The Alpha USA Fellows Program is a 9-12 month long paid leadership training program for college students or recent graduates who have a strong desire to engage our church's cultural moment and grow in a work experience.
What is Alpha?
Alpha is an opportunity to explore life and the Christian faith in a friendly, open and informal environment. It’s a ten-week course run in churches, bars, coffee shops, prisons, and homes worldwide. Essentially, Alpha is a safe place to explore life’s biggest questions and discuss the basics of the Christian Faith in a friendly, honest, and non-judgmental environment.
Alpha creates an environment of hospitality, where people who might not call themselves Christian can discover and develop a relationship with Jesus. No two Alphas look the same, but they generally have three key things in common: food, an Alpha talk, and good conversation.
Each talk looks at a different question about Christianity and is designed to facilitate discussion. The talks can be delivered live through downloadable scripts and personalized stories, or through one of the globally-produced, documentary-style film series options available for free. All of the training is provided online, equipping local church leaders to run the Alpha program. As they do, the lives of guests are transformed, and churches are renewed. Often, a new culture of evangelism, hospitality, invitation, and prayerfulness develops, new leaders are released, and congregations grow.
Alpha creates a culture of invitation within the church and is a great front door for people exploring faith. In 1990, Nicky Gumbel took over running Alpha, which was developed as a short course at HTB in London, and found that many people outside of the church wanted to explore the Christian faith. Alpha now runs in every part of the global Church, including the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church and all mainline Protestant denominations.
You’ll thrive as an Alpha Fellow if…
- You believe in and support the Alpha mission with a desire serve and support churches in making disciples of Jesus Christ, while we play our part in the re-evangelization of the nations and the transformation of society.
- You enjoy collaborating and dreaming with a team.
- You work best in a shared, public and high energy work space.
- You have an all-hands-on-deck mentality and are willing to step in and meet needs wherever they arise.
- You’re passionate about creatively and thoughtfully communicating content and equipping churches to make disciples.
- You’re ready to be challenged to grow in the ways you think, act and communicate.
What makes this internship different?
The Alpha Course is created to emphasize the essentials that all denominations agree on. We believe that what unites us is infinitely greater than what divides us. The Alpha Course is an effective form of evangelism when done by and through the local church. By focusing on the essentials of the Christian faith, it opens the door for Alpha to be used in almost any context so that everyone has the opportunity to see their friends’ lives transformed by the gospel.
Our goal is to continually support the church with resources and tools that help create a space where people are excited to bring their friends for a conversation about Jesus.
This hands-on fellows program gives you the chance to be exposed to a diverse array of content and individuals as well as churches and organizations that are committed to evangelism of the Christian faith.
As an Alpha Fellow, you will be exposed to church leaders who are experts, authors and innovative and respected practitioners advancing the Gospel.
The Alpha team in the U.S. is a small, yet highly collaborative with a global team of Alpha offices from all over the world that you will have the opportunity to interact with and join through multiple avenues. You will have access to high-level discussions of vision as well as be given the unique responsibilities in owning the creation and implementation of specific projects.
What will you walk away with?
We’ve designed the Alpha Fellows program with your future in mind. When you are finished with your time at Alpha, in addition to growing in knowledge, work experience, key networks, and moving the organization forward in tangible ways, you will be mentored and challenged to expand your capacity to look at the church from different angles. Our hope is that you will leave with a fresh desire for engaging our cultural moment.
Requirements:
- 9-12 month commitment to Alpha beginning August 3
- Minimum of 20 hours a week spent at one of our Alpha offices in Atlanta, Seattle, Twin Cities, Chicago-area and Denver-area.
- Commitment to work full days at The Alpha Conference (Jan 26-29)
- Commitment to participate in the fall 2022 Vision and Call Retreat (October 2-4)
- Provide own transportation, housing and laptop computer
- College senior or recent graduate preferred
Opportunities:
- Intentional personal and professional development through regular meetings with Alpha Chief Operating & People Officer, Sean Hogan, Alpha Fellow Manager, the Alpha Team and outside key partners.
- Participation in both The Alpha Conference and other national events
- Additional outside learning opportunities/workshops
- Monthly financial stipend of $1000
We are currently seeking the following positions:
Event Logistics:
- This person provides logistical and administrative support for the annual Alpha Conference and national events. They will work to ensure that all details for the events are taken care of and have a role in crafting the conversations around what happens on stage. They play a key part in marketing, outreach and communication strategy for current and prospective guests, groups and partner organizations.
Marketing & Communications:
- Marketing and Communications fellows know the ins and outs of social media, email campaigns and creative story-telling. They will help cast a vision of how Alpha communicates with its audience using the brand and voice of the organization. We look for someone who can be task-oriented and organized in helping us set up consistent systems and strategies allowing us to best communicate with our existing audience and connect with new leaders.
Operations & Administration:
- Alpha operates efficiently due to a great deal of attention to detail and support. This person understands and has a desire to see the Alpha team and organization operate at its peak capacity. The model of Alpha allows flexibility for many special projects that our operations team has the opportunity to execute on as they arise.
Content Curation & Editing:
- This person has a knack for copywriting. They will help us to put together content-driven resources. They are key to Alpha putting forth great information and they help make sure that we are consistent in our language and communication.
Design / Videography / Photography:
- Alpha is a highly visual organization that uses both video and imagery to move our vision forward publicly and strengthen our communication internally. Our content, resources and communication are limited only by the creatives and bandwidth we have on our team, which means there is endless opportunity for the right creatives to contribute to Alpha and move the vision forward in imaginative ways.
Partnerships & Development:
- Alpha partners with many organizations and individuals to ensure we are getting word out about incredible causes and stories. The role of this fellow is to support the organization in stewarding and growing these relationships well while finding new opportunities to develop. This person works to ensure that not only are we telling great stories, but that we are able to maintain relationships with those who help make the Alpha community thrive.