Ep. 8 / Revolutionizing Christ's Message for 30+ Million ► Shaila Visser

How is the Alpha course revolutionizing spiritual exploration around the world? In this episode of evangelical 360, host Brian Stiller, and featured guest Shaila Visser, Canadian Director of Alpha, unpacks the origins of this transformative movement. Learn how Alpha's blend of shared meals, dynamic talks, and open discussions creates a nurturing environment that resonates with today's spiritual seekers. Despite growing secularism, Alpha's emphasis on radical hospitality and the Holy Spirit provides a welcoming refuge for those seeking spiritual clarity, particularly the younger generation craving answers in a complex world.

Hear about the power of prayer and faith through a remarkable in-flight encounter Shaila recounts, illustrating Alpha’s core mission of fostering genuine connections. Through the lens of the Alpha Youth Series, hear how visually engaging and accessible content is capturing the hearts of teenagers worldwide, sparking spiritual movements from Asia to Latin America. Embrace the opportunity to access Alpha resources globally, and be inspired to embark on your own journey of faith with an open heart and curious mind. This episode promises not just stories, but a genuine invitation to explore and deepen your spiritual path.

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Transcript

Brian Stiller

Hello and welcome to evangelical 360. My name is Brian Stiller, Global Ambassador for the World Evangelical Alliance and host of this new podcast series. On evangelical 360, I interview leaders, writers and influencers about contemporary issues which are impacting Christian life around the world. My hope is that it will not only be a global meeting place where faith is explored from different perspectives, but that each person listening will come away informed, encouraged, challenged and even inspired.

Over the years, there's been a variety of methods used to make known the gospel of Jesus to our world. From Billy Graham crusades to preachers on TV, there have been so many meaningful and popular ways the church has found to disperse its message of faith. In my experience, one of the most effective resources in introducing Jesus to both skeptics and searchers alike is the course that emerged from the Church of England called Alpha. Joining me today is Shaila Visser, the Canadian director of Alpha, who also serves in its global leadership team. How can we effectively communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ in this day and age? I think you'll enjoy this conversation. Thank you, Shaila, for joining me today on evangelical 360.

Shaila Visser

Brian, it's great to see you again. I'm so glad we could connect on this forum.

Brian Stiller

Now, Shaila, you are head of Alpha Canada and on the international executive. I'm sure many of our friends know of Alpha, but let's go back and do a review of Alpha. What is it? Where did it come from? What does it attempt to accomplish?

Shaila Visser

Well, alpha comes actually out of the Anglican Church in central London in the UK, a church known as HTB -- Holy Trinity Brompton. It was actually started in the 70s by a man who just wanted to have a course for sort of new believers, and it was very short and fast forward into the early 1990s and Reverend Nicky Gumbel took it over and he had had a wonderful experience of the Lord and had really wanted everybody else to know about Jesus and because of that he took what was then known as Alpha, saw it in a wholly new way, to say it could reach people that have different faiths, have no faith, and it could be used in that format. So Alpha is a multi-week course that creates a space, online or in person, where people come and discuss life's biggest questions in a friendly, open and informal environment, and we think everybody on the planet should have the opportunity to explore their spiritual questions in a safe place. And so Alpha is just a series of weeks sessions that explore the Christian faith. We look at different angles of the Christian faith and it's designed to create conversation.

And the main thing I say, brian, that you have to know there's four components to Alpha. The first is we always have food together. The second is we listen to a talk, often on video, whether it's for teenagers or adults and then we have open discussion where people can say anything and when we say you can say anything, we really mean it. And then we have an Alpha Weekend or an Alpha Day, which is about the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and those four components together make Alpha this unbelievable opportunity for people that would not have come from a Christian background or have left it long ago to come back and explore faith. And so we've had about 30 million people around the world take Alpha. In Canada, where we both live, we've had 1.4 million in our country take Alpha as a participant and a guest.

Brian Stiller

What makes it so effective in your view?

Shaila Visser

Well, I think there's a few things, Brian. I think we serve the church. We help the church think through what does it mean to be radically hospitable, welcoming and a safe place? What does it mean to be radically hospitable, welcoming and a safe place? And I think churches have often thought if new people come into our midst, we should just teach them what we believe. But we actually want people to go on a journey of exploration and I think we come at it believing that the Holy Spirit is the great evangelist and we play second fiddle to the Holy Spirit.

And I think my friend, Daryl Johnson, who's a theologian, a professor and a pastor, has the best definition of evangelism I've ever heard and he says evangelism is joining a conversation that the Holy Spirit is already having with another person.

