Alpha Lounge Youth Service #1

Tonight was the first Alpha Lounge, the name of the service targeting 25-35 year olds that our church is trying this semester. It was great.

It started with people signing in at a registration table (this was my job), then entering into a room with hors d'oeuvres and candles on different tables and cool music (organized by intern Isaac) playing in the background. It was pleasing to see, hear, smell, and taste. There also was a large piece of paper on the wall that individuals could decorate in a way that described how they are. What fun it was to see the creativity displayed here.

Young people trickled in from around 6:00 p.m. for the meeting which was listed to start at 6:30 p.m. It was good to see people mixing, although it looked like it was harder for the few who were complete newcomers.

There eventually was a supper of different quiches and salads, followed by a desert of brownies. Vincent gave a talk based on the first Alpha theme "Christianity: Boring, Untrue, and Irrelevant?" It began with some interviews in a local park that Benoit-Regis did and also included clips from The Matrix and another film. It appeared that the youth were riveted to this talk.

The youth then divided into 5-6 small discussion groups. These appeared to go well.

It was pleasing to see how well the evening ran, especially since no one knew exactly how many people would be there. While I didn't do a final count, it looked like there were around 40 youth, in addition to the leaders. A number were attendees of the latest Mission Radicale youth conference who are in other churches. It was just a lot of fun to be there.

Next Saturday is session #2. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds. But there definitely is some momentum going into it.

See our intern Isaac's perspective on this evening.