Several Baptist churches in Victoria’s north-west joined together to run an Alpha course in Term 2, with such positive outcomes that a second course has already started in Term 3. This is the first combined ministry of the new Regional Network Resource Hub, an initiative of the BUV Support Hub designed to provide on-the-ground assistance to churches as they seek to be on mission for Jesus.
“It was a brilliant time. The aspect that I was most excited about was seeing the collaboration between the churches on mission, rather than just trying to do mission on our own,” said Bendigo Baptist Church Senior Pastor Dave Lovell, who directs the Regional Hub. “We saw God at work in the ways the churches passionately got involved. A lot of people put their hands up to help and we worked together to divide up the different Alpha roles. These roles provided an amazing opportunity for people to grow in ministry leadership, and we are seeing this continue in the second course.”
Around 40 people were involved in Term 2, including up to 28 guests and 12 leaders each week. One lady came to faith on the Alpha weekend. Four of the guests came from an hour away in Wedderburn because they were so excited to attend. “It has certainly been profound in shaping people’s thinking about the Christian faith. There are lots of other little stories like that.”
To continue the momentum, the churches felt it was natural to run a second course this term, this time with around eight guests and 12 team members. “They were very eager to be part of it again and I’m looking forward to the stories that are going to come out of this next course. It’s great to be able to raise a capable and experienced pool of people who can continue Alpha in the coming years.”
Discipleship of new believers after the course will happen through natural conversations and the relationships built between the guests and the individual churches involved. The course was held at Bendigo Baptist Church’s Community Engagement facility, the MADCOW Hub (Make A Difference, Change Our World), which ministers to homeless people in the city.