Mark is married to Jo and is a 23 year old youth and schools worker based in South Cave (near Hull). Mark spent 4 years as a youth worker in Peterborough whilst studying for a degree in youth work & ministry with Oasis.
This week I was told about an article in The Times Educational Supplement about Youth Alpha being run in schools (link to article) and was forwarded the link to the article. I had heard fairly negative things about the article’s view of alpha but in reading it seems to make sense in the message it’s communicating.
The article primarily outlines that 60 schools across the country are registered to run youth alpha courses, this may include churches that meet in schools.
One part of the article states
Archbishop Blanch CofE High School in Liverpool, now in its third year of running Youth Alpha, has had almost 300 pupils complete the course. It runs for eight weeks in lunch hours. Attendance is voluntary but the sessions are promoted around the school, including during assemblies.
The promotion of Youth Alpha during assemblies seemed frowned upon in the article but the course is voluntary and it seems that there is nothing more wrong with promoting it during assemblies than there is promoting the football team.
The article continues with its main criticism:
Alpha courses have been challenged for offering too limited an interpretation of Christianity and for implicit criticism of homosexuality.
Jonathan Bartley, co-director of Ekklesia, a religious think-tank, said the courses deal with doctrine rather than Christianity as a way of life.
“It’s about sin, hell and the resurrection and what people must do to get to heaven,” he said. “I would be very worried about that adult content being used in schools unless it has been heavily modified.”
The problem with the criticism of Alpha being challenged on it’s view on homosexuality is that this view doesn’t transfer over to youth alpha, the youth alpha course doesn’t even stumble upon the subject. (I’m not convinced that adult Alpha really needs to include the subject).
From my experience of Alpha and Youth Alpha they seem to present a fairly standard overview of Christianity with nothing shocking and nothing that ties into a particular doctrine/denomination and really it’s down to the individuals who plan a course to tailor it to the needs of their group and community.
Would be interesting to hear the views of others on this
No more or less offensive than a Christian Union… Or teaching the Qu’aaaan in RE.
As for the contention of the course I can’t really comment as I don’t know enough about it but so long as there’s no surruptitious or subliminal extremism, I think the world can grow up and let itself make its own mind up. No matter how old or young.