Building the Kingdom at Moncton Citadel Through Alpha

Since Alpha Canada was established in 1998, more than 1.4 million people in Canada have experienced Alpha. It’s a great tool for churches to introduce people to Jesus and also help believers deepen their faith. 

Many ministry units in the Canada and Bermuda Territory are running Alpha, including Moncton Citadel Community Church in New Brunswick. On this episode, we hear from Moncton’s corps officer, Major James Anderson, and Marie Caillouette, a member of the church who is also the administrative assistant there. Marie has her own incredible story of transformation through Alpha, having taken the program while she was in prison. She shares her journey, and they talk about how Alpha has had a major impact on their church. 

Explore Alpha resources for Salvation Army ministry units

Read how Alpha is changing lives in other ministry units in our territory

Transcript

Kristin Ostensen  

This is the Salvationist podcast. I’m Kristin Ostensen. Since Alpha Canada was established in 1998, more than 1.4 million people in Canada have experienced Alpha. Maybe you are one of them—I know I am! It’s a great tool for churches to introduce people to Jesus and also help believers deepen their faith. Many ministry units in the Canada and Bermuda Territory are running Alpha, including Moncton Citadel Community Church in New Brunswick. This time on the podcast we have Moncton’s corps officer, Major James Anderson, and Marie Caillouette, a member of the church who is also the administrative assistant there. Marie has her own incredible story of transformation through Alpha, having taken the program while she was in prison. She shares her journey, and they talk about how Alpha has had a major impact on their church. Check out the links in the show notes to learn how you can bring Alpha to your ministry unit.

Hi Marie, hi Major James, thank you so much for joining me today on the Salvationist podcast. 

Marie Caillouette

Hi.

James Anderson

Good to be with you. 

Kristin Ostensen  

I'm looking forward to hearing about your experience with Alpha at Moncton. But before we talk about that, I understand Marie that you have your own personal experience with Alpha, and so I'm wondering if you can start off by telling us how you connected with the Alpha program, and maybe you can tell us a little bit about how you were doing and where you were at in life at that point.

Marie Caillouette  

Sure. At the time, that was probably the rock bottom of my life. I was heavily into drugs at the time, and my life was literally at the pits of everything. I ended up getting arrested and had some charges put against me. And it was while I was in, waiting on remand, waiting on my sentencing that a couple had come in to do Alpha within the prison. So that was my first experience with it. Their Oreos were probably the catch all for me in the very beginning, and an opportunity to get out of my cell, to be quite honest. But, yeah. So, that's where it was introduced to me. I wasn't very far along in my faith journey at the time and they had given me, ironically, I still have the book. 

Kristin Ostensen  

Wonderful. 

Marie Caillouette  

They really gave me some encouraging words and some prayers to read over and over again, because I was at a point where, you know—God, if you're actually real, at any point in my life, this is where I need you, you know. If you show me you're real, then I'll follow, you know. So, for sentencing, they were looking to give me eight years. And I do believe with the power of prayer and Alpha and everyone praying around me at the time, I ended up only with two years, three months. And in total, I only ended up doing 11 inside, 11 months behind bars. So once I was in there, I finished up my 11 months, and then I was released into Greenfield [House], here in Moncton. And I met the staff there and, you know, they really encouraged me, and actually met my current husband there. 

Kristin Ostensen  

Oh, wonderful. 

Marie Caillouette  

Yeah. So, from there, that was where I first got introduced to The Salvation Army and started learning about them, and he had brought me to the church because he wanted me to meet, as he calls it, all of his mom and dads. So, I had come here and we stayed, we sat in the back pew for years, until the Andersons came to our church and noticed that I was sitting in the back, and thought maybe I could go, in one sense, a step further, but in another sense a step back, because directly behind my pew was the sound booth, our audio visual ministry, and that's where I started getting involved with our church. So I did that for the last four years, close to five, and then this position had opened up. So it was just a natural flow of things. And one miracle that I can say out of all of that, that connects the Alpha with my current life, was when I had to go down and get my criminal record check for my job. Now everyone was already aware, you know, of my background, but this is proof. So, I go down and I give them my ID at the RCMP station, and he hands me back a clean record. I argued with him, said, “That's not right. That's not me. It can't be. I was in a federal institution. I was in Greenfield. I had to come down here and sign in, you know, once or twice a week. What are you talking about?” And they searched and searched and no, I've managed, you know, God has blessed me—I shouldn't say manage. God has blessed me with, quite literally, a clean slate, and I paid my debt, and I'll forever be grateful to Alpha for starting that journey and putting those seeds many years ago—well, 10 years now, in my heart, and have flourished ever since.

Kristin Ostensen  

Yeah, going back to the Alpha, so you said you were very sort of early on your faith journey. Can you tell me, at that point, did you have any Christian background, or were you kind of coming in totally fresh to the concept of Jesus and of faith in Christ?

Marie Caillouette  

I grew up where, you know, God and church was just for Sundays, and throughout the week was a free for all. So that's really where it was, and I had stopped going to church, probably I would have been 10 or 11, just from a bad experience. A friend of mine had passed away, and his funeral happened to be in that same church, so I just stopped altogether, walked away from it all, until years later, with Alpha.

Kristin Ostensen

Yeah, and you mentioned, partly it was more an opportunity to get out of your cell, which understandable. But at what point did you start to connect with the program? And so it wasn't just about getting a little break, but it started to connect with you and become meaningful.

Marie Caillouette 

It's funny you ask that, because even my original Alpha book reflects that timeline.

Kristin Ostensen

Yeah?

Marie Caillouette 

So it's pretty blank for like, the first two, three weeks. Then we're saying, like the fourth or fifth, I started underlining things, and then started writing little notes beside things. So, at the end of it, it's all my scribbles everywhere, but it really just, it started making sense to me, and at that point in my life—what other thing do you have to believe in, right? So, for me, it was: OK, you know, there's got to be some merit to it, when I thought back throughout my life. And even though I was in the dark place that I was in, and, for me, the day of sentencing and seeing what God could do in my life—that was the nail in it for me, really, where it was, “Yeah, I am real, and look what I can do for you.” You know, most people aren't happy and excitred the day of their sentencing, but I can say that I was. [laughs]

Kristin Ostensen  

And had you finished at the Alpha program at that point?

Marie Caillouette  

No, actually, there was one more week left. And normally, what happens when you do get sentenced, they just immediately ship you to the federal institution. But in my case, I had asked if it was at all possible to be able to stay and finish the last class of Alpha, and miraculously, the judge agreed. And so I was able to go back to Miramichi and finish out the week there, and the next day after Alpha was completed, that's when I had gotten transferred. So, it's a very rare situation that that ever happens. 

Kristin Ostensen  

So, the judge must have really been able to see how much the program meant to you. 

Marie Caillouette  

Absolutely. Yeah.

Kristin Ostensen

Wow, that's so neat. And was there a point during the program where you made kind of an official faith commitment, or did it just sort of gradually happen, organically?

Marie Caillouette  

For me, I can't pinpoint, like I said, other than my sentencing day, but it was a progression for me, and just kind of watