a time for spiritual instruction, renewal, prayer, healing and quiet times: The atlantic
Christian ashram, a five-day retreat held each summer in berwick, n.s.
have taken place in North America
since the 1930s. The United Christian
Ashram Movement originated with
the Methodist missionary evangelist E.
Stanley Jones. He adapted the Indian
practice of taking seekers apart from
work for a time of spiritual instruction and renewal. Ashrams can include
prayer vigils, a daily work hour, quiet
time, daily share and prayer groups,
morning watch, Communion and
healing services. Silence is kept from
11 p.m. until 7: 30 a.m. morning devotions.
Hird explains that a Christian ash-
ram is a disciplined Christian experience held in a retreat setting for the
purpose of deeper spiritual growth
that makes God even more real in daily
living. This provides a break from the
hustle and bustle of everyday life and
a move toward the grace and presence
of Jesus Christ.
The Christian Ashram Movement
extends throughout Canada, the
United States and around the world.
The largest in the world is the Atlantic
Christian Ashram held in Nova Scotia
with more than 800 people attending
annually. –CHRISTINA CROOK
alpha goes to prison
The bare feet of the 12 prisoners stung
from the hot asphalt as they waited in the
exercise yard of the ottawa Carleton detention Centre. one by one they climbed into
the improvised baptismal tank – a rubbermaid
laundry tub on wheels.
“what would bring you
to stand here?” asked Chaplain Carl wake. “you have
officers looking at you. you
have your peers looking at
you. you’re opening yourself
up to ridicule and disgrace.
why are you here?”
The alpha course is
part of the answer to that
Jerry kozak
question. alpha is an in-
troduction to Christianity used worldwide
in churches and also other places, including
about 40 of Canada’s prisons. of the 12 pris-
oners who stepped up that day in 2007, 10
were alpha participants.
all of them declared their faith in Christ
in response to the chaplain’s challenge.
They offered a brief personal testimony and
scrunched down for full immersion in the
45 centimetres of water – all the water that
prison officials would allow.
Today, alpha courses have run for more
than five years at the detention centre under
the direction of dave and Carol atkins, alpha
for prisons advisers, and their team of vol-
unteers. in June 2008 another 12 inmates
were baptized.
similar stories are taking place across the
country.
Jerry kozak, alpha for prisons adviser
in surrey, b.C., just finished his second
alpha course at the surrey pre-Trial service
Centre. he tells of a Muslim inmate who,
halfway through the alpha course, became
a Christian.
“The guards have noticed his change
in attitude. he told me he was very hungry
for the word of god and can’t seem to get
enough of it,” says kozak.
another inmate, incarcerated for acts
of extreme violence, says: “alpha is the
best thing that ever happened to me. it has
changed my life.” several inmates wrote to
the deputy warden letting him know how
much the alpha course helped them.
shirley barrow volunteers with kozak.
her women’s alpha course sees about 20
women each week. she reports that she has
seen many come to faith in Christ.
The alpha course continues to be offered
in churches, homes, universities, military bases
and workplace settings across Canada. n
–BILL BONIKOWSKY/ALPHA CANADA
