CE in your living room

Alexa Burstow lives in south-west London and is married with two young children. She decided, with no previous experience, to run a CE course with a couple of friends in her lounge.

Why did you decide to run a CE course in your house? Why not just take them to the course your church was running?

When you’ve got young children, or busy jobs, it’s really hard to do stuff in the evening. This could be timed to be good for them—we met up at 10am on Wednesday mornings, but a couple of times we just changed the time to fit in with their schedules.

And a course at a church is much more formal. This was more relaxed, in a place they knew, with a person leading it they were already friends with. And it could be timed to be good for them. They just wouldn’t have gone for something with someone they didn’t know.

Who did you invite?

I invited three people. One didn’t come, but two said yes. They were both neighbours I’d got to know—one has a child in the same class at school as my daughter. They’d both been to a couple of events at church like carols.

What was good about the course?

They had a chance to interact and ask questions about whatever they wanted. And I knew that we were looking at Jesus, and about what the gospel is, whereas often when I have chats about my faith with my friends, I find it really hard to actually talk about what the heart of Christianity is. With CE, we got to the core of it very quickly each week.

How much experience did you have of doing this kind of thing beforehand?

None! I’d been on a CE course with a friend before, but I’d never run it.

Leading a course sounds quite difficult. What did you find hard?

The hardest thing was inviting them! Once two of them had said yes, it was very simple. The night before we met, I’d watch the DVD and go through the questions in the handbooks, but that was all the preparation I did.

How did your two friends find doing CE?

Well, we’re still friends now! In fact, I’d say we’re better friends having done the course together like this. One of them, and her husband, are coming along to some church events, and actually encouraging each other to think about it. I just have to keep inviting them along to things. But I think now they’ve done the course it’s much easier for them to come along to church events.

And I know now that they have heard the gospel and they know what a Christian is, and they have had a chance to ask their questions.

What would you say to someone who’s thinking of running their own course, but isn’t sure about it?

I’d say it’s one of the best things you can ever do. I’d found it very discouraging inviting people to things at church and them saying “no”, but often it’s logistical reasons that stop people coming. Doing the course like this means you can fit it round their lives, it’s much less intimidating for them, and so there’s a much higher chance of someone saying they’ll come along.

At the beginning I found it a bit intimidating to run, and often when they asked a question I’d say “I don’t know—I’ll get back to you”. But actually they were really surprised when I did have an answer for them next week—it showed I cared about them, and about them finding out answers to their questions.

So if you’ve got friends you’d love to hear the gospel, who won’t or can’t come to your “formal” church course, or to Sunday services, I’d say go for it. The hardest part is inviting them!

Alexa used the CE DVD, gave a handbook to each of her friends, and prepared using the Leader's Guide. For more information and to order these resources, see our websites in the US and the UK.