And I think when Alpha, without having that definition as part of our work that we do in the world, I think that's actually been underpinning what we do. We really believe that the Holy Spirit's the evangelism. So, between the hospitality and a talk that talks about the realities of Jesus, the Bible and prayer and evil and the Holy Spirit, and then having this open conversation where people can say anything, we actually facilitate conversation and watch as the Holy Spirit moves and join him as he's talking to people in our group. So some people will come on alpha and not say anything till the very end. Others will come in and be combative and ready to talk about every topic and they'll throw every tough topic you've ever heard of, and some leaders get very nervous because they're like I don't know the answers and we're like that's okay, this is a journey for the guests to go through, and so I think that ability to sit back and allow people to process while hearing the truth of the gospel has been some of the secret sauce that has made Alpha so effective.

Brian Stiller

We live in an age where secularity becomes the byword and where all the statistics are showing a diminishing of church attendance or even attachment towards faith. So, in that environment, what attracts people to even come and make themselves vulnerable to a conversation on faith?

Shaila Visser

We see an increase, particularly with younger people who have grown up in families that didn't give them any faith background. We have seen an increased spiritual hunger and interest, and so I think for people, particularly in the Western worlds or people that live in big global cities, you might be thinking secularity is taking root in the younger generation, but what's happening is they're becoming increasingly disoriented by the social media and what's coming at them, what they're listening to, but also around them, with loneliness and mental health and all the issues they're facing. So, as much as the church can get very concerned about secularity I understand it I want them to also have eyes to see and ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is doing in our day, particularly around those who are 30 and under, who haven't grown up with much and are spiritually hungry.

Brian Stiller

Now, I know you've been doing some studies of late. What are you finding in that research?

Shaila Visser

Well, I think the most interesting thing for us is we commissioned with Barna out of the US, a global research project. We entitled it Open Generation, because what we found globally is those teenagers that were sort of high school age and slightly a little bit older were actually more open than we even believed. Older we're actually more open than we even believed. And in Canada, I think, as one example of what we found and every country had slight nuances, so it's worth reading the open generation research. But what we found in Canada is that 54% of teenagers, so young Gen Z, had unanswered spiritual questions. The second thing that was very interesting is 49% of them said that they wanted to know is Jesus good? Only 24% wanted to know is he true? So that's just one of those interesting markers for me is for church leaders and for Christians sharing their faith, like how are we portraying Jesus as good and not just Jesus is true? That's not to say we don't care about truth, we do care about it, but it's just what do you lead with. And then the last stat that I thought was particularly interesting is 45% of teenagers said I have neither a positive nor a negative view of Jesus. They don't even have any view and I think that's a wonderful place to be. As you probably know, when you share your faith with someone who has left the Christian faith, they're much harder to share faith with than someone who grew up. Sort of nothing, blank slate. And we're seeing all sorts of things happen in the Western world. Uk is seeing this, places in France are seeing this, canada is seeing this, that the spirit is moving in such a way that people are awakening to a spiritual reality and they're very interested in talking about it.

So I'll give you an example of just at my church in Vancouver, canada, we had a young man show up at our church a year ago, 30 years old, caucasian, and he came on a Sunday. Nobody knew him. So he got warmly welcomed, sat with some people and the story comes out a little bit later that he had, two weeks previously, had a dream about Jesus in the middle of the night, woke up in the morning, felt it was so real that he needed to learn about Jesus. Googled where do I learn about Jesus? Found out that the Bible is the way. Went down to our local bookstore, bought a Bible, started at page one. Couldn't find Jesus. So he's like where do I read. Googles again where do I read the Bible For Jesus starts at Matthew. Couldn't quite figure it out. Googles again when do I go to learn about Jesus? Church Finds our church. Comes to our church. Two weeks later I see him lifting his hands to praise Jesus and within six months he's baptized.

And we're hearing countless stories in pockets across our country, but certainly in the UK we're hearing about this. The stories out of London and Oxford through friends that are church leaders there are just incredible. So I think this open generation research points to something that we can actually see now on the ground is true that young people are spiritually curious and open, but they need an invitation. Brian and I think that's the growth edge for the church is how do you become a welcoming, loving community and how do you train and equip your people in your churches? How do I do that?

Brian Stiller

Often churches are. They're kind of silos from society. So how do you train churches to move beyond their own constituencies?

