Alpha Online
Engage with people who wouldn’t usually come to church – online.
Alpha is a series of interactive sessions that freely explore the basics of the Christian faith. Last year, approximately 30,000 churches and organisations ran Alpha with over 1.3 million participants.
Benefits of running Alpha Online
Reaches new people
More people than ever can join your Alpha and the gospel becomes more accessible when you share it online.
Reaches young people
Young people are more likely to try and run Alpha because of the flexibility of hosting online.
Grows strong leaders
Places responsibility into the hands of your team.
Impacts lives
Jesus is transforming lives through Alpha online.
Choose how to run Online
Alpha on Zoom
A short guide on running Alpha online.
AlphaNow
Alpha’s new video conferencing platform.
The Complete Guide to Alpha Online gives you all the tips and tricks you need to run a successful Alpha Online.
Alpha Online Top Tips
Hospitality
- Ask all guests to be on video.
- Ask all guests to join in a quiet environment if possible
- Ask all guests to unmute during discussion. (Unless in a noisy setting). This allows for a more organic, free-flowing conversation.
- Ask guests to not use green screen backgrounds to create a more natural environment.
Logistics
Internet Connection: If you are hosting Alpha Online, make sure you have a strong internet connection. If possible, plug directly into an ethernet cable.
Short and Sweet: Churches have found that in an online format, people start to lose interest at around the one-hour mark. We recommend keeping the full session to 1 hour or 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Session Engagement
Ensure either the course host or group host is engages with guests from the beginning of the online session – saying hello to people, asking questions, telling jokes. Avoid the silent downtime to keep excitement and enthusiasm high.
Host Preparation
Prior to the Alpha session, hosts should have all video files and discussion questions ready, as well as access to the digital solution the church has chosen. Churches have found that guests tend to get more vulnerable, more quickly online. Prepare your hosts so they can expect this.
Chat functionality
Encourage hosts, helpers, and guests to utilize the chat functionality to comment and ask questions during the video as well as during discussion time when others are talking.
Heavier Email Communication
Send weekly emails re-capping last week’s talk/discussion and ask guests to share their thoughts via email. Make sure to check in if someone missed a night.
Testimonials
Running Alpha at The Elevation Church has enabled us as a church to engage seekers and young believers in discussions that deepen their understanding of the basic tenets of our Christian faith – thereby helping them to gain stability, and in turn deepening our faith as a church family.
