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ALPHA NEWS
Rm 1003, 10/F., Kodak House II, No. 39 Healthy St. East, North Point, Hong Kong
39 2 10 1003
tel (852) 2869 1066 fax (852) 2869 1313 [email protected] www.alpha.org.hk
April 2012
Alpha Hong Kong
The rst quarter of 2012 has taken off with a bang. God
prepared our hearts at the end of last year that He was
going to do great things in China. Needless to say, His word
would not return to Him empty, but would accomplish His
purpose (ISA 55:11). Our team held two batches of a week-
long training in February & March consecutively for a total of
68 pastors & church leaders from the mainland. Another one
is being planned for June. We were so encouraged to see
pastors who were trained in 2011, chose to return for furthertraining, they gave testimony on how their courses have
taken off in the mainland. We were pleasantly surprised to
nd out that one of the leaders, Jason who joined the March
training actually came to Christ through an Alpha Course,
and is now serving as an Alpha leader in his Church. He
even allowed us to tape his testimony. Please go on-line
www.alpha.org.hk to hear his story.
At the end of March, I had the opportunity to share my
personal testimony with a bunch of early birds at the HSBC
Breakfast Fellowship. I recounted how Jesus used John 2
to call me to be His servant, to Do whatever he tells you
and be witness to His miracles. At Alpha, I have the greatprivilege to witness His miracles & His life-transforming
works. I invite you to see for yourself the mighty work of God
through the rst hand testimony of those who experienced
His goodness. Enjoy a glimpse of heaven as you read
through these amazing testimonies.
2012
55:11
2011
Jason
www.alpha.org.hk
Caroline Liu
Alpha Hong Kong
National Director
[Message from the National Director
]
[China Pastors Training
]
The Alpha Course training camp was very well designed. It
included a thorough introduction, demonstration lessons, a
live eld visit, testimonies and a practicum. In addition, we also
learned about healing and the work of the Holy Spirit. It was
really a very comprehensive course!
This course adopted a guest-oriented, personalized approach
in every aspect of its ministry work. There were two key points
that I learned from leading a small group: a) how to take on the
role of the conversation facilitator instead of the Q&A expert
and to distribute the questions around the group b) how to take
care of the quieter group members.
1.
2.
The principle in summary was to provide an atmosphere of
acceptance and to enable people to relax & feel at home in
the gathering.
From the Alpha HK team, I saw how they, being lled with
Gods love, served God with all their heart, soul and strength.
May the God who gives me strength also would give me the
same kind of dedicated life, so that I can carry this torch of
passionate devotion back home, and set alight my community,
city or even the whole of Hunan province.
Thank you Lord for pouring out Your love to me and my wife
through Alpha. Once again, we re-experienced the Lords full
3.
4.
5.
Brother Li
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Brother Cheung
The days had own by so quickly that it suddenly dawned on me
that our camp was already coming to an end. I really dont wish
to leave everyone but I know I must return to practice what Ive
learned.These days of training have given me much growth in my spiritual
life and are truly one of the happiest and most memorable times
of my life. From day one till now, every day I received much
cherished spiritual nourishment. Prior to this, I knew nothing
about the Marriage Course or the Alpha course. Through these
few days of learning, I acquired a much better understanding of
the course content. Today, Mr. Ng gave us a great lesson on
music, praise and worship which were of great help to my ministry.
Furthermore, we talked about healing and prayer ministry in
todays world. Perhaps the way we had been praying for others
had not been very effective but with this teaching, we now know
how to conduct prayer ministry more effectively.
Being lled with the Holy Spirit is very important. I know that
without the power of the Holy Spirit we cannot do anything for
God. The rst two days after I arrived, I carried about a lot of
pressure and was a bit emotionally unstable. Slowly the Holy
Spirit touched my soul and I experienced a great release. When
the Holy Spirit lled me, my eyes were lled with tears and I let
myself cry. God immediately came to comfort my soul and I felt
that the large stones burdening me were taken away.
Lastly, I wish to thank God for his arrangement for giving me
such a wonderful opportunity. Ive participated in numerous
conferences before in Hong Kong and never have I beneted so
greatly. I was able to experience and practice in-person what I
had learned which surely will help me in implementing this in real
life. Moreover, Id like to thank all of the teachers and staffs of
Alpha HK for you have helped to renew and boost up my spirituallife. Each of your smiles and love is deeply imprinted in my heart
and I will learn from all of you how to be a servant which God
delights in. May God remember your labors and sacrices and
may your ministry achieve increasing success and bless more
people. May God continue to use you and rain blessings upon
you!
Alpha
!
a)
)
Alpha
1.
2.
3.
