Europe and MENA 2025 Impact Report
Contents
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A note from the Executive Director
Faster, further, younger
In 2025, our national and global teams came together to deliver the new Alpha Youth Series in more countries – faster than ever before. We don’t know how long the Open Generation will remain ‘open’, so the task before us is both urgent and important. In just one year, the new series reached over 20 countries in 17 European languages, giving virtually every teenager there the opportunity to encounter Jesus in their own heart language, culture and context.
We also saw partnerships take us further than ever before, including to Central Asia – to the ‘Stans’ of the former USSR – where we equipped more than 1,000 young leaders to run Alpha Youth.
We gathered faithful, talented staff and volunteer leaders who came ready to learn, grow and lead. Best practices were implemented, prayer fuelled the work, and a new generation of younger leaders emerged. And God gave the growth: 40% more teenagers encountered Jesus this year! Still, we pray and long for more. It’s remarkable what God can do with a little. With your support, He multiplied.
Below, you’ll find inspiring stories of those who have gone faster, further, and faithfully to share the Good News of Jesus in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
But there is so much more to be done, so many more people in our region searching for hope, purpose and meaning. In 2028, our aim is to reach one million people across 70 nations through Alpha. Now is the time to accelerate and scale up.
As we enter a season of unparalleled opportunity, with your support we will plan, pray and work to expand our capacity, strengthen our capabilities and deepen our partnerships so that the mission continues to multiply.
We celebrate the growth we experienced in 2025 and the nearly 365,000 people who explored faith through Alpha in 65 nations, from Dublin to Düsseldorf to Dubai.
May Christ be glorified and known again across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, by everyone, everywhere, in the coming years.
Every blessing,
Paul Davie
Executive Director, Alpha Europe and MENA
2025 impact in numbers
Significant growth in participants over the past five years
God has been powerfully moving in Europe and MENA, with more and more people choosing to explore faith through Alpha each year.
In 2025, we had our biggest year yet, welcoming nearly 365,000 participants – well over double the number in 2021.
Reaching young people remained a key growth driver and in 2025, 43% of Alpha participants attended courses specifically for youth (under-18) and young adults (19-30).
For the first time, the following countries passed these key milestones in participant numbers:
Building an Alpha Youth movement
2025 was a landmark year for Alpha Youth across EMENA. With the new Alpha Youth Series launched in 17 EMENA languages – the largest number of languages at one time – unprecedented numbers of young people encountered Jesus in life-changing ways and churches gained fresh confidence in reaching the next generation.
In 2025, 122,798 teenagers did Alpha – that’s up 40% from 2024!
Raising Alpha Youth’s profile
In 2025, Charlie Crump was appointed as Head of Youth for Europe, strengthening our capacity to support national teams, equip leaders, and sustain the rapid growth of Alpha Youth across the region.
Alpha Youth featured prominently in the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year of Hope events (see Catholic section), the Pentecostal World Conference (Finland), at Exponential Europe (Berlin) and at Explo Conference (Switzerland) – enabling thousands to encounter the new series.
“Alpha Youth in 2025 feels like a movement – not because of our programmes but because young people are inviting their friends and discovering faith together.”
– Charlie Crump
A new Alpha Youth series, a new wave of momentum
The new series was launched in 17 EMENA languages in churches, halls and cinemas, online and at conferences, camps and festivals. Many launch events featured live Alpha Youth sessions, young people sharing their testimonies and panel discussions about empowering young people to share their faith.
By the end of 2025, the new series was available in the following languages (ranked by the number of native speakers in Europe):
Russian + German + French + English* + Italian + Spanish + Polish + Romanian + Dutch + Czech + Swedish* + Portuguese + Hungarian + Serbian + Danish + Finnish + Norwegian + Albanian + Slovenian
*English and Swedish launched in 2024
Around 3,000 courses run in EMENA in 2025 used the new Alpha Youth Series.
A few launch highlights:
Russian
The Russian launch took place in Kazakhstan, to an enthusiastic audience of 1,500 young people from 350 churches in Central Asia and leaders from across the Russian-speaking world.
This single launch has already triggered widespread, cross-border adoption, with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia reporting significant increases in Alpha Youth courses.
French and German
Teams in Austria, France, Germany and Switzerland took the new Alpha Youth Series on tour, hosting launch events in multiple cities and regions.
