ABSTRACT
This third Account of Practice narrates the research carried out around one parish’s implementation of Alpha. In many ways, St. Mary’s was not a typical Alpha church, self-identifying as liberal rather than charismatic evangelical (the roots of Alpha). This chapter first narrates the identification of the parish Rector’s concern – as to how to involve the many ‘fringe’ members of the parish more, before going on to describe the learning form the project under five disclosure headings. The first disclosure around the centrality of hospitality as a central theme of outreach was a dominant one, and sets the scene of the second disclosure concerning the ways in which Alpha built relationship and belonging. These themes are deepened in disclosure 4 and 5, which seek to explore the unconditional nature of this hospitality and its implications (4), and its particular aptness for the London context (5). In the middle of these disclosure, a third heading concerning the lack of reference to Jesus in the data is named as a particular turning point in the research conversations. This early project can be seen to be key in developing the methods and methodology of the ARCS team, as described in this chapters’ conclusions.