4.
Alpha
AlphaAlpha
5.
sacricial love for us! Such wonderful resources, love, and
encouragement will no doubt help uplift our ministry into a
new level, because we have the most crucial and important
support the Holy Spirits renewal and presence.
Thank you Lord! Thanks also to all of Alphas teachers, staff and
nancial supporters of the Alpha ministry!
[ China Pastors Training ]
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[ Classic Alpha Course ]GOD IS WITH ME ALWAYS
Growing up in a Christian family, this was not a religion that wasforeign to me. Going to church was just weekly routine to me.
When I entered secondary school and got engaged in more
extra-curricular activities, I even began to distance myself from
church. This all changed on January 6, 2009, my sons (King
Hang) 1st birthday.
King Hang was a heavy baby at birth and he had always been
very healthy. This was the case until at 11 months old; he was
suddenly hospitalized for bronchitis. After taking a routine hospital
chest X-ray, the hospital pediatrician diagnosed King Hang with
a rare disease - Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia that needed
immediate surgical repair.
The day of the surgery nally arrived. The doctor said that
it was a complex surgery, estimated to take three hours. My
husband and I accompanied King Hang into the waiting room.
The heaviness of our hearts at the time was indescribable. After
six excruciating hours of waiting, the surgery nally came to a
smooth closure. King Hang stayed in the hospital for four more
days for observation and was released home after the doctor
was satised with his recovery.
Was it coincidence or was it Gods arrangement?In retrospect, we realized that from discovering the disease
to the completion of the surgery, God had been with us every
step of the way, giving us guidance and comfort. When we were
still hesitating over which surgeon to choose, we learned by
coincidence that this surgeon had just completed a string of morecomplicated surgeries on another one year old child of an ex-
colleague and that child was recovering well. Was this not Gods
comfort and encouragement?
With a wishful mentality of just trying, my husband submitted a
claims application to his companys insurer. We were told by our
friends in the insurance industry that in general, claims against
congenital diseases would not be successful. Thanks be to
God, a few days after the application, the insurance company
miraculously approved our claim. We were able to get back almost
all of the surgical fee, the surgeons fee and the miscellaneous
hospital charges.
After this string of events, we deeply felt and realized that God
was beside us all the time. He looked after, supported andencouraged us every step of the way. Whether it was our spiritual
or nancial need, every matter was pre-arranged for us by Him,
down to the minutest detail. Therefore after the surgery, I told
myself that I had to return to church. My husband also did not
object to returning to church. However, he had a request, which
posed a bit of a problem for me. Since he grew up in an Anglican
Sheng Kung Hui (SKH) church, he wanted to participate only in
SKH St. Johns Cathedral or St. Pauls Church services. One
day, I ran into an old colleague that I had not seen for almost
a decade. She informed me that she was dining with other ex-
colleagues and she invited me to join them. At the dinner I met
Carol. I mentioned to her about my husbands church preference
and she heartily invited us to join St. Pauls Church service.
Alpha CourseCarol also recommended the Alpha Course to us so that we could
get to know God more. In the class, we found answers to our
prior misunderstandings about Christianity, as well as responsesto some questions that had been bothering us. More importantly,
we met through the class a group of caring and enthusiastic
Christians. I thank my group members from the bottom of my
heart; they include Ellen, Sarine, Richard, Kelvin, May, Suen,
Tenny etc. Each time we heard their heartfelt sharing, we had a
deeper experience and understanding of God. Although I always
broke down in tears every time I shared how I returned to God
(and every time my husband had to nish our story for me), I
really wanted to share this testimony with others. Aside from
getting more people to know about God, sharing this testimony
keeps Gods abiding love for us fresh in my mind. Even though we
drifted away from Him, He never left us. Moreover, He arranged
everything for us even while we were wandering helplessly.
I want to especially thank Ellen and Sarine. I recall the day at Tao
Fong Shan, when the two of you found me crying like it was the
end of the world and then held Kin and my hands together and
prayed for us. I was deeply touched. Of course, I cannot leave
out thanking Carol and Denny our spiritual father and mother.
If we had not met Carol, we probably would not have become a
member of St. Pauls Church. I also want to thank my mom, for
bringing me to Sunday school when I was young. It turns out that
seeds of the Holy Spirit were already sown in me even though I
never noticed it.
I am very grateful that my husband and I, and our children King
Hang and See Hang are now members of St. Pauls Church. I
hope that one day God may also touch my father and brother,
so that they may feel Gods love and become baptized into His
eternal Kingdom as children of Christ.
Cathy Yip
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200916()
?
?
