ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with outlining the significance of Alpha, its origins and growth among United Kingdom (UK) churches and then globally. It examines the role of HTB in organizing and developing the course and extending charismatic theology and culture. Alpha has to be put in historical perspective. As an evangelizing enterprise it proved to be a rather late contribution to the so-called ‘Decade of Evangelism’ of the 1990s. The impact of Alpha is by no means restricted to churches in the UK. Even before the launch of the 1998 national campaign, the programme had taken on global dimensions and was running in 75 countries by the end of that year. Outside of the UK, Alpha courses have been set up in Eastern Europe including Albania, Romania, and other former Soviet bloc nations which were starved of religious expression under decades of communist rule.