Hundreds of leaders spanning a wide range of cultural and denominational contexts were reached. Each country has since reported significant increases in Alpha Youth courses.
Albanian
The new series was officially launched during a youth camp in summer, with 140 teenagers and leaders experiencing it together. “I can’t stop thinking about that beautiful experience,” one young guest wrote afterwards.
One church with hardly any young members reports that the new series has led to many teenagers signing up for Alpha Youth and becoming active church members.
Growth stories worth celebrating
Nordics
More than 1,000 Alpha Youth courses for teenagers were run in Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark, the vast majority benefitting from the new series – a testament to cross-denominational unity and a shared vision for reaching young people.
Austria
Following the October launch of the new Alpha Youth Series, 86 Alpha Youth courses were run in a single term – nearly matching all of 2024’s Alpha Youth courses. Youth courses in Austria almost doubled, from 88 in 2024 to 169.
Spain
In the first eight months of 2025, Spain ran 178 Alpha Youth courses. But once the new Alpha Youth Series was launched in Spanish, momentum accelerated and a further 189 Alpha Youth courses were run in the final four months of the year – evidence of its powerful catalytic effect.
A Swiss church renewed through Alpha Youth
After years of challenges, a church in Lausanne decided to run the new Alpha Youth Series (in French). The 30 young people who initially signed up enjoyed it so much that they invited their friends, and the group soon doubled to 60.
“Atheists and Muslims came along…some now attend church and ask for prayer, though they’re not yet Christians,” shares the pastor.
The impact reached across generations, with elderly members cooking meals for the youth.
“We’ve never experienced anything like this in 20 years,” says the pastor. “We have witnessed a real renewal and young people are thirsty for more.”
Watch the story below of a young man in Verona, Italy, who found faith through Alpha Youth – and now helps run it for other young people.
A Jubilee year for Alpha in the Catholic context
2025 was a year of deepening partnership with the Catholic Church. The Jubilee of Hope provided unprecedented opportunities to introduce Alpha to huge audiences of Catholic leaders and believers gathered in Rome from across the world.
Thousands of priests and parish leaders from across the world attended webinars co-hosted by Alpha and Divine Renovation – a Catholic ministry focused on parish renewal.
And more and more parishes across EMENA ran Alpha, resulting in a record-breaking 132,000+ people exploring faith through Alpha in Catholic churches and organisations – more than a third of all EMENA participants.
Catholic churches are increasingly seeing Alpha as an effective way to engage young people. In 2025, half of all Alpha courses in Catholic churches were for youth or young adults.
“God has been opening doors in the Catholic Church, which is increasingly embracing Alpha as a trusted tool for evangelisation and discipleship. We are so thankful for the fruit we are seeing: lives transformed, faith renewed, and churches revitalised.”
– Maria Gonzalez Dyne, former EMENA Director of Catholic Development
Lithuania: Catholic hub church boosts growth
The first Alpha training to be led by a hub church in Lithuania – Ramintoja Church – took place in August, for 150 church leaders and Alpha volunteers. The result was so positive, with many requesting further training to run Alpha more effectively, that Alpha Accelerator was born.
Alpha Accelerator is a series of meetings to help churches improve the quality of their Alpha courses and encourage them to run more courses. The first meeting was held in October, co-hosted by Ramintoja Church and Alpha Lithuania. “The ultimate goal is to have more hub churches,” shares Sister Celina Galinyte, Alpha Lithuania’s National Coordinator.
These training initiatives have already had an impact, with some churches deciding to run Alpha more frequently. Alpha courses in Lithuania increased by 25% in 2025.
community when she did Alpha Youth in
a Catholic church in France
A Sicily parish renewed
Sant’Agata Church in Caltanissetta, Sicily, was on the brink of closure. Hardly anyone attended Mass any more, and the church building itself was falling into disrepair. Five women began praying regularly, asking God to send a priest or community who would help turn the situation around.
That’s when Father Higor, a priest from Brazil, was sent to Sant’Agata, along with other brothers from his community. “We found an empty church, without hope, without joy,” he says. “We had to find other ways to bring in people who would never come to Mass. So we started Alpha.”
Watch the video below to see how Alpha helped Sant’Agata Church to become a thriving community of faith and mission, including a 200-strong youth ministry involved in reaching out to people with addictions, visiting the sick and running Alpha.