Carol
Carol
Ellen,Sarin,Richard,Kelvin,M
ay,Suen,Tenny
EllenSarine
CarolDenny
Carol
(18/3/2012)
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My name is Stephen and my wife is Yan. And we have a
six-year old daughter. We are very grateful to be invited
to join the inaugural Marriage Course hosted by SKH
the Church of Shalom. After completing the seven lessons of
the course, we learned how to get along with each other and
effectively communicate as a couple. My wife is a hot tempered
person with high expectations, and rush to resolve any problems.
Conversely, I would like to keep things to myself and avoid
bothering others. Our opposing personalities make quarrels a
norm in our family.
We run our own business together. Needless to say, our frequent
contact only brings more tension to our relationship. We would
ght over every single issue whether they are work related, aboutour child, or even about household matters. Because we insisted
on holding to our own point of view, we would say a lot of things
to hurt the other party out of anger, until the other party became
speechless. On one occasion, even the police had to come over
to settle our quarrel; both were hurt badly and had a sting of
anger deep inside our hearts.
When our daughter was studying K3, we had to choose a primary
school for her. My wife had a preferred list of schools she wanted
the child to enter. Because of this, she had arranged many extra
curricula activities for the little girl so that she could have a much
better prole when applying to the schools. We had put a highexpectation on the primary school interview result. Unfortunately,
that turned out to be a total failure. None of the schools we
applied for would accept our daughter. This caused us to worry a
lot and escalated the conict between us.
While we were waiting for the result of governments allocation,
we felt helplessness and the only thing we could do was to pray.
We are thankful for Pastor Chow Wai Man for his care for our
situation. He invited us to join some courses about parenting &
marriage and brought us to a fellowship as well. Through sharing
in the fellowship and in the lessons, we realized our problems.
Soon after, we were invited to the Marriage Course hosted by
the church.
We are thankful for the preparations that brothers and sisters
had done throughout the seven lessons, from decorating the
venue thoughtfully to preparing the food, we had warm and cozy
environment to share and to learn. The topic discussed in each
lesson targeted the problems faced by couples in our society andwe could easily relate to them .
We have learned that there are seven key issues to a sound
marital relationship : 1. Building Strong Foundations 2. The
Art of Communication 3. Resolving Conict 4. The Power of
Forgiveness 5. The Impact of Family - Past and Present 6.
Good Sex 7. Love in Action. Of course, just knowing them is
not enough, we must bring them into actions. Our relationship
improved gradually when we put them into daily practice, there
is no heated quarrel anymore. We have not only quarrel less
but also more willing to bear with one another. There are more
real communications among us. The most important thing is thatwe have learned to put any negative emotions or uncontrollable
situations into Gods hand through prayer.
StephenYan
[ Marriage Course ] Stephen & Yan&
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[ Marriage Course ] Matthew & Jovian&
Getting along with others is a lesson which lasts for a lifetime,
be it relationships between couples or getting along with parents
and siblings. As for marriage, regardless of whether youve just
tied the knot or been married for 5, 10 years or much longer, it is
still inevitable to bump into problems.
We are heading into the seventh year of our marriage this year.
Ever since we got married, there had been a key problem in
our relationship which we had not dealt with. At rst, we would
ght over these issues. However, as these issues were never
resolved, they kept on recurring in our relationship. As time
passed they became a real burden in our relationship. Eventually
this got so bad that our marriage deteriorated into a housemate
relationship.
Our daughter was born in the second year after we got married;
this gave us more topics for discussion, all of our conversations
were around our daughter. Naturally, there were only two
occasions in the entire year in which we could squeeze a bit
of precious time for ourselves: birthday and Valentines Day.
Nevertheless, even when we were alone with each other, all we
could talk about was our daughter. After our son was born, all of
our time was consumed by our work and our children. There was
simply not enough time to resolve the problems we had at the
very beginning - We just put them aside.
So what was the problem? My wife is someone who needs a lot
of love. She wants to be able to feel her husbands love all thetime. However, I was not aware of this and did not nd it to be an
issue. I thought, Besides working, I have already spent all of my
time at home, what else can she ask for? Hence I would simply
ignore her complaints for I thought they were nonsense, hoping
that she would get over it in a day or two after she had venting
her emotions. So I never took this problem seriously.
But to my wife, this was a great problem as she was someone
who needed a lot of love. Of course she hoped that her husband
would continue giving her romantic surprises, endearing words
of love and feelings of intimacy one would experience during
courtship. It was because when we rst dated, I did treat her very
well and gave her a good supply of surprises and romantic words.
