A Christian Faith Exploration Course

While popular options like the Alpha Course and Christianity Explored are great for active seekers, The Stir Course (created by the Christian charity Start to Stir) is specifically designed as the perfect faith exploration course for people with no church background.

Delivered as a low-prep, video-based resource, it is built around a series of small group discussions specifically designed for the spiritually open or spiritually indifferent. By focusing on lived experience rather than heavy information, this safe, low-pressure approach creates a level playing field. It is an ideal, gentle tool to get faith conversations started and introduce people to a life-changing encounter with Jesus.

Before launch tasks like advertising, finding a meeting space, and organizing refreshments, consider running a "pre-Alpha" course. This provides a gentle on-ramp for non-believers with no church background who might be easily turned off by traditional church language.

Created by the Christian charity Start to Stir, The Stir Course is a low-prep, video-based tool that serves as the perfect stepping stone to the Alpha Course. It levels the playing field through a series of small group discussions and experiences explicitly designed to stimulate spiritual curiosity among the spiritually open and indifferent.

Yes. While Alpha is an extremely popular and effective faith exploration course, The Stir Course (created by the Christian charity Start to Stir) is a powerful alternative – or companion course – designed specifically for people who are spiritually open but not yet actively asking about Christianity.

How The Stir Course differs from Alpha:

• Acts as a "Pre-Alpha" tool: It is the perfect resource to run before an Alpha course, gently warming up people who might feel intimidated by a traditional church environment.

• Requires zero church background: It assumes no prior knowledge or Christian vocabulary, making it completely accessible to everyone.

• Uses an experiential approach: Instead of focusing on heavy information, it leverages everyday lived experiences to level the playing field and stimulate genuine curiosity about faith.

• Low-prep and video-based: Delivered as a turn-key resource built around small group discussions, it is a highly practical tool to get natural faith conversations started.

The Stir Course is a Christian faith exploration course designed to help people who may have little or no previous Christian or church experience explore spirituality, God, Jesus and the Christian faith. It uses short videos, discussion questions and interactive experiences to help participants explore their own questions, emotions and longings before introducing them to the Christian story. The course is designed to create a level playing field where everyone can engage, whatever their background.

The Stir Course is for groups of people who may be spiritually curious but are not yet ready to engage with a traditional Christian faith course such as Alpha. It is particularly useful for youth groups, church and community outreach, schools, campuses and other groups where participants may have little or no previous church experience. No previous Christian knowledge or faith is required to take part.

The Stir Course takes participants on a four-part journey:

• Discover Your Soul,
• Connect to God,
• Encounter Jesus
• Live Full Life

Each session combines a short video, discussion questions and an experience designed to engage different types of learners. The first sessions explore spirituality, human longings and questions about life; the course then moves towards exploring God, encountering Jesus and finally understanding sin, separation from God, Jesus' death and resurrection, and the invitation to follow Jesus. Sessions take around 20–30 minutes and the course can be adapted from six weeks to a whole term.

The Stir Course can be used in a wide range of outreach and faith-exploration settings, including youth groups, church and community outreach, schools, campuses and small groups. Its flexible format means it can be run as a six-week course or adapted to provide sessions across a whole term. It is designed to work particularly well in settings where participants have different levels of familiarity with Christianity.

The Stir Course starts further back in the faith journey than many traditional evangelism courses. Rather than assuming that people are already interested in Christianity or ready to hear a gospel presentation, Stir begins by helping participants explore their own experiences, emotions, questions and spiritual longings. It uses experience and conversation alongside information, gradually moving from exploring our spiritual nature, to connecting with God, encountering Jesus and discovering the invitation to follow him. The aim is to help participants discover why Christian faith is relevant to their lives and worth pursuing.

Yes. The Stir Course leads participants towards a clear exploration of the Christian gospel. The first three parts of the course explore our spiritual nature, our connection with God and the person of Jesus. The final part, Live Full Life, explicitly explores sin, our separation from God, our inability to restore that relationship ourselves, Jesus' sacrificial death and resurrection, and the invitation to follow Jesus as Leader and Forgiver.