Download pdf - Alpha Under the Bridge

8/7/2019 Alpha Under the Bridge

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During a season of prayer, the Spirit seeded an idea

into my heart to run an Alpha Express Course with a

group of homeless people congregating under a

concrete bridge in the Docklands, Melbourne.

This venue was known as Tent City. I came to know of

this place through an outreach project with theSalvation Army. It has no electricity or running water.

There were 12 tents, a broken table, a few plastic

chairs and a radio. It was dusty and cold.

THE PEOPLE

There were six or seven men who slept there. I often

prayed for God to stir in their hearts a desire to hear

His Word. The group consisted of Ross, Patrick, Kris,

Je, Trevor, Bob, Danny, Ashley and a few who drifted

in and out of the group.

I approached the group and raised the idea of

running a ten-week Alpha Express Course with them. I

told them that I would love to hear their life stories as

well as exploring the meaning of life. They were

welcoming and open. After a brief introduction and a

description of the ow of events - a meal, a DVD

presentation and a discussion - a quick response

came of Yes followed by Youve won us at the meal.

THE EQUIPMENT

The equipment consisted of a borrowed generator, a

projector, DVD player, cabling, Alpha guest manuals

and the cooked meal. These were ferried to the venue

every week.

THE SESSIONS

The course commenced on 19 October 2010. We

started at 6.30pm with pizzas and cola. By the time

the presentation started, we were all sitting in the

dark. I realised that some of the guests were

intoxicated.

At session one, the group was somewhat reticent

when it came to the discussion. Maybe they were

still apprehensive about my purpose. Ross proudly

announced that he was Church of England! I felt the

group had a leader for the future. I discovered that

the group had been drinking early in the day and by

the time the course started their minds lacked clarity

and they were easily distracted. Ross suggested that

they should have a little more respect for the course.

As a result, they abstained from drinking andsmoking from noon so that they were sober for the

evening. That idea was well received.

At session 2, there were many questions raised with

the topic of Jesus death. One hilarious comment

was: Did the Catholics kill Him? Puzzled, I asked for

clarication. The response was: the Catholics are

Romans arent they?. Laughter broke out under the

bridge.

With session 3, How can we have faith, their

response was that they werent sure. Trevor who has

a drug addiction was beginning to ask Ross

questions. Half-way through the discussion, the

generator seized and the place was plunged into


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darkness. Kris mentioned that maybe God was

testing the group. We prayed for the touch of His

hand upon the supply of a replacement generator.

I announced to numerous friends what happened to

the generator and within the week, a couple of

brothers raised up money for a replacement

generator - one that was better than before.

When the new generator was delivered, the group

was made responsible for the generator. They had a

tin that was used as a bank for money for fuel.

Session 4, Why and how do I pray, was another

interesting session. One person commented, We

pray every day . . . We pray for the price of marijuana

to come down. We pray for it to be legalised. Is that

wrong?. Laughter . . .

By session 5, Why and how should I read the Bible,

the group was becoming keen on Nicky Gumbels

presentation. And by session 6, How does God

guide us, Ross shared that he has started to go back

to church. Praise God. Amen.

I had briefed the group that The Holy Spirit day

away was a special time. They would have to wash

and be clean, as we would be heading to

Monsalvat in Elthan. But last minute issues with thegroups dog, Raj, and leaving the place unattended

meant we had to stay under the bridge. They had

travelled to the Salvation Army City Temple to

wash that morning. It was great to see the group

washed.

We started with a breakfast of Krispy Kreme

doughnuts. A coee break of Nespresso followed

the completion of the rst morning session

discussion of Who is the Holy Spirit?. Recharged,

we went through with the next session What does

the Holy Spirit Do?. I sensed that Trevor was

touched.

We had lunch and the group was asked for a revisit

of previous sessions.

The third session How can I be lled with the

Spirit was impactful to Trevor and Kris. After this

session, we prayed for the Holy Spirit to ll us and

after a short time, Kris asked to be prayed for

followed by Trevor. Afterwards, they requested a

copy of a Bible each. I was so happy that I drove to

a bookstore during the afternoon coee break and

bought two Good News bibles.

The prelude to session 7 was drama-lled. Thegroup had announced that someone had stolen

the money for fuel. The guilty stood and admitted

to taking the money for his gambling addiction.

We prayed about it and the response from the

group was that if it were not for Alpha and Gods

presence in that place, there would have been a

punch-up. To see civility in a group of men lled

with Gods grace was extremely fullling. The

session ended well. The group discussed securing

their position in Gods kingdom, Jesus, forgiveness,

freedom in Christ and salvation. Questions raisedduring discussion were: Why do you think bad

things happen?, why do you think the world is

such a mess? Thats why we left it and lived under

this bridge. The encouragement they were left

with was that each one of us can make a dierence

where we are. We only have to step out.

Session 9, How can I resist evil was run on Christ-

mas day. We decided that we would complete the

module before the lunch for fear of nodding o tosleep during the presentation.

There was so much hope for the group.

BLESSED ARE THE GIVERS . . . GRATEFUL ARE THE

RECEIVERS

Christmas lunch was indeed a spread. One

comment was that if we closed our eyes, we could


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feel as though we were somewhere else - maybe

on the top oor of one of those high-rise

apartments in Docklands. We had 6kg of prawns,

Christmas cakes, two hams, roast pork, mince pies,

chocolates, biscuits, a carton of coca cola, wines

and a pudding.

At session 10, Why and how we should tell others,

the group discussed about the various drifterswho wander in and spend time there. By session 11

Does God heal today, the group had embraced

Gods grace, and their attitudes took on a marked

dierence.

What about the church at session 12 was their

favourite. They especially liked the story Nicky tells

of a man, who turned out to be an ex-convict ,

inviting Nicky inside for a cup of tea. Their remark

was there is hope. Indeed there is.

The nal session How can I make the most of the

rest of my life gave the group a true sense of Gods

love and their desire to improve their situation. We

decided to meet up once a fortnight for fellowship

and a bible study. Ross commented that once

upon a time, they were in darkness. I replied, Even

in this darkness, there is light in each and every

one under the bridge.

Thank you to friends who kindly prepared food,donated a generator and a television. Thank you to

the Business Life group for their prayers and support

and especially the food and gifts for the Christmas

lunch.