Shaila Visser

Well, I think there has to be demonstration and proclamation when we think about evangelism. So demonstration if you have really become internally focused and you're not really active in the community, the first question is how can you become activated, how can you demonstrate Jesus' goodness in your community? And then quickly, on the heels of that, you start to look for men and women of peace. Who is interested in having these conversations, who welcomes you into their home to see if you can get to know your neighbors, and not just for the sake of I want them converted to Jesus. Of course we want the whole world to know him, but actually what does it mean to love my neighbor as myself? So getting to know?

On my case, on one side of me lives a Bangladeshi family, on the other side of me lives a family from Hong Kong and another from mainland China, across the street is from Vietnam. So I have really a global neighborhood here in Vancouver and it's. Do I take the time to know my neighbors, their names, their children's names, their dog and cat's names, you know? Do I know them? Have I heard their places of pain or disappointment or frustration? And as you get to know them, then you look at ways that you can first of all, pray for them and then, second of all, invite them. I think prayer is our first opportunity into a conversation with someone, as we've gotten to know them, and I think we've forgotten that many times. When the disciples went out, they prayed for people when they went and proclaimed the kingdom of God. And if we do that pray for people when we meet them and not just say I'll pray for you, but actually pray in the moment, and so I just want to encourage people, proclaim the good news by doing good things.

Brian Stiller

Talk to me a bit about how prayer indeed envelops other people for whom you are seeking witness, and what are you learning as you engage with people from various walks of life on matters of faith?

Shaila Visser

Well, I will say, Brian, that the most exciting part of just stepping over fear to pray for someone is automatically a place of faith then To believe that the God of the universe, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, can intersect in that moment with another human being. And I just have watched it happen time and time again. And so it does take all of us courage to, and you don't need to say a complicated prayer, it can be a really simple prayer. I'll give you an example. I was on a flight between Toronto and Halifax on the East Coast of Canada and it's a two and a half hour flight and the woman beside me was fidgeting in her chair like really uncomfortable, and I took off my noise canceling headset and I said to her are you okay? As she's looking for some like Advil or Tylenol. And I said are you okay? And she said I don't know what happened on my previous flight. I have pain shooting down my left leg, up my back. I'm in excruciating pain. Nothing seems to be working.

And I found myself saying to her without even thinking I know this is going to sound really weird, but may I pray for you? And she looks at me like shocked and she said are you a Reiki healer? And I said, no, I'm a Christian and I love to pray for people for healing. And she said well, okay. And then she points to her hip and she says it hurts right here. And so I said well, would you like me to lay my hand on your hip? I mean, we're on a plane, brian, at 30,000 feet. It's really weird and awkward. And I just reached out my hand and laid it on her hip and I just prayed a very simple prayer. I said, father, you love this woman. You know she's in a great deal of pain, and so I pray come Holy Spirit, in Jesus name, would you heal her? Amen.

And then I was so embarrassed I put my noise canceling headset back on because, you know, you just feel so weird as a Christian when those moments occur. And 10 minutes later she taps me on the shoulder and she says to me you know, when you prayed for me and you laid your hands on me, a great deal of heat came into my hip and the pain has subsided unbelievably. And you know what I said, brian, this just tells you how, in the midst of having great faith for healing, we can be so human. I said well, you did take some Tylenol and cause.

I just felt myself like embarrassed and awkward. And then I put my noise canceling headset back on. But at the very end of the flight she said to me I want you to know the pain is completely gone, I'm totally fine. And I just looked at her and with, hopefully, a great deal of the father's love in my eyes, I said to her you know, the father really loves you. And she leaned back in her chair and she said I guess he really does. And we left it there. And I think, for those who are in a community thinking what can I do, start getting to know your neighbors and then, as you know their pain points, ask if you can pray for them.

Brian Stiller

So Alpha is more than a series of events or a program with videos and questions and answers.

Shaila Visser

I would use the word encounter. I think we're setting a hospitable table for people to encounter the living Jesus and to actually see, through the people and through their experience, that he is alive.

Brian Stiller

How do people who are in the church, who are managing it, how do they respond to those questions that are problematic, that are beyond their own research and response?

Shaila Visser

Well, let me just say that we always tell people if you feel you know nothing, you're probably the right person to be an Alpha small group leader. If you have taken every apologetics course known to mankind, you might not be the right leader for Alpha. And the reason is that when people say things that are perhaps way outside of what we would call normal Christianity or they come from a different faith, so they have a very different view on who Jesus is, our typical answer is that's interesting, what does anyone else think? And we allow the talks, the videos to do the teaching and we allow the Holy Spirit to be the great evangelist, and that's not to say at different moments along Alpha. We don't invite people to put their faith and trust in Jesus, but rather we really believe that as we pray behind the scenes, as we love people and welcome them, and as we give them space to really think through and feel this place is a safe place, they're much more likely to head towards Jesus. What they're expecting the church to do is give the right answer, the proper answer, and not give any space for conversation and dialogue. And so the typical answer after any talk why did Jesus die?

