Our parish is going to use Alpha for the first time. I was very surprised at some of the things I have read here. We have done many “programs”. I have participated in:
Renew (we skipped Renew 2000 - was problematic)
Disciples in Mission
Why Catholic
It seems like there are always critics, but the fruit of these (for me anyway) was the introduction of Small Christian Communities - I have been meeting with the group that started with Disciples in Mission ever since it started. Many of the participants would host additional small groups - so that during the “program” there would be multiple groups meeting at convenient times. I have tried hosting groups - but my location is not convenient. I have tried hosting groups at the parish center - but had very little participation. We tried Christlife (I was not able to attend - the days/times were not convenient). Not sure why we abandoned it in favor or Alpha. I had not heard of The Journey until now.
Our pastor is very devout & conservative about most things, so I am surprised that our parish is embracing a controversial program. My small group is doing a “test run” of Alpha this fall. Probably the most problematic thing I saw were the recommended readings at the end of each module - so I can suggest that we modify these.
