‘Alpha’ as a Tool of Evangelism for Creating Christian Community in the Horizon Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church among South Asian Indians Living in Coppell, Texas: Challenges and Recommendations

Abstract

Alpha is a tool of evangelism that has been popular in its current form in the West, especially in the United Kingdom where it originated and moreover in the United States, after its global launch in 1993. It has been used by churches of various traditions and denominations over several decades to reach the ‘unchurched,’ has been translated into different languages, and over time the content has been repackaged for a modern and postmodern generation. However, it is found that Alpha is not an effective tool of evangelism to invite those of faith backgrounds and worldviews other than Christian to explore the Christian faith and be discipled into belonging to a Christian community, particularly the South Asian Indian community in the United States who mostly adhere to the Hindu faith tradition. This dissertation aims at exploring the basis of evangelism and then evaluating the effectiveness of Alpha as a tool of evangelism to communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ by analyzing its journey from its beginnings to the present and considering its strengths and its criticisms, along with exploring the religious and cultural identity of South Asian Indians living in the United States, especially in Coppell, Texas. For achieving this, qualitative data was examined to study about the Ministry of Evangelism from a biblical, theological, and historical perspective; about Alpha as a tool of evangelism from a historical and theological perspective; about the religious and cultural identity and worldview of South Asian Indians living in the United States, especially in and around Coppell, Texas, from a historical and sociological perspective; and about the plausible unsuitability of Alpha, in its current form, as a tool of evangelism to reach the South Asian Indian community in the United States from a sociological and theological, particularly missiological, perspective. The kind of evidence that was examined included biblical and theological arguments from the viewpoint of mission and evangelism, historical records of events, and socio-narrative accounts. The results of this research showed that Alpha is more suitable as a tool for revival of Christian faith and iv practice for those coming from Christian backgrounds rather than for evangelism to lead those from other faiths to Christianity because Alpha originated and developed in the West where most people have some level of exposure to Christian faith and practice because of its Christian roots. Moreover, before its global launch, Alpha was a course for discipleship for new Christians from the time it first started in 1977 and was later repositioned in 1991 as a tool for evangelism and therefore its content generally presupposes some background or exposure to Christian faith from those who attend its sessions. The results also suggest that unless Alpha is modified and adapted to take into consideration the religious and cultural identity and worldview of those from faith backgrounds other than Christian, it will be an ineffective and unsuitable tool of evangelism for them and will continue to face the challenge of contextualization. As I have attempted to make a few recommendations for modification and adaptation of Alpha for it to be an effective tool of evangelism for South Asian Indians in the United States who mostly have a Hindu faith background, I believe and hope that it will provide useful insight to those in the field of Missiology in understanding and effectively using Western tools of evangelism by contextualizing them for reaching people who adhere to non-Christian faiths, particularly Hinduism, and hold to non-western worldviews