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ALPHA NEWS
January - April 2011 The Alpha Singapore Newsletter
BLESSED BY GOD
THE WORK CONTINUES!
让我再一次经历祂 在主里,没有什么是巧合,一切祂早已预备好。回国
的那段时间,自己都感觉远离主了。感谢主,通过上
次的启发课程,让我再一次遇到了祂。
巴耶黎巴堂 杨慧 还清晰记得在第三讲《耶稣为什么死》中,甘力克牧
师生动恰当的比喻让我听得津津有味。而当他一再强
调,耶稣是为了洗清我们的罪才死的,我的心被深深
地撼动了。亦为自己前段时间自己走下坡路的属灵生
命而倍感羞愧,一种揪心的痛在心头难以平息。虽然
之前在教会有快两年的时间,参加过主日学课程和门
徒训练,却从来没有一次那么真切的感受过主耶稣那
伟大的牺牲换来我们宝贵的救恩。在录像快结束的时
候,我跟着甘力克牧师做了祷告,也下定了决心要回
到主身边。当晚回到家后,更是降服在主面前,求祂
来赦免我。也是那天我得到了一股新力量。
The following people attended an Alpha Renewed hope and peace “I view the
Course at the Church of St Ignatius, Alpha Course as having been a bridge for me to recon-
nect myself with Christ and the Church.
and here are their stories.
The talks by Nicky Gumbel were enlightening and
Rediscovery of faith “Alpha was not a thought-provoking. They made me think of how little
journey I had planned on taking. I signed my husband knowledge I had of my faith and of how and when I had
up, thinking that he being unsure about Christianity fallen short as a Christian all this time.
despite being a baptised Catholic, needed it.
Through the small group sharing, I learnt more about be-
In the end, God showed me how He makes all things ing in a contributing community where members could
new. I ended up joining the Alpha Course, growing in my share and help other members of the small group to un-
relationships with God and with my husband. derstand the meaning and messages behind each topic
that the Alpha Course brought up each week.
In turn, my husband, whom I doubted would make it
past the first few weeks, attended almost all the I feel much better with renewed hope and peace. I had
sessions. Through the grace of God, he is now on a the wonderful opportunity to come to know the Good
journey of rediscovery of his faith and I myself have a News better. I have been inspired by the course and
renewed awareness of the Holy Spirit working in us. now can view Christ as a true and real presence in my
life.
A big thank you to the Alpha facilitators through whom
the Holy Spirit has been working - their kindness, I also benefited so much from friends I’ve made through
patience and constant prayer has brought back some of Alpha and the strong faith they have that has reinforced
His lost sheep.” - Hsin Li Chia my own faith. I am thankful for having had the oppor-
tunity to jump-start my faith and am grateful to all the
selfless people of St. Ignatius for providing that avenue
of opportunity.” - Michele Niap
To prepare for the trip, the team went through two brief-
ing and training sessions with Rev Then which were
designed to equip these experienced Alpha leaders with
the training content and delivery methods appropriate
to training pastors and leaders in another congregation
outside their own church in a foreign country.
Upon their arrival the GAT team bonded quickly with the
pastors and leaders who were from the United Evan-
gelical Mission (UEM), an umbrella organization for five
Lutheran denominations in North Sumatra. humility and love amongst the participants were very
clear for everyone to see.”
Over the course of two days, the GAT team covered all
the basic Alpha team training modules, such as What is “The most important aspect of this entire training pro-
Alpha?, Principles of Alpha, Leading Small Groups, Pas- gram was how nearly all the pastors and leaders devel-
toral Care and Ministry on Alpha, including the Practicali- oped a new zeal and passion about evangelism at the
ties of Alpha. end of the two days,” said Nijendra. “They were all very
excited about starting Alpha Courses in their churches.”