Sharing the joy of Alpha at the Jubilee of Hope
Throughout 2025, Alpha participated in various Jubilee events in Rome, significantly raising Alpha’s profile. From Nicky Gumbel’s closing address at the International Catholic Communications Forum, to the Jubilee of Teenagers and the Jubilee of Youth, when thousands of young people, priests and nuns experienced the hospitality and joy of Alpha, the Jubilee of Hope enabled Alpha to plant seeds which will bear fruit in years to come.
“We saw hope in the eyes of many leaders, priests and nuns. They know it’s not easy but meeting other churches in Italy, seeing that we were there, hearing stories of transformation meant so much to them.”
– Alessandro Sona, Alpha Italy National Director
Alpha on the rise in our emerging regions
In addition to strong growth in our established European market, 2025 brought encouraging momentum in our two emerging regions: Eurasia and MENA. Amidst conflict and complexity, Alpha began to take root here in fresh ways, underpinned by strengthened regional support, staff in more countries and more resources in local languages.
Eurasia
Spanning the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Russia, Eurasia is a vast region with a mix of languages, denominations and contexts – from Orthodox-majority nations to Muslim-majority countries where Christians are a small minority.
Conflict has long shaped Eurasia’s history, and the current war in Ukraine continues to impact churches, communities and families in Ukraine and neighbouring countries.
In 2025, the number of churches in Eurasia running Alpha grew by 22%, welcoming over 70,000 participants.
To provide a more robust structure for this growing work, in 2025 Eurasia Director Stanisław Cinal was joined by two new members of staff: Sebastian Zapała, Operations Director, and Jessica Choong, Programme Director.
Alpha Youth surge in Russia
Alpha Russia reported 77% growth in Alpha Youth participants in 2025, with more than 1,860 young participants.
Around 20 young people and church leaders from Russia attended the Russian launch of the new Alpha Youth Series in Kazakhstan, travelling two days each way to do so.
Alpha doubles in Czech Republic
From early 2025, Alpha Czech Republic encouraged churches to run Alpha in the autumn, running a campaign called ‘We invite Czechia to dinner.’
It worked: the number of churches running Alpha rose from 57 in 2024 to 110 in 2025, welcoming more than 3,200 participants – twice the number in 2024. The launch of the new Alpha Youth Series in Czech also had a positive impact, with a 63% rise in youth courses.
“We are proud and grateful for what we have achieved but this is only the beginning,” says Veronika Filipová, National Director. “Our dream is for Alpha to become a common tool for all churches.”
Central Asia
“Less than 1% of Central Asia is Christian but there’s an amazing enthusiasm there, and churches are so active in evangelism.”
– Stanisław Cinal, Eurasia Director
The launch of the new Alpha Youth Series in Russian in Kazakhstan was a catalytic moment for Alpha in Central Asia. Held during the SOZO youth conference in August, it introduced Alpha to an excited audience of more than 1,500 young people and leaders from 350 churches across Central Asia.
Considerable growth in Alpha’s ministry was reported in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan – a trend set to continue with the appointment of four part-time co-ordinators serving those nations and Tajikistan.
Alpha at the heart of a Kyrgyzstan church
Grace church in Bishkek has run Alpha three times a year for more than 20 years but never tried Alpha Youth. Following the Russian launch of the new Alpha Youth Series, it ran three courses simultaneously, for adults, young people and teenagers.
In May 2026, it will host the very first Experience Alpha to take place outside London, enabling key churches from across Central Asia to learn more about Alpha.
The Balkans
Alpha continued to grow its ministry in the Balkans and is now active in six of the eight countries: Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia and Serbia.
The new Alpha Youth Series was launched in two Balkans languages – Albanian and Serbian – sparking new youth courses in Albania, Serbia and Bosnia.
The work in Albania dramatically expanded with the establishment of a local team and the launch of the new Alpha Youth Series in Albanian. Nearly 400 people in Albania explored faith through Alpha on 36 courses run by 29 churches.
The Alphabet of Faith* – developed in 2024 by Alpha Bulgaria with support from the local Orthodox church – gained wider acceptance among churches in Bulgaria, opening up opportunities for Alpha’s ministry in Orthodox-majority contexts. Bishop Sionji, Abbot of the Holy Bachkovo Monastery in Bulgaria, described it as “a symbol of spiritual progress”, which “can help many people who are seeking God.”
