Beth’s Story – The simple invitation
On assignment to create a new Global Alpha Invitation, the team read through stories of people who have been impacted by Alpha across the UK, coming across Beth in Swansea. The alarm sounding at 4 am was chipping but brought us to the sun rising over Caswell Bay.
Beth’s story is a snapshot of a bigger picture. Alpha is running all over the Globe, including the breadth of the UK and likely a local church near you. We followed the life of Beth and her work in the community for merely a couple of days, but in that time saw first-hand the relationships impacted by Beth’s invitation to try Alpha.
Anyone can find a little of themselves within Beth’s story as a guest. No wonder she is the face of invitation for churches, to invite their local community to explore life, faith and meaning. Now, running Alpha as part of a team in her own community, Beth has paid forward the act of a simple invitation, so others have the opportunity to say, ‘Why not?’
Beth creates her own setting for Alpha with a team based in a local pub. Not just an escape for the wind burnt tourist, the function room doubles as a weekly venue. After the local church posted Beth’s invitation video on Facebook and Beth moved past embarrassment to re-share it, an old friend sent her a message asking if she could come along. Good grub and a pint aided for digesting the Alpha Film Series each week and served up a comfortable fullness for everyone to share their thoughts.
Once the barrier to the invitation is broken, it seems there is a wake of transformation.
‘After I hadn’t spoken to [her] in a really long while, she gave her life to God in the first couple of weeks.'
Inviting a friend to Alpha does involve stepping out, but it doesn’t require a grand gesture. You can start today by following us at @alphacourseuk and sharing the good stuff which you think they will like. Or, if you’re part of a church we’re here to support you in providing a piece of the invitation to your community by downloading the latest content from Alpha Builder.