“There was a whole element of unity, which was really important.”

Elizabeth Mabie
Spur Ottawa Correspondent

Fall 2017 welcomed an enormous ecumenical Alpha campaign in Ottawa, where the turnout was so successful that Alpha leaders can only wonder how to build on the momentum.

“In my mind we’re just reaching the end of that first phase,” says Bob Davies, co-chair of the Capital Region Alpha Campaign (CRAC). “Now another phase must begin: ‘What does a united regional Alpha effort look like over the next few years?’”

The region saw participation double this year, with 39 churches running Alpha. Independent groups also ran Alpha, so combined there were 80 registered Alpha experiences operating in Ottawa by the end of November, 2017.

“There was a whole element of unity, which was really important,” says Brent Daniel, co-chair of CRAC. “By ‘important’ I mean the intention wasn’t that this be a one-and-done thing, but something that planted a seed through our cooperative efforts, not just around Alpha, but also for other things in our city.”

The end result was that multiple denominations took part in this grand Alpha initiative; from Anglican to Pentecostal, Salvation Army to and the Catholic Archdiocese.

“We encouraged the church to invite non-believers and new believers.”

On February 11, CRAC hosted a reception at Kanata Baptist Church to celebrate the thriving season, thank the volunteers and donors, acknowledge student leaders for Alpha Youth, and pray for the next phases of the campaign.

One element the team feels is key to seeing revival is ensuring the Church prepares itself to support and train new Christians.

“I am of the mind that God is not going to entrust the Church with the nurture of a massive number of new disciples for whom they are not prepared to care,” says Davies.

At Woodvale Pentecostal, the team strongly emphasized the role of invitation. They stressed that to invite someone into one’s church, the church itself must be an inviting and accommodating place.

“So the stage is set well for a team to take this further.”

“We encouraged the church to invite non-believers and new believers,” says Woodvale’s Alpha director, Lakshmi Rutnam. “I think, just the fact that people have been exposed to [the Alpha Campaign] probably encouraged the church to invite more people. We had a storm of people coming in the first two weeks. There were 40 people!”

Rutnam says the Woodvale team was initially unprepared for this response. Fortunately, God provided them with volunteers in the nick of time.

The CRAC team says the impact across the city, with people of all ages and backgrounds, was certainly more effective than anyone could have hoped for. They are now launching off that momentum with a Youth Alpha movement in schools across Ottawa.

“I do think we accomplished that first-phase task,” explains Davies. “So the stage is set well for a team to take this further, perhaps not with the massive injection of cash we received from Alpha Canada, but with a developed, multi-year rhythm that could become a part of how churches intentionally join together to reach the capital region for Christ.”