However, soon after we got married, this passion gradually died
out. Even though we were always together at home, we never
found time to just hang out and communicate. My wife would
watch TV in the family room while I would be playing computer in
our bedroom. Then we simply swap places she
played computer in the bedroom and I
watched football matches
on TV. No matter
how much my wife
had complained
repeatedly about
this issue, I
K3
!
!
!
1.2.3.,4.5.6.
7.!
!
!
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remained indifferent. This caused the thorn inside my wifes
heart to grow deeper over time. Eventually her expectations for
marriage grew dimmer and cooler.
This continued until one day our pastor introduced us to take
The Marriage Course. Strangely enough, both of us responded
positively to this opportunity. In this course we nally realized
that males and females often hold different perspectives on
relationships. I nally realized my wifes needs. Although our
problem was not solved over night, understanding the key
techniques regarding the marital relationships had helped
improved our marriage drastically. This also allowed us to
understand the importance of Application, application and more
application! as our instructor emphasized in our rst lesson.
Another unexpected bonus we reaped from this course, aside
from having improvements in our relationship, our relationship
with our children got better as well. The result was a more
harmonious relationship in our family at large. We still have many
areas that need to be improved. Whilst we continue to strive for a
better relation, we are reminded that our love ultimately stemmed
from God. If we continue to pray and apply what we learned
frequently and earnestly, our problem will one day be resolved.
We have no doubt in mind that this will make our family life even
more harmonious.
[Alpha in the Workplace
] MargaretAside from work, I had to organize and coordinate a 3-monthlong Alpha Course in the workplace. No easy task indeed!
However, with the concerted support and efforts of my boss,
Alpha Course Hong Kong, our human resources department and
the VTech Christian cell group, we successfully launched our rst
course in September 2010. With an average attendance of 46
participants, the course was not only conducted smoothly, all of
our participants were greatly moved and united in spirit during
our celebration partys sharing session. Everyone expressed
many genuine words of gratitude. At this point, it wouldve beenideal if we could provide a follow-up course for colleagues. We
opted to use a bible study groups study guide with a view that
we can engage colleagues in discussions about the Bible using
multiple contextual perspectives. Unfortunately, our colleagues
dont have much knowledge of the Bible to begin with. So the
implementation of our plan seemed a bit too challenging.
Time ew by quickly. When we began to prepare for the second
round of Alpha Course in June 2011, wed hope too that the
follow-up course would create an even greater impact on our
colleagues lives and further unite them. During our retreat camp,
three of our sisters introduced God at Work to us. During ourdiscussion, a core member of our cell group William said he had
already nished the book. He said the book is quite suitable for
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being the tool of our next follow-up course. His full endorsement
gave us much condence to commit ourselves to preparing for
the course. The preparation work included purchasing books,
holding meetings, setting agendas, assigning work, inviting
speakers etc.
During the preparation process, our cell group experienced many
life difculties behind the scenes. Some of our family members
fell ill and some even passed away, while other fellow mates quit
the job due to career developments. All of these unexpectedhurdles kept us very burdened and occupied! However, the
loving support and encouragement shared amongst us helped
pull us through. Through reading God at Work, we know that
our daily work in the marketplace is no different from ministering
to God. One does not have to be a pastor to serve God. One can
just be a frontline employee in a commercial organization and still
serve God through his/her daily work. In this process, I personally
experienced how brothers and sisters mutually supported each
other with their own gifts and resources. Just as the bible says:
And we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. It is
my hope that God greatly utilizes this book and help more peoplecome to nd joy and mission in their own work. Glory be to God
who loves us all!
3!
Alpha HK(VTech Cell)
2010946
20116
William
[ God at Work - Readers comments ]Sum
Id asked myself in the past whether or not I can serve God full-
time in ministry work
However, later on I realized that the workplace is also a place
where I can serve God. God had been guiding me to start various
ministry works inside my own company, starting from the Alpha
Course and now God at Work. Indeed this has been a grace-lled
journey.
Through reading this book, I now have a better idea of how I
can bring the Christian faith into the workplace. God does indeed
guide us every step of the way, including each of our decisions,
the weight and importance of each our endeavors, and of course
our purpose of life. As long as we entrust our path to our Fatherwholeheartedly and try our best, God will for sure guide and take
good care of us.
So, how can we come to know Gods Will for us? Studying the
bible and prayer is crucial. After all, His ways are higher than our
ways. In these times, God is often doing new things which are
completely over and beyond what we pray for and can imagine.
Let me share with you a bible verse quoted in the book:
But seek frst his kingdom and his righteousness, and all
these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
Therefore, the most important thing we have to do in life is to put
God and His kingdom rst! He will grant us everything else as
well when we do so.
May all glory and praise be given unto our father in Heaven.
Amen!
:
(6:33)
!!