*The Alphabet of Faith is a book containing the scripts of the Alpha course live talks, contextualised for Orthodox audiences. It’s available in Bulgarian, English, Greek and Ukrainian, with translation underway in North Macedonian, Russian and Serbian.
Ukraine tops 100 churches for the first time
Amidst increasingly tough conditions in war-torn Ukraine, 2025 saw more churches than ever running Alpha for their congregations and communities. Alpha Ukraine’s ministry reached a milestone, with 100 churches running Alpha – up from 76 in 2024.
More than 4,000 participants were welcomed to Alpha – 33% of them attending Alpha Youth.
“Life in Ukraine is full of uncertainty and danger, and so many people are searching for hope,” says Andriy Kopylash, Alpha’s Ukrainian Ministry Director. “Our team has been working hard to make more churches aware of what Alpha offers: a simple but powerful way to invite people to explore faith in community.
“Young people in particular are open to spiritual matters, and we look forward to seeing many lives transformed through the new Alpha Youth Series in Ukrainian, which was launched in January 2026.”
(Pictured above: Alpha Ukraine’s national conference in September gathered more than 110 people from nearly 60 churches and organisations in 24 cities. As travel is risky, the event was also live-streamed.)
Alpha for Bikers in Bulgaria
“Among the many hats I wear, I also wear a helmet,” says Grozdan Stoevski (pictured above). As well as pastoring an evangelical church in Sofia and serving as Alpha Balkans Director, he is also a long-time biker. “The biker community is one of the fastest-growing groups in Bulgaria,” he notes.
Passionate about helping more people in this majority-Orthodox country come to know and love Jesus, he and two other bikers from his church launched Alpha for bikers, using the Alphabet of Faith and a Cross made out of a motorcycle chain.
“We hire a pub for the meeting, enjoy live music, share a meal and then I share a lesson from the book,” says Grozdan. He has also taken Alpha on the road with the bikers, visiting an Orthodox monastery and doing an Alpha session there, too.
Run seasonally, in Spring and Autumn when the bikers aren’t out riding, some gatherings draw 20-40 bikers, with a core group of around five faithfully attending every session.
The Middle East and North Africa
Against a background of war and instability in parts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Alpha’s ministry continued to grow steadily, reaching people from all walks of life in a region where Christians are a small minority.
In 2025, over 18,000 people across MENA explored faith through Alpha. Around half were teenagers and young adults.
The Marriage and Parenting Courses continued to be of particular relevance here, providing churches with a relevant, practical offering for their local communities.
2025 saw a 46% rise in Marriage courses in MENA, and a 69% increase in participants, reaching around 1,800 people.
“Alpha is coming home! From the Nineveh Plains and Chaldea of the Old Testament, to the birthplace of Christ, to the heartland of the early church in Turkey, churches ancient and new are opening their doors to Alpha and The Marriage Course.”
– Peter Jones, MENA Director
Building for the Future:
the Arabic Alpha Film Series
Good progress was made on script development and fundraising for the Arabic Alpha Film Series – a fully contextualised, Arabic‑hosted resource due to begin production in 2026. It will tell local stories, use regional presenters, and make Alpha more relevant and accessible to millions of Arabic speakers.
The Gulf: a milestone year
In the gleaming cities and cultural melting pot of the Gulf, Alpha’s ministry hit a new milestone, reaching more than 10,000 participants for the first time – up 16% from 2024.
The most striking growth happened among young people, with youth courses up 76%, enabling 1,810 teenagers to do Alpha – three times more than in 2024.
Kate’s story
Kate, a Filipino expatriate in Dubai, fell into a deep depression. “I quit my job, I stopped driving, I avoided seeing people,” she shares. Desperate for a way out, she tried everything: therapy, advice from friends, yoga.
When her sister, a Christian, suggested that she try ‘God’s way,’ Kate started listening to Christian music. Wanting to know more about the Jesus in the songs, she started attending church and was invited to Alpha.
“I met very kind and patient people who answered all my questions,” she notes. In March, Kate accepted Jesus and was baptised in the sea.
Are all my problems fixed now?” she laughs, sitting on a beach at sunset with her new church family. “Maybe not. But that’s not really the point anymore – I surrendered all that to God.”
Layla’s story
Curious about Christianity, Layla*, an expatriate in Dubai from a non-Christian background, signed up for an Alpha course in a church near her home. She faithfully attended each week but rarely spoke and often stepped out of the room mid-session. When a facilitator gently asked why, Layla fought back tears: her long-held beliefs were being challenged so powerfully that she needed moments alone to process what she was hearing.