Apart from presentations, the GAT team also conducted
sample sessions where the delegates were put into small Philip said, “The local team was wonderful – hospitable
groups to simulate actual Alpha sessions. The delegates and helpful in every way. What caught my attention
also watched two of Nicky Gumbel’s talks on DVD which was how they let their hair down as they learnt about
were translated into Bahasa Indonesia. and played ice-breaker games. They were happy, full of
joy and involved in a way that we do not frequently see
“The Holy Spirit worked powerfully. Many of the partici- in Singapore. Praise God for their willingness to ‘get
pants expressed a lot of joy during the ice breakers and into the spirit’ of the games, during which God certainly
over meals,” said James. “It has been a long time since blessed them. It was a privilege to serve with the teams,
I have seen people, some of whom were quite elderly, both Singapore and local, as we could feel the leading of
enjoying themselves so much over a simple game. The the Holy Spirit in what we did for the short time we were
there.”
IS
about the fundamental importance of the marriage relationship, and the way
W
has certainly been opened to Nicky and Sila Lee for such a time as this. Co-
inciding with Nicky and Sila’s visit was the release of their book, The Marriage
Book, which has had an initial printing of 5,000 copies after it was approved by
China’s publications agency. The Marriage Course DVD and Manual were also
approved for distribution, and the resources will now be available to the public
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through secular bookstores and via online channels - including China’s ver-
sions of Ebay and Amazon.
The hope now is that couples, groups and churches will purchase the books
H
and DVDs and run the course themselves.
W
To find out how to start a Marriage Course,
please email: marriage@alpha.org.sg
W
resources@alpha.org.sg
living
at Holy Trinity Brompton in 1998
presented by Nicky Gumbel. It is and is
designed to be used as a follow-up
course
to attend a six-session follow-up course called ‘The Stranger on the
to Alpha and is ideal for use in small
groups.
DVD1
DVD 2
better. Alpha coordinator Lyndon Gan said “Several of our guests have
• New Attitude
• New Responsibilities
• New Resources
• New Generosity
had prior exposure to Christ but did not attend church. After the Alpha
• New Friendships
DVD SET
An official follow-up to the Alpha
Each talk is approx. 35min in length
course
Course, they are attending church regularly and even joining a bible
study.” LWLDVD
7470
alpha.org
© Alpha International 2007
“We have several programmes that help our Alpha graduates integrate
into the life and ministry of the church,” said Edwin Seow, Alpha Coor-
dinator of Charis Methodist Church. “On Sundays, there are follow-up
classes in the Alpha-style where we use materials such as ‘A Life Worth
Living’. They also have an option to join Alpha Ripples which is our
dedicated cell group catering to Alpha “graduates” or they can join a
church cell group”.
In gratitude to God for His blessings, I would like to support Alpha Singapore:
One-time Donation: $ _____________________________________
Please mail to: Alpha Singapore, 179A Thomson Road, Goldhill Centre, Singapore 307626
By God’s grace Alpha Singapore is celebrating our 11th anniversary this year. Alpha Golf Day
Date: Friday, 6 May (Raffles Country Club)
Our local ministry has expanded beyond our expectations into the Asia Pacific
region. Words fail to capture the length, breadth and scope of God at work Youth Alpha Introduction
through Alpha and the complementary courses – transforming lives by the Date: Saturday, 26 March
power of the Holy Spirit; marriages are being restored and young people are
finding significance in the Lord. Youth Alpha Training
Date: Saturday, 2 April
All the glory, honour and blessing belong to our God! Register for all these events online at
Vinnie Tang - Acting National Director alpha.org.sg/friends/events-registration
Course Name (choose one): Alpha Course / Alpha for Prisons / Alpha in the Catholic Context / Senior Alpha / Youth Alpha / Alpha in
the Workplace / The Marriage Course / The Marriage Preparation Course
Language (choose one): Bahasa Malaysia / Chinese / Chinese - for PRC students & working adults / English / Tamil
[Newsletter Publisher: Alpha Singapore | Chief Editor: Vinnie Tang | Editor: Chiam Ai-Ling | Printer: Hock Cheong Printing Pte Ltd]