From Dr Phillip Rice

Sir, — The two-page feature devoted to “telling tales about Alpha” (Features, 24 February) might make a good story and publicity for Alex Preston’s novel, nicely named Revelations, but it misses the point about vocations completely.

Interestingly, the way in does start with the four main characters as they become course leaders. It is highly perceptive to look at the course (thinly disguised as Alpha) through the lives of those at the sharp end of leading the small group sessions rather than to look at the participants.

As I am one of a small number of course leaders, who at present jointly manage to run a lunchtime workplace-focused Alpha course for civil servants in central London, I might feel that I am being got at by this fiction, or loosely portrayed fact, from Mr Preston.

But it is rather the opposite from my experience of the past three years and running four courses. Rather than see Alpha as not offering a belief that is long-lasting or profound, I judge the opposite to be true. The production of vocations in this group has been remarkable. After each year, one of the course leaders has resigned from the civil service and gone off to ordination training, two in the C of E and one in the Salvation Army; and one has felt called to run (successfully) for the General Synod.

Neither do I understand this outcome of faith formation in the Alpha-course leaders is limited to London; so let us tell this tale about belief-formation leading to vocations, as well, please.

PHILLIP RICE
23 Christchurch Square
London E9 7HU