When the course ended, Layla no longer came to the church. But weeks later, she felt an overwhelming urge to visit the beach. She was still there at 4am, as dawn was breaking, when she recognised a group of people walking towards the sea: it was her Alpha small group leader and pastor, preparing to baptise other members of her Alpha group.
Realising that her impulse to visit the beach had been God’s prompting, Layla wept, asked the group to pray for her, and was baptised that morning. Today, she is an active member of the church and helps run Alpha.
*Name changed to protect identity
The Levant
In 2025, the number of Levant churches running Alpha rose by 56%, with courses up 25%, enabling nearly 3,000 people in the region to do Alpha. Much of the growth came from Alpha Youth, partly fuelled by the translation of the Alpha Youth Series 2.0 into Arabic in the first half of 2025.
Throughout the year, small staff teams in Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey worked to build relationships with churches of different denominations – including some of the oldest in the world – introducing them to Alpha and offering training and support.
Israel: a church planted through Alpha
Among the 44 Alpha courses in Israel in 2025, one run in January, in the coastal city of Netanya, had such a big impact that a new church was planted. At its first service in November, more than 10 people gave their lives to Jesus and many others recommitted to God after not attending church for years.
Several churches in Israel also started running The Marriage Course after a successful pilot course in Haifa (pictured below), where it was run in four languages simultaneously – Arabic, English, Hebrew and Russian.
“The videos, the program and everything that you prepared for us helps us so much as a couple,” said one Arab-Israeli Christian. “After just three sessions my wife and I can see a tremendous change!”
Alpha Youth in Bethlehem
After attending Experience Alpha in London in September, a pastor from Bethlehem returned home and ran Alpha Youth among two groups in November, using the newly-translated Alpha Youth Series 2.0 in Arabic.
“Alpha is a great way to reach people here because it relates so well to our culture – food, hospitality, bringing people together,” he says. “It gives people space to discuss and express themselves rather than people sitting and listening to someone preach. I think this is so important for youth, especially – they want to share, speak their minds.”
Alpha takes root in Iraq
Until late 2023, only around one or two Alpha courses had ever run in Iraq. But since the appointment of a local coordinator, Alpha’s ministry here has been taking root.
In 2025, 15 courses, including 9 Alpha Youth, were run by churches of different denominations, including Chaldean Catholic, Syriac Orthodox, and Evangelical churches. Courses took place across the country, from the capital, Baghdad, to the Nineveh Plains and Kurdistan.
“It’s helpful for people who are just starting to understand Christ, trying to learn how a believer’s life can be transformed,” commented a 24-year-old woman, who attended Alpha in a church in Erbil, Kurdistan.
Iraqi churches have also responded enthusiastically to The Marriage Course, which they say fills a gap in their teaching. (See more details in the Strengthening Marriages across EMENA section below.)
North Africa
Around half the population of North Africa is under 25, so it’s not surprising that youth and young adult courses accounted for 91% of all Alpha courses here in 2025. More than 4,300 young people in this region explored faith through Alpha.
Egypt: Next Alpha Leaders School
In Egypt, an initiative to equip young Christians to share their faith through Alpha was launched in September. The first cohort of the Next Alpha Leaders School (pictured above) gathered 30 young men and women aged 18-22 for four days of learning, fellowship and prayer.
“It marks the beginning of a big dream God filled my heart with – a school to train a ‘Timothy’ generation to disciple the ‘fourth’ generation in their churches through Alpha,” says Joseph Erwen, Cairo Region Alpha Coordinator, who has been working on the project for two years. Further cohorts from different churches will be trained, with each cohort meeting annually.
Bringing hope to EMENA’s prisons
3,294 prisoners in 22 countries encountered Jesus
through 167 Alpha courses in 2025
↑ from 2,935 prisoners in 15 countries on 124 courses in 2023
“Alpha’s prison ministry may not produce big numbers but it works on the margins of society – as Jesus did – profoundly impacting the lives of the broken, the imperfect, the discarded.”
– Stanisław Cinal, Eurasia Director and EMENA prison ministry lead
Top 3 countries
(by Alpha prison courses)
Latvia
Alpha was run in the majority of Latvia’s prisons in 2025. Six out of the country’s nine prisons had Alpha courses, with 192 inmates participating.
