In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast Todd Adkins and I talk with Chris Sadler, the National Director of Alpha USA. Alpha is a course that introduces people to the basics of the Christian faith and has reached more than 27 million people worldwide. It has a massive international presence and in the past few years has begun to explode in the U.S. as well. Our conversation with Chris covers the exciting challenges of this growth and what people are looking for and in need of when they arrive at Alpha.

BEST QUOTES

“Outwardly I’d achieved everything, but inwardly I had something missing.”

“A lawyer started Alpha, and a banker runs it now – I feel like this is about to be a bar joke.”

“No matter what you’re doing, a lot of leadership is bringing someone along with you.”

“Only 2% of the churches in the U.S. run Alpha whereas in the UK it’s 22%.”

“The church leaders in the U.S. are very worried about the future and about young people leaving the church.”

“How do you get people on the fringes of a Sunday event and get them believing and in a relationship with Jesus and/or meeting in a small group? That seems to be the felt need Alpha is meeting in the U.S.”

“Alpha is about belonging before you believe.”

“We have to retrain church people because in the church people are trained to always give the answer.”

“A lot of young people may have a lot of friends on SnapChat but not a lot of people they talk to deeply, so this creates a point where someone listens to them.”

“We’re trying to move people along their journey with Christ.”

“80% of our attendees are a friend inviting a friend.”

“Sometimes in the church we end up in a little Christian club.”

“This is about helping people reach out and get back to the great commission.”

“It’s the mediocre and poor leaders who say ‘we’re good’.”

“A good leader says ‘I don’t know’ when he doesn’t know.”

“I think one of the issues for young people today is their immediate need to be successful rather than seeing the need to learn and build up skills.”

“God doesn’t lead you out of something. God leads you into something.”

“God’s timing is always perfect, but it is always different than our timing.”

“If you believe God has a plan responding to Him well is a little bit easier because you’ll believe that he’s doing things when he wants them done.”

“Do what God has put in front of you.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Alpha Course

The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard

The Road Trip that Changed the World by Mark Sayers

Facing Leviathan – Mark Sayers

Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull

21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell

Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders

Halftime by Bob Buford