Let's Get Ready For Alpha!
5 Practical Tips to Get You Inviting!
Gavin Rodgers | Mon 10th Aug 2026
We have reached that time of year again! It’s time for Jubilee to get into full Alpha mode!
For the past 28 years we have been running Alpha courses across Teesside, and over the years many, many lives have been transformed as people have found faith through Alpha. As believers, we are encouraged to share our faith and make disciples, and we are confident that Alpha is a really effective way of doing that.
It isn’t just in Teesside that we have seen the impact of Alpha. In 2024, 2.1 million people globally attended an Alpha course, with some 8,000 courses running in the UK alone!* Alpha isn’t just a Jubilee Teesside thing; it is a global phenomenon.
You may have seen over the past few weeks that we have been putting lots of effort into promoting Alpha around the Jubilee Centre through posters, leaflets and banners, as well as online through social media, videos and events. You may also have noticed that we have put the ‘Bible Conversations: Teesside’ logo onto our Alpha leaflets. We are hoping that lots of curious people will attend Alpha after seeing the ‘Bible Conversations’ advertising over the next few weeks.
Starting this Sunday, we will also be hearing testimonies from recent Alpha guests on Sunday mornings. We can’t wait for that!
We are really trying to get the word out about Alpha. BUT the most effective way of getting people to come to Alpha is through personally inviting them.
Research shows that 2 in 3 people invited to an Alpha course say yes! That has certainly been my experience over the years. When you invite people to Alpha, they often say yes! Free food, friendly conversation and a chance to meet new people — what is there to say no to?!
We want to encourage you to really step out in faith this time and invite as many people as you can to try Alpha. We are running two separate Alpha courses this September, one during the day and our usual evening Alpha. Perhaps this opens up an opportunity to invite people who you wouldn’t usually think of inviting?
How do I describe Alpha?
Some of you may be really excited about inviting your friends to Alpha, but you might not be entirely sure how to describe it. One of the biggest reasons we don’t invite people to Alpha is simply because we don’t know what to say!
Here are three descriptions that might get you thinking:
Short - Alpha is a series of interactive sessions that freely explore the basics of the Christian faith.
Medium- Alpha is a series of interactive sessions that explore life, faith and meaning. Each talk looks at a different question around the Christian faith and is designed to spark conversation.
Long- Alpha is an opportunity to explore life’s big questions together in an open, informal environment. Each talk looks at a different question around the Christian faith and is designed to create conversation. Alpha is run all around the globe, online and in person. It’s free and everyone is welcome.
Whenever you describe Alpha to your friends and family, make sure to emphasise that it is free, there is no pressure and everybody is welcome!
Top tips for inviting
As we build up to Alpha, we want to give you a few ideas to help you invite people along.
Share, share, share!
We have been sharing lots of posts on social media about Alpha. Why not take the time to share these onto your personal newsfeed as a way of making your friends aware of our Alpha courses?
What is your story?
Why not try sharing a short video of your testimony on social media? Or, if you prefer, write it out! Often people resonate best with stories, and you never know where it might lead.
Take some leaflets
We have thousands of leaflets here at the Jubilee Centre, so feel free to take as many as you like to give to friends, family, colleagues and neighbours. We will also be doing a leaflet drop in early September.
Send a digital invite
Take a photo of the invite, or simply share the Alpha event page with your friends on WhatsApp. A personal WhatsApp message is a really quick and effective way of getting the word out.
Think about your normal week
Who do you regularly see? A colleague? A neighbour? Someone you play sport with? Someone you've been chatting to at the gym or coffee shop?
We can sometimes think that we need to invite our closest friends, but what about the people we regularly bump into? Who is already part of your normal week who you could invite to come along?
Prayer is key!
Tips and ideas for inviting friends are useful, but the real power behind an invitation is prayer.
We believe in the power of prayer. As we lift people up to God, something shifts and we begin to see breakthrough. That is why we want to encourage everyone to pray for those people they would love to see come to Alpha.
A really simple way of doing this, which Alpha encourages, is through the 11:02 Prayer Campaign. This comes from Luke 11:2, where Jesus teaches us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done.”
The idea is simple: pick three names and set an alarm for 11:02 every day (AM or PM!) to pray for those three people.
Why not give it a go for the next few weeks?
So here is the challenge: Pick three people, pray for them, invite them, then leave the rest to God.
I am in faith for this to be our biggest season of Alpha ever at Jubilee!
Gavin
*Statistics taken from the Alpha campaign guide, available at run.alpha.com.