Prison Ministry Conference sparks inspiration and growth
The steady growth in EMENA’s prison ministry over the past three years is partly due to the impact of the EMENA Prison Ministry Conference – a biennial event of connection, learning and encouragement for those wanting to develop this area of ministry.
Antonio Sita, who oversees Alpha Italy’s prison ministry, described the 2023 conference as a “turning point” for prison ministry in Italy, with a 71% increase in Alpha prison participants, from 168 in 2023 to 288 last year.
The 2025 Prison Ministry Conference was hosted by Alpha Italy in Assisi – the birthplace of St Francis of Assisi, whose life was profoundly changed while in prison. The theme was Answering the Call: Reset, Renew, Restore.
Around 130 people from 20 countries attended and were moved by the testimonies of former prisoners and by the experiences of people ministering to inmates.
“Despite our limitations, all of us – staff or volunteers in Alpha’s prison ministry – respond enthusiastically to this call to keep the joy of evangelisation alive in the church,” shared Antonio.
We look forward to seeing Alpha’s prison ministry continuing to grow, fuelled by the inspiration shared at this year’s conference.
The next Prison Ministry Conference takes place in Madrid in 2027.
Mobilising the church
When asked by a prison director in Poland whether Alpha’s prison ministry really makes a difference, a parish priest who also serves as a prison chaplain had a very clear answer:
Not only is it transforming the lives of prisoners but it is also fanning the flames of faith in his church, with members of his congregation eager to play their part. They spiritually adopt the prisoners on Alpha, praying for them by name each week and doing practical things to show their love, such as baking them cakes.
“Alpha’s prison ministry is not only helping to transform the lives of prisoners but plays its part in revitalising the church, too.”
– Stanisław Cinal, EMENA prison ministry lead
Strengthening families across EMENA
More than 42,000 people across EMENA took part in Alpha’s family courses in 2025, with over 37,000 doing The Marriage Course and around 5,000 joining The Parenting Course.
The Parenting Course is currently being updated and a brand new resource is planned for release in 2027.
The suite of family courses comprises:
- The Marriage Course
- The Pre-Marriage Course
- The Parenting Children Course
- The Parenting Teenagers Course
“Marriage and parenting courses impact society in three ways: they turn the tide of family breakdown; they prepare a new generation; and they draw people closer to Jesus.”
— Willem van de Poll, EMENA Marriage & Parenting Courses Coordinator
Top 5 countries
(by number of Marriage Courses)
The Levant: family courses up 43%
In the Levant, Alpha’s family courses grew 43%, driven especially by Iraq, Israel and Lebanon, with participants more than doubling to over 1,000.
In Iraq, thanks to a partnership with SOS International, The Marriage Course was up from two in 2024 to nine in 2025, with 176 participants. One Orthodox priest from the Nineveh Plains region described The Marriage Course as “relevant to the challenges of daily married life,” and noted the “remarkable positive engagement” of the participants in his church.
Kazakhstan: “Exactly what society needs”
In Kazakhstan, which has a very high divorce rate, Alpha’s family courses are growing in popularity. In 2025, there were 16 Marriage Courses reported, attended by 221 participants, and 42 parents participated in three Parenting Courses.
“We have exactly what society needs – family courses,” comments Kazakhstan’s Alpha coordinator. “There are church leaders whose hearts ache for families and want to help – so when they hear about these courses, they want to launch them in their churches.”
Spain: remarkable long-term growth
Family courses in Spain continued their rapid rise, growing 15% in 2025 (from 201 to 232 courses) and multiplying 10-fold since 2016.
This growth is due to the availability of all resources in Spanish, strong networking, and online/ hybrid options.
Many church leaders who participated in The Marriage Course Experience – a version of the course adapted especially for pastor couples – went on to run The Marriage Course in their churches.
Paola and David had such a positive experience of The Marriage Course that they now volunteer as coordinators of both The Marriage Course and The Parenting Course in Spain.
“I think a lot about all those marriages that unfortunately ended badly,” shares David. “If they had had the opportunity to use a tool like this, how many could have been saved?”
Watch the video below of Paola & David sharing about their experience on The Marriage Course.
(You can view it with subtitles/CC in your language by clicking settings – Spanish (auto-generated) – Auto-translate, and then selecting the required language.)