The question that goes out to the group when you finish watching the video is so what did you think? How did that make you feel? And you just watch as the conversation opens up. Sometimes it goes very left into a whole realm of conversation that wasn't even on the video and the small group leader will gently bring it back to the topic at large, but not too quickly, because sometimes people need to throw all their objections into the Christian faith in the first few weeks to test are we really truly open to their journey of exploration? Be a place where people can come and recommend it to a friend, even if they decided Christianity wasn't for them, that they would have that wonderful an opportunity in our midst to say these people love generously, they are patient and kind and they genuinely want you to explore. You should try Alpha, and the number of people that come on Alpha because a friend recommended them is like 82% of guests that come on Alpha, a friend invited them.

Brian Stiller

What would be the major question or objection that people mount as they work their way through the various weeks that encompass Alpha?

Shaila Visser

Well, there's all sorts of things. Early on, people will object to the fact that Jesus, seemingly, is the only way and they'll say well, what about my other friends who practice different religions? Or I'm in a different religion, are you really saying I'm in the wrong? Or they'll come in with preconceived ideas about what we think of human sexuality or any number of issues and they will be ready to fight on that and they'll wonder do I belong here? Can I be frank about what I believe? So the questions come up. Depending on the age, demographic, you get different types of questions, but the younger they are, the more they want to know is Jesus good, and is he good for me and my life circumstances?

Brian Stiller

You mentioned that earlier, that the highest percentage is Jesus good and lesser percentage is Jesus true. There's an antipathy between those two. What sense do you make of that?

Shaila Visser

Well, I think what they're looking for is Jesus good for me? And what they mean is like will he help me with my loneliness, with my anxiety, with my lack of purpose or lack of hope or lack of peace? Like, can Jesus actually make a difference in the areas that are most important to me? And I think that's what the younger generation is asking In particular. The older you get, they ask more truth-based questions. But the younger generation is actually asking does it work for me? Will this make a difference for me? Can this help me? Can Jesus help me? That's what they mean by goodness. And then, on the other side of it, they're saying and is it good for the world?

Like, most people don't understand that because of the Christian faith, because of the life and death of Jesus, christians were radically different from the societies around them. They were the ones that cared for the poor, that started the hospitals, that would run out to the heaps where children were discarded and go pick them up and adopt them into their families. I mean the whole birth of the church is radically different. How Jesus treated women, I mean all of these areas that people would say really matter in the world. They don't realize how much of our society globally, particularly in the West of the foundations of what we consider good, comes from the Christian understanding of goodness, from Jesus, so caring about the environment. We can look back and say, yes, we are supposed to care about the environment, why we are stewards of God's good creation. So those types of things are not known. So those both, the goodness of is Jesus good for me as a person, but is Jesus good for the world, are really significant questions that the younger generations have and of course, we can say he is very good.

He's better than you ever imagined for all of those things.

Brian Stiller

Some years ago a newspaper, Ottawa newspaper, told a story about our current prime minister and the value that he held for the Alpha program as he encountered it some years ago. I'm sure you have many other stories of people of repute who have been humbled by the very message of Jesus that they've encountered at Alpha.

Shaila Visser

Oh, so many. And Brian, I think you may know that a year ago I was the National Prayer Breakfast Speaker and because of that I got to sit beside our prime minister and he willingly and very passionately told me about his Alpha story. And I just loved hearing from his lips, not just from what he told a reporter at one point a book written about him biography included some of that but to hear it from him and to hear from him how it was really helpful in his own spiritual life at a particularly difficult season. I thought, god, you have all of us on a journey. Thank you for using Alpha over the last 30 years.

Thank you that I could look in the face of a prime minister and say many years ago he took Alpha and although I'm not sure if he would consider himself a Christian or a believer in Jesus, he's certainly on a spiritual journey. And then to look at the 30 million people around the world that have taken Alpha, some saying I'm all in for Jesus now I knew nothing. And others who are saying I thought that flame had died inside of me for faith in Jesus and now it's been relit because I found a safe place and a good community. So we see the full gamut, but when I look out I can now look and say if we've reached one prime minister with the good news of Jesus by him taking Alpha many, many years ago, how many more around the world leaders, political leaders, lawyers and doctors and teachers can we reach? And I think our best years are ahead of us to make an impact for the future church.

