The Holy Spirit day or weekend retreat has always been a high point in the life of churches where I have served. Although it is part of the Alpha program, all Alpha participants for that season and all of our parishioners are encouraged to come and to bring friends.

Dave+ was first drawn to Alpha’s unique approach when a church he attended in the U.K. offered the course. “It was one of the first times I saw the tools the academy used to communicate the Christian faith,” he recalls. “It wasn’t the closed loop of ‘to have faith you need to have faith.'” As…