Developing our National Alpha Offices
Building capacity in our National Alpha Offices (NAOs) remained a key priority in 2025, with teams gathering in regional cohorts to continue their leadership and strategy development journeys.
“As Alpha expands, it’s more vital than ever that we invest in our people,” says Paul Davie, EMENA Executive Director. “That’s why we have prioritised these four-stage, regional development cohorts, which are equipping our NAOs to maximise their impact in their home nations.”
Led by Arnoud Drop, Global Director of Leadership Development (and former Alpha Netherlands National Director), the cohorts emphasise practical stewardship, using the ‘Build, Measure, Learn’ approach to problem-solving.
“We focus on problem solving and testing ideas before spending a lot of time and resources.”
– Arnoud Drop
The impact is already visible – fresh ideas, improved strategic thinking and NAOs sharing learnings with each other.
The cohorts have also become a much-cherished moment of prayer, fellowship and encouragement for NAOs, some of whom work in particularly difficult circumstances.
“Serving in the Levant means navigating complexity in a context that is often risky and lonely. The MENA strategy cohort created an invaluable space for our team to think clearly together, pray honestly and act more intentionally.”
– Amir Bitar, Levant Ministry Director
Building clarity, confidence and momentum in Poland
Anna Pęcak had only just joined the team as National Director when she attended the first meeting of the Eurasia leadership and strategy development cohort in March 2024. “It helped me really understand and experience what Alpha is about – its values, its DNA,” she says. “That’s what happens when you get to meet and pray and work with people organising Alpha in such different contexts and denominations.”
At the end of 2025, with the Eurasia cohort three-quarters of the way through their development journey, Anna says that the format of the meetings (around 20% teaching and the rest team working) has had a tangible impact on how she and her team work, bringing them greater clarity, confidence and momentum.
“The cohorts have helped us to clearly define our goal, be passionate about it and be able to explain it to others. This has helped in so many aspects of our work, and especially as we engage with churches and donors.”
– Anna Pęcak
A season of growth in the Netherlands
“A goal requires strategies, but the dream also requires a culture of innovation, bowing our knees, seeing where God is on the move and moving with him – like a sailboat ready to catch the wind.”
– Arnoud Drop
When Arnoud took the helm of Alpha Netherlands in 2014, under 15,000 people were doing Alpha each year, and the small, ministry-focused team was increasingly busy as the ministry expanded. In 2025, with the number of annual Alpha participants surpassing 30,000 for the first time, Alpha Netherlands is on track to achieve its goal of reaching one million people by 2036.
Click here to read Arnoud’s reflection on this season of growth, including how a passage in Ezekiel inspired this bold dream.
“I inherited a beautiful organisation, which was already well known,” says Arnoud Drop, who worked in banking and volunteered for Alpha for years before taking the helm in 2014.
Passionate about Alpha’s mission and seeing huge potential for growth, Arnoud began a two-year project to build Alpha Netherlands into a healthier, more sustainable organisation. “We needed to prepare for the growth that was already happening and which we believed would keep increasing,” he explains.
Major donors
A three-year investment by a major donor enabled the strengthening of church engagement and communications capacity. It was the start of a more intentional engagement with major donors to help fund new initiatives while also expanding the flow of regular donations from smaller donors for long-term sustainability.
Shifts in the board’s posture, from operational involvement to strategic oversight, also empowered Arnoud and his leadership team to drive the mission with greater clarity and momentum.
A pivotal moment was Alpha Netherlands’ 20th anniversary in 2016. “We gave thanks for the 250,000 people reached through Alpha and spent a lot of time in prayer, asking God to guide our plans for the next 20 years,” Arnoud recalls.
A daring dream
Inspired by Ezekiel 47:1-12, the team came up with a daring dream: one million people hearing the Gospel of Jesus through Alpha by 2036. Nearly a decade in, Alpha Netherlands has reached 400,000 people, with growth on track to make the dream a reality.
“A goal requires strategies but the dream also requires a culture of innovation, bowing our knees, seeing where God is on the move and moving with him – like a sailboat ready to catch the wind,” Arnoud notes. “Since 2016, there have been some game changers: the first Alpha Film Series, Divine Renovation, and, more recently, the ‘quiet revival’ among young people.”
Sharing
Throughout this season, Alpha Netherlands has continued its longstanding commitment to give away 10% of its income to develop Alpha’s work internationally. “Sharing is part of our DNA as Alpha,” Arnoud says simply. This has included supporting national offices to shape their own dreams and build the teams and strategies to pursue them.
