayer team to share how they hear God speaking. The Alpha and prayer teams can often develop a truly wonderful ministry partnership.

Do you have a heart for prayer and Alpha? We invite you to be a part of a unique, behind-the-scenes intercessory prayer team for Alpha. Each month you receive an email with specific ways you can pray for Alpha in the United States and globally. Sign up today.

Prayer Ministry 

The work of the Holy Spirit and giving the guests an opportunity to receive prayer is crucial to Alpha. During the Alpha weekend, we talk about the person and work of the Holy Spirit in a relaxed setting. We then pray and ask God to send his Spirit—often seeing profound changes occurring in people’s lives as a result. It is only through the work of the Spirit that we see people give their lives to Christ, get excited about Jesus, and bring their friends to the next Alpha.

Prayer Changes Everything

Prayer on Alpha changed the lives of Kyle, Mayra, and Colton. Watch their stories: 

Colton’s Story
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Colton’s Story
Colton always had a voice in his head that caused him to doubt and question who Jesus is. After giving Alpha a try, he was encouraged to bring his questions and to read the Gospel of Matthew.
Mayra’s Story
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Mayra’s Story
Mayra moved from Mexico to Chicago, IL to travel and explore new things. When she arrived, life was hard and she settled into depression. A woman invited her to a group dinner with friends, and they were doing Alpha. This is her story.
Kyle’s Story
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Kyle’s Story
Kyle struggled with anger, depression, and thoughts of suicide. Watch the video to find out how Jesus changed the trajectory of Kyle’s life when a friend invited him to Alpha.
Colton's Story
Mayra's Story
Kyle's Story
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Partner Resources

Created by the team at 24-7 Prayer, the Prayer Course is an eight-week journey that will help you and your community to grow and deepen your prayer life. 

Following the success of the first Prayer Course, these five sessions go deeper, provoking honest conversation around the hardest and most personal questions we all ask about prayer. 

TryPraying is a seven-day guide for those who are not religious and don’t go to church. It helps people get started on a journey of faith with stories of answered prayer, ways to connect with God, and a guide to honest prayers. 

Español

Si eres un hablante principal de español, ¡estamos muy contentos de que estés aquí! ¡Hemos diseñado esta pista especialmente para ti!

Talleres en este Track

¿Cómo desarrollar la creatividad pastoral en tu equipo parroquial?

Speakers: Liliana Nariño, Directora Nacional, Alpha Colombia, and María Fernanda Acosta, Líder Regional, Alpha Ados

Presentaremos algunas nuevas técnicas que nos ayudan a crear una cultura de acogida y encuentro en la Parroquia.

¿Cómo alcanzar a la Generación Z Latina?

Speakers: Diego Profita, Regional Marketing And Digital Director Latin America at Alpha International, and Julian Avellaneda, Regional Alpha Youth Leader, Alpha Ados

Descubriremos algunas de las principales características de esta Generación más Abierta y trabajaremos en herramientas y estrategias para ser más efectivos en presentarles a Jesús.

¿Cómo construir una cultura invitacional en tu Iglesia?

Speakers: Diego Profita, Regional Marketing And Digital Director Latin America at Alpha International

Descubramos juntos como crear y fomentar en nuestras comunidades una cultura de invitación abordando

– Maneras en que la Iglesia puede fomentar la importancia de la invitación

– Maneras de cómo podemos guiar a nuestros equipos para que lo vivan

– Maneras de cómo poder identificar a las personas con mayor probabilidad de asistir

BEYOND THE WALLS

Inspiring and practical, learn how to bring the gospel everywhere you go and how to activate your church communities to see gospel opportunities beyond the walls of the church building. Hear stories of innovation and creativity, ecumenical and city-wide movements, and learn about what God is doing in unique contexts like prisons. With many workshops in this track, some are best suited for pastors and senior leaders, while others apply to anyone.

Workshops in this Track

Alpha in Criminal Justice System

Speakers: Audrey Hayes, Director of Volunteer Network, Alpha USA, and Benny Lopez, Prisons Coordinator, Alpha USA

There is an overlooked mission field in our own backyard, one full of people desperate for help, healing, and wholeness. It’s a place much of our society tends to dismiss, filled with people who believe they have been cast aside, and forgotten.

Alpha has been run in 630 prisons in 41 U.S. states. This course is brought to prisons and jails by dedicated churches and organizations who have run Alpha at their local church or parish and want to extend their reach even further. These volunteers tangibly show the love of Jesus to men and women that society had tossed away and labeled as unworthy, broken, dangerous, or beyond help. Through Alpha, prisoners are reminded that God does not label them—he loves them.

