Alpha Conference Fact File

Alpha is now running in 110 countries around the world in all types of settings an environments, from Poland to Peru.

There are now eighteen National Alpha Offices around the world working in partnership with the Alpha Office in London: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Kenya, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, Zimbabwe.

Five new offices were appointed during 1999 - Denmark, Singapore, Hong Kong, Netherlands and Finland. There are plans to open offices in the near future in France and Austria.

Australia, Canada, and USA all passed the 1,000 course mark in 1999, and Germany have hit over 200 courses.

In 1999, Alpha courses were registered for the first time in Malta, Cuba, Myanmar, Lithuanian, Estonia, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Monaco, Rwanda, Peru, Kazakhstan, Honduras, Ecuador, Morocco, Barbados, Angola, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Guyana, Bahamas, Lebanon, Slovakia, Panama, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Suriname, Libya and Jamaica.

Father Raniero Cantalamessa, Preacher to the Papal Household, spoke warmly about the Alpha course at a conference attended by Nicky Gumbel in Germany, describing the course as 'a return to the fundamentals of the Christian faith.'

The biggest ever Alpha conference was held in Melbourne, Australia October with 1235 delegates attending.

The first Alpha conference aimed specifically at the Salvation Army and Methodist denominations were held in the UK and were considered a great success by leaders of the respective churches.

The United States help its first Roman Catholic Alpha conference in Balimore when delegates were welcomed by Cardinal William Keller, Archbishop of Baltimore, by video.

An 'Integrating Alpha into the church' conference at Holy Trinity Brompton in November was attended by 270 delegates.

Source : Alpha news newspaper
Author : Unknown