As Arnoud moves into a new role with Alpha International* in March 2026, Dorine Sommers, the new National Director, is looking forward to the next chapter. “We clearly see God at work in our country, and I consider it a privilege to work with Him in the evangelisation of the Netherlands, the revitalisation of the church and the transformation of society,” she says.
* In March 2026, Arnoud will become Alpha’s Global Director of Leadership Development and EMENA Deputy Executive Director, overseeing the region’s leadership and NAO development.
Multiplying impact through strategic partnerships
In 2025, we continued to strengthen our collaboration with like-minded ministries and church networks to ensure that everyone, everywhere has the chance to hear the Gospel through Alpha by 2033. This work was spearheaded by Arnd Herrmann, Director of Strategic Partnerships.
Below is a glimpse of just a few partnership initiatives that are bearing fruit.
One of the most promising partnerships is with John Maxwell’s Beyond Success programme, which is helping unchurched professionals explore personal growth and leadership. It includes an evangelism element and points participants to Alpha to explore faith.
In Romania, this partnership has seen remarkable results over the past few years:
- 60-70% of unchurched Beyond Success participants went on to do Alpha
- Following a joint campaign last year, around 2,000 people from the programme did Alpha
- Around 50 churches run Alpha due to this partnership
This approach is now being replicated across several National Alpha Offices.
Through a new pilot initiative with Biblica, thousands of Arabic and Ukrainian speakers reading Scripture on the Biblica app are now being offered a clear next step: signing up for an Alpha course to explore faith more deeply.
Dynamic Church Planters International (DCPI) is in the process of integrating Alpha into its European church-planting strategy. This means that new church plants are being encouraged to use Alpha from the outset, providing them with a free, high quality, simple-to-use tool to reach out to the community.
Missional International Church Network (MICN) is rolling Alpha out globally, with powerful testimonies of expatriates coming to faith in their own languages. One example is a church in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where Russian-speakers are using Alpha to reach out to other Russian speakers in the city and beyond.
Our partnership with Youth For Christ strengthened across the region, with more local teams collaborating to launch the new Alpha Youth Series. This has helped Alpha to reach many more young people with the Good News.
A prayer-fuelled, Spirit-filled mission
Becoming a people of prayer, presence and participation
As we seek to serve and equip churches in a region as large and diverse as EMENA, we know that we cannot rely on strategy or effort alone. Instead, we aim to become a people of prayer, presence and participation, following Jesus’ example of being in the Father’s presence before being sent by Him.
Our prayer is a participation in Jesus’ ongoing prayer for us: ‘He always lives to intercede for [us].’ Our mission is participating in His ongoing mission with us and through us by His Spirit: ‘I am with you always, to the very end of the age…be filled with the [Holy] Spirit and constantly guided by him.’
– Nabil Shehadi, EMENA Prayer Director and Pastoral Chaplain
References: Hebrews 7:25; Matthew 28:30; Ephesians 5:18 (AMP)
In 2025, we continued to pray together, seeking God’s presence and guidance, following regular prayer rhythms:
- Weekly region‑wide prayer with National Alpha Offices (Mondays)
- Prophetic prayer (Wednesdays)
- EMENA team prayer (Thursdays)
- Daily prayer gatherings in some NAOs, including MENA and Ukraine
- Prayer workshops offered to NAOs and cohorts
Stillness, silence and waiting on the Holy Spirit are core practices and very often, our meetings begin with ‘a minute for the Spirit’, acknowledging our reliance on Him in all we do. Prayer and pastoral support are also offered on request, ensuring that staff and leaders are spiritually sustained as they serve.
In 2025, we joined global prayer initiatives, too. Through the Alpha Prayer Watch 2033 WhatsApp community, news and updates about Alpha’s mission fuel prayer across the global Alpha family. And twice a year – during Lent and October – we gather online for month-long ‘Fan the Flame’ prayer drives.
As we look towards Vision 2033 – for everyone, everywhere to have the chance to explore faith through Alpha – may we continue to abide in Him and be fruitful in Him.
2025 regional budget
To our donors and partners worldwide: thank you! ❤️ Your faithful support fuels everything you’ve seen in this report. We hope these stories of God at work across EMENA have encouraged and inspired you as we continue this mission together.
