Alpha Netherlands started a journey of how to better serve churches to help implement the culture we see during Alpha, and how to communicate this with new and known churches. During Covid, they started a project called “Opportunities for the Church.” The idea was to discuss with church leaders the Alpha values such as discipleship, invitational culture, prayer, and hospitality. With hospitality being something that they wanted to improve, a team member proposed the idea of sending someone unannounced, not involved in church life, to visit a church and “rate” their level of hospitality. The project name “Mystery Guest” evolved and since starting a few months ago, 75 churches opted into the project and have been visited.
Once the churches had been visited, they collated the data and rewarded the ‘most hospitable’ church in-person, collaborating with one of the biggest Christian newspapers and radio stations to release the results.
Afterwards, the church leaders involved were keen to meet to discuss and learn together on how to improve hospitality within the church.
The project overall was incredibly insightful and fruitful, and Alpha Netherlands are looking forward to embarking on new projects next year!
Find out more about Alpha Netherlands
