St Stephen’s Church in Redditch has recently been running Alpha Youth alongside their adult Alpha course. 28 young people have been taking part ranging from age 10 to 17.
Vicar and Renewal Lead at St Stephen, Fraser Oates, said: “This is the second time we’ve run the eight-week course. When I arrived at St Stephen’s Church, we had about 5-6 young people and we encouraged them to invite their friends along which worked well. We did the same this time and had a good response.”
Alpha Youth has recently been relaunched with new content which is relevant to young people and easy for them to engage with. In the same way as adult Alpha, sessions provide a structured space to ask questions about faith. The group at St Stephen’s Church started each session with food prepared by volunteers such as pizza, jacket potatoes or hot dogs, after which the group watched a short film and discussed it together.
Fraser continued: “Alpha provides an intentional space for us to sit down with young people, eat together and explore a range of topics. We’ve found that young people are really looking for role models and a sense of belonging and acceptance. Alpha enables us to develop trust, so they feel safe enough to ask the big questions. It’s an opportunity for young people to experience church for themselves and challenge the stereotypes.”
Leyone Sylvester, Youth Pastor at St Stephen’s Church, said: “The Alpha Youth sessions went really well. We had a lot of engagement from our young people and a lot of discussion which gave them the opportunity to really explore their faith.”
After completing the Alpha Youth course, six of the young people were baptised and confirmed on Easter Sunday. Since finishing the course, three of St Stephen’s young people have also just launched their own Youth Alpha in their school. Emrys Craner said: “We are running an Alpha Youth group in a classroom at lunchtime for everyone in Birchensale. We are aiming to introduce people to Christianity, give out mini Jesus figures and have a group who can pray and read the Bible together.”
“There are very few spaces for young people in Redditch and St Stephen’s Church can provide a space which is theirs,” said Fraser. “This enables them to make contacts and build community and is a place where they can be seen, heard and valued for who they are.”
