Well, it's been far too long (deja vu)...
I had the privilege of going to the Ugandan Alpha conference last month and had a great time...which surprised me a bit...

Let me qualify that. I grew up in Africa, so i was always going to love going back, always will... but i guess (stupidly forgetting 7 months ago in Peru!)
... i kinda thought, 'how will Alpha really work in the middle of Africa, rural Africa even!?' My brain just couldn't equate in human terms how this course started in 'ab fab' Knightsbridge, could work in, say, an overcrowded prison in Kampala!
It JUST DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.... but as i'm slowly learning... that feeling is often swiftly followed by a fresh realisation that it must, therefore, be a God-thing. That's the politics of grace... it doesn't make sense... but it makes perfect sense. You with me?

Anyway, i got to meet some amazing people who are finding all sorts of people come to faith thru Alpha, and YES, in overcrowded prisons in Kampala...

The Pastor of that prison, Canon Johnson Gakumba, started running Alpha there a year ago, 2 courses later there are 300 new men with a room in heaven... which will be a lot nicer than where they're living now...Glory. For Ever.
And he's SUCH a humble, awesome guy, he has that calm, disarming chilled confidence... not pride in himself, just authority because he knows that God is using him... know what i mean?

I got a picture which helped me figure (in my lame 'human' terms) HOW Alpha is a success in Africa... here it is:-
We are all battling to paddle upstream and whilst the Christians in Uganda seem to have more passion and fervour and faith (and that's the most important thing - we have more to learn from them than the other way around!), it seems that their raft (theology/teaching) is perhaps a little ramshackle and rickety - so i think what Alpha can do is just give them a slightly better made raft to strap all their passion and energy to and together we can get further upstream! It makes sense to me anyway.


So I came back humbled and with a renewed excitement, 'What God!? You mean I get to be a part of this...? Wow, that'd be awesome! Can I, Can I, Can I! HA! Kick-ass... errr, i mean, Amen(!)'