Alpha USA

Alpha creates a judgment-free, welcoming environment for guests; while making evangelism for Christians as easy as inviting a friend to dinner. Practically, Alpha is an interactive 8-11 week course for anyone, anywhere, to freely explore their unique questions about life, faith and God. Each session usually has three key elements: food, talk and discussion – all designed to build community and inspire honest, friendly, open conversation on big issues around faith. Alpha makes it easy and fun to have honest conversations about God. As a result, congregations are empowered, churches are revitalized and individuals are freed to discover a personal relationship with Jesus on their own terms.

PRAYER
We believe Alpha USA’s growth is entirely dependent on God’s favor. Thus, we see prayer as absolute key to our growth. Two quick examples of how this plays out strategically include the pending installation of our new National Prayer Director as well as our bi-annual national Kingdom Come Prayer initiative. The national effort is just one example of many prayer activities aimed at bringing together thousands of people in prayer.

NATIONAL PLATFORM
We are seeking to increase Alpha’s national visibility through our national conference, new digital platform, marketing campaigns and strategic partnerships.

MAXIMIZING CONTEXT MINISTRIES (Catholic, Prisons, Youth)
Alpha represents potentially the strongest proven tool for outreach in Catholic, prison and youth contexts. National leadership teams in each context are working to extend their reach through networking, conferences and trainings.

LOCAL NETWORK EXPANSION
We are developing our local networks to reach maximum potential and establish several new networks in strategic cities and regions around the US.

STRATEGIC & HUB CHURCH INITIATIVE
Our goal in 2018 is to expand from 40-60 Hub churches, scaling our reach through churches training and coaching other churches. By methodically enrolling and empowering disproportionately influential church leaders, we are extending our reach much further than we ever could on our own.

EXPANDING PARTNER NETWORK
We are working to increase our stewardship of existing donors and the enrollment of new donors into the Alpha story. This includes inviting key prospects to experience Alpha at its source in London, as well as unique experiences throughout the U.S.

PRAYER
In January 2018, Alpha USA launched the Kingdom Come Prayer Initiative and were hopeful that 50 churches would host a prayer gathering at some point over the 3-day initiative. We were so encouraged when over 1,500 people joined in. We decided to expand the effort in August, adding a digital prayer guide, local gatherings, round-the-clock prayer and fasting, and online video prayer rooms. The result was that over 150 local groups and churches gathered with over 3,500 people mobilized in prayer. We continue to work to develop prayer movements in each of our key regional locations throughout the country.

EXPANDING OUR NATIONAL PLATFORM
Our National Platform continues raising macro awareness of Alpha for the purpose of increasing in Church Engagement. Alpha USA's National Platform continues to form Strategic Relationships with organizations like Harper Collins Publishing, The Barna Group, Divine Renovation, and many more.

In February of 2018, AUSA hosted our first national conference in nearly 10 years. We were thrilled to have over 800 in
attendance, with 96% saying they would recommend it to others.

CONTEXT MINISTRIES
1,611churches hosted 2,928 Alpha Youth courses in the first three quarters of the year. AUSA just hired our new National Alpha Youth Director and plan to host Regional Training Events and Coaching Events across the country.
Alpha for Prisons has grown 13% when you compare YTD 2017 to YTD 2018.
During the first three quarters of 2018, we saw a 37% growth in participants for Alpha for Catholics.

STRATEGIC CITY NETWORK LAUNCH
We are developing our local networks to reach maximum potential and establish several new networks in strategic cities and regions around the United States. This translates to 879 churches hosting 1,482 Alpha courses within our Strategic City Network so far in 2018. We also just hired a new Network Director(ND) in Denver, Colorado. We have also identified a very strong candidate for the Network Director role in Southern California and are in the interview process

STRATEGIC & HUB CHURCH INITIATIVE
In June of 2018, we hired a new National Training Coordinator.
In 2018, we hosted 147 churches with 247 ministry leaders at Experience Alpha (EA’s) and Leader Gatherings in Dallas, Denver, New York, Southern California and Atlanta, as well as two EA’s in London.
Alpha USA also launched the Alpha Coaching Network. This network identifies experienced Alpha volunteers from around the country to coach churches to best practice Alphas.
AUSA hosted trainings in strategic locations around the country to help equip and envision churches including multiple stops in Grand Rapids, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Dallas, Denver and Menlo Park, California.
Alpha USA expanded its Hub church network from 40 to 48 churches and has identified an additional 12 Hub churches that will enter into a formal relationship by the end of 2018. These churches become best practice, train-the-trainer centers helping to extend Alpha in their area.

In 2018 we have seen:
• By the end of Q3, 339,577 guests participated in 10,915 courses at 5,784 churches. That’s a 40% increase in participants (YTD), 31% increase in overall courses (YTD), and a 28% growth in the number of churches over last year to date.
• August's Kingdom Come Prayer Initiative result was over 150 local groups and churches gathered with over 3,500 people mobilized in prayer.
• Over 800 people were in attendance at The Alpha Conference in February 2018, with 96% saying they would recommend next year's conference to others.
• 64% increase in the first 3 quarters of 2018 of active churches running Alpha Youth (compared to first three quarters in 2017)
• 89% increase at AlphaUSA.org in just the first three quarters of 2018 (i.e., 1.04 million page views YTD 2017 compared to 1.96 million views YTD 2018).
• Alpha for Prisons has grown 13% when you compare YTD 2017 to YTD 2018, with 1,548 courses running, representing 30,960 guests, in 516 institutions across 42 states.
• We saw a 37% growth in participants for Alpha in the Catholic context.