Join us in this workshop to hear stories and learn how to get started. You will be matched with a coach who will offer you support based on where you are in your prison ministry journey.

Unified City Alpha Initiative

Speakers: Seth Bazacas, Strategic City Director, New York, Alpha USA, and Shauna Pilgreen, Strategic City Director, Northern California, Alpha USA

What does it take to pull off a unified citywide Alpha launch? Join Strategic City Directors and Pastors Seth Bazacas (Wellspring Church NYC) and Shauna Pilgreen (Epic Church San Francisco) as they share their experiences of bringing a diverse group of churches into a shared vision, prayer night, weekly gatherings, and an overnight Alpha retreat. Hear stories of what worked and didn’t work and how both cities are gearing up for an even stronger launch in 2024!

Translating Jesus--A Crash Course for Sharing Your Faith Daily

Speakers: Shauna Pilgreen, Strategic City Director, Northern California, Alpha USA, and Ben Pilgreen, Lead Pastor, Epic Church San Francisco

As pastors and church leaders, we expect our attenders to share their faith. But do they? Come and imagine how your faith conversations can fuel an evangelism movement in your church.

Author and storyteller Shauna Pilgreen offers us a new way of evangelism using her latest book, Translating Jesus. She gets practical fast, teaching us two languages that lead to double-listening. Chances are high you’ll become bilingual in this workshop!

Shauna is joined by her husband Ben Pilgreen, pastor of Epic Church in San Francisco. Come, learn how a church can be winsome with culture without neglecting the gospel.

Fueling Creativity and Innovation in Evangelism

Speakers: Audrey Hayes, Director of Volunteer Network, Alpha USA, and Madison Campbell, Alpha Launch Director, Alpha USA

For innovative leaders who want their creativity to be fueled by the Spirit and to flood into their churches and communities. This will be a time of storytelling and dreaming about what God can do through creativity in our churches and Alpha courses. Come dream with us!

TRAINING LABS

These practical training workshops will help you learn how to run Alpha and how to make it the best it can be. Join us to experience the Alpha best practices of listening, radical hospitality, and dependence on the Holy Spirit. Select the workshops best suited for your stage of the Alpha journey to get the most from this track.

Workshops in this Track

Run Alpha--From a Course to a Culture (Mandarin interpretation available)

Speaker: Christian Downs, National Training Director, Alpha USA

Running Alpha is so much more than just a course, it is an opportunity to create space within your community and your church where people can belong before they believe. Run Alpha will help you see how this course is unique by focusing on the values of invitation, hospitality, listening, and dependence on the Holy Spirit.

Grow Alpha--Expand, Enhance, Empower (Mandarin interpretation available)

Speaker: Christian Downs, National Training Director, Alpha USA

This workshop will help you expand the culture, enhance your Alpha course with best practice insights, and empower your team. A common takeaway from this workshop is how Alpha can be more than a course and start to impact the rest of the church.

Creating a Culture Where Everyone is Invited to Alpha (Mandarin interpretation available)

Speaker: Christian Downs, National Training Director, Alpha USA

How do we get more guests on our Alpha? This is the question that comes up most often. In this workshop, we will explore what it looks like to bring the good news of Jesus to everyone… including those cast aside, neglected, or overlooked by society. We will name the fears that limit us, ways the church can help, and practical tips that everyone can put into practice to lead an invitational lifestyle.

Join our Global Director of Prayer, our National Director of Training, and special guests at this combined workshop to help more people receive an invite to explore the life-changing impact of the gospel.

CATHOLIC

Designed with our Catholic guests in mind, we will unpack the missional call of the Eucharistic Revitalization, sacred listening, and how to care for your soul in the ministry journey. This track could also benefit any Protestant ministry leaders in liturgical contexts.

Workshops in this Track

Nourishment for the Soul in the Journey of Ministry

Speakers: Sarah Kaczmarek, Director of Pastoral Ministry, Encounter Ministries, and Monica Martinez, National Director for Catholic Context, Alpha USA

How can we ensure we’re growing personally so that we are operating out of Christ’s strength and not our own?

Reviving Eucharistic Culture

Speaker: Monica Martinez, National Director for Catholic Context, Alpha USA

A time for meaningful reflection, conversation, and prayer around our missional call, awakened by the Eucharist. Together, we will unpack the meaning of the Eucharist as our source and summit of living our intentional discipleship.

Translating the Sacred

Speaker: Rick Grinstead, Director of Alpha Youth, Catholic Context

How do we fill the large gap once people have heard the gospel but have not yet acclimatized to parish life? How do we prepare the parish community to make space and build bridges, and how do we prepare guests who will be transitioning from Alpha to mass to sacramental formation? 

ENCOUNTER

This track is full of amazing main-stage speakers who will showcase the power of prayer in every generation, equip you to live a naturally supernatural life and train you to heal as Jesus did. Senior pastors, church leaders, non-profit leaders, this track is you!

Workshops in this Track

Learnings from Asbury on the Power of Prayer

Speaker: Angela Chadwick, Global Director of Prayer, Alpha USA

Alpha’s Global Director of Prayer will interview some of the spiritual leaders involved in the Asbury revival where a chapel worship service caught the attention of our country. You’ll hear stories of how the students were deeply moved by God through the simplest forms of worship and how the leaders made sure the only celebrity on stage was Jesus. You’ll also be amazed by the powerful breakthroughs in young people’s lives through the gentlest of prayers.

Additionally, we will explore how the resurgence of faith in one small American town is relevant to every person in the Church and how it shapes how we share the good news in a good way with this generation.

How to Facilitate Eternal Connections with Jesus

Speaker: Danielle Strickland, Spiritual Leader, Justice Advocate, Communicator, Peacemaker

Encounter is God’s favorite way to spiritual revelation. Why do we emphasize information-formation as our primary means of discipleship? What if we put more time, energy, and effort into facilitating more encounters? Be prepared to discuss together how cultivating curiosity becomes a means to do just that. We will talk techniques, experiences, and new ideas.

Everyday Miracles

Speakers: Dr. Chloe Swart, Associate National Director for Alpha UK, and Dr. Russo Swart, New Wine Cymru Prophetic and Healing Team

This workshop will look at how to heal the sick as a part of our everyday missional lives. Following Chloe’s PhD studying healing miracles in Wales, Chloe found that Christians in Wales were praying for their friends, family, and colleagues, in the gym, in the supermarket, at work; wherever they found themselves, as well as in church services, and Alpha courses. Healing is a missional tool that points toward Jesus. Unpack the theology of healing, while also hearing very practical teaching and demonstration of how to heal the sick in an everyday way.

YOUTH

If you are a student, work with middle or high school students, or just love young people and want their voices to shape the future of the Church, this track is for you! We’ll talk about empowering a generation to lead and will equip you to draw out the leadership of a generation to reach their peers through the new Alpha Youth Series and beyond.

Workshops in this Track

Navigating the New Alpha Youth Series

Speakers: Jordan Biere, National Director of Alpha Youth, Alpha USA, and Josh Penwell, National Associate Director of Alpha Youth, Alpha USA

Explore the the new Alpha Youth Series, discover the adjustments we’ve made to better reach Gen Z/Gen Alpha, and how to use this new series best to help young people discover and develop a relationship with Jesus.

Helping Young People Walk Naturally Supernatural

Speakers: Jordan Biere, National Director of Alpha Youth, Alpha USA, and Josh Penwell, National Associate Director of Alpha Youth, Alpha USA

Learn how to help young people operate in the power and authority of the Holy Spirit in a way that seems natural (not super weird) yet clearly supernatural. Help them discern the voice of the Lord, pray for healing, and grow in the prophetic voice.

From Guests to Leaders, Activating the Leadership Potential of Young People

Speakers: Jordan Biere, National Director of Alpha Youth, Alpha USA, and Josh Penwell, National Associate Director of Alpha Youth, Alpha USA

A practical guide on creating space for activating young people toward leadership to become bold, Spirit-filled witnesses. Learn how to empower young people to lead their own Alpha for their friends and how you can champion Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

FAITH AND JUSTICE

How should the Church respond in the face of injustice? What about in an election year? Could we show up to a polarized political world with the goodness of God like never before? If you are interested in learning how to navigate these complex issues, this track could help!

Workshops in this Track

Navigating the Waters of Faith and Politics

Speakers: John Wentz, Executive Director, Alpha USA, and Josh Williams, Associate National Director of Evangelism and Justice, Vineyard USA

This election year is ramping up to be as polarized as ever. Equip yourself and your teams to navigate the choppy waters of faith and politics during an election cycle. We have a massive opportunity to bring the goodness of God into these conversations or to leave people feeling alienated. Learn five top tips to help your conversations be filled with grace and truth and leave people feeling heard and honored.

Lessons in Evangelism from MLK’s nonviolent Movement

Speaker: Josh Williams, Associate National Director of Evangelism and Justice, Vineyard USA

How should the Church respond in the face of injustice? Hear how lessons from Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent movement provide tools to speak out against injustice while presenting a compelling case for the gospel. Josh Williams, associate national director for evangelism and justice for Vineyard USA will host this workshop where you will hear stories and learn tangible practices for engaging injustice while extending the invitation for people to encounter Jesus.

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