Brian Stiller

Shaila, as you engage a younger generation, as you said, those in the teens, what's the difference between your approach there and what has been your traditional approach?

Shaila Visser

Well, our newest product, the Alpha Youth Series, has been designed particularly for teenagers in the Western context, although it's a very global product. But what we have done is assume that they don't know anything about Christianity. We don't assume they know there's an Old Testament and a New Testament. We don't assume that they know who Peter Paul is. We don't assume that they know who Peter, Paul is. We don't assume that they know that Jesus is more than a swear word on the school ground, and that's a very different place to open up the conversation from there and not make any assumptions.

And then, of course, the speed of the content, Brian. I mean I can practically get whiplash from it, because kids are used to looking at their phones and going through things really quickly. Because kids are used to looking at their phones and going through things really quickly, and so the new Alpha U series keeps their attention, because there's lots of moving parts and pieces, as well as compelling stories and animations that really capture their hearts, because we don't want them looking down at their phone and kind of glancing at the video we want them watching, and so we've created something that we believe this next generation will really capture their attention and then capture their hearts.

Brian Stiller

As you look at the church globally and your activities with your global partners, is there a different kind of movement of the Spirit, that's engaging in a witness of Christ, that we haven't seen before?

Shaila Visser

Well, we are hearing amazing stories out of parts of Asia that we just can't get over. I just got introduced to a woman who is a refugee out of a Middle Eastern country who talked about in another country was running an online alpha with 1,500 others from her country that were displaced and just needed a place to come together, and we're learning about faith, we're learning about Jesus, and I think about those pockets, whether it's in the Middle East or in parts of Asia, in Latin America. It's just remarkable, and what we're seeing is this unifying force of the church coming together to say we will live into the John 17 prayer of Jesus, that we work in unity for the sake of the world that does not yet know him. And so we see hotspots all over the place. I'm sure you see them very, very frequently as well. There are places where it feels dark and difficult, and there are other places where the Spirit just seems to be blowing wind, and we're really excited about that.

Brian Stiller

Shaila, I'm sure there are people who are listening to your story and your explanations and are curious, and in this moment, speak to them about what you've discovered that would be helpful to them as they query the very existence of Jesus and his value to their lives.

Shaila Visser

Well, I really think that if I'm talking to someone who doesn't have faith or is not sure what they believe anymore, Jesus is worthy of exploring. And look at the person of Jesus, the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus. Evaluate Him, not all the religion that you might see around you when you look at the person of Jesus. Evaluate Christianity on that, but also find a safe place with Christians who are willing for you to ask those hard questions, to wrestle with it and what I've personally found, Brian, as we create those environments for people to explore faith, regardless if it's Alpha or somewhere else. People want to be loved and known and the church is very good when they are loving their neighbor as themselves and they provide those safe environments.

And so, if you're someone who's like longing for your family member or your neighbor or your friend to come to know Jesus, I just want to remind you the great evangelist is at work in their lives and that's the Holy Spirit, and he's pointing people to Jesus every day. When you're on your transit, going from point A to point B in your day, if you're watching football with some friends, wherever you are, the Holy Spirit's already at work. And the question, I think for all of us is how can I join him? How can I join him? And if you aren't sure what you believe, maybe just say Jesus, if you're real, would you make yourself known to me and watch what happens and see if he doesn't show up in your life.

Brian Stiller

Shaila, if a group is interested in hosting an Alpha program in their community, what might they do to access this?

Shaila Visser

Well, the best way for everyone to get a hold of alpha resources is to go to alpha.org, a-l-p-h-a.org, and that will send you to the country that you're looking in. If that's Canada or the US, or you're looking in the UK, australia or Malaysia, you can find an Alpha through that website. So alphaorg and all of our resources, brian, are for free. We love to give everything away to the church for free.

Brian Stiller

Oh, so wonderful to have you. Thank you, thank you so much.

Shaila Visser

Brian, it's been a delight to be with you and thank you for giving me this opportunity.

Brian Stiller

Thanks so much for joining us today. If you have found this valuable, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a like. We would appreciate it if you would share it with your friends and colleagues as well. You'll find links in the show notes of this episode for anything we've discussed today. If you haven't signed up yet to receive my free Dispatches from the Global Village, it's an opportunity to join me and meet leaders in many different countries around the world. It's also a wonderful way to stay in touch with upcoming episodes and guests. Just go to brianstiller.com. Thank you for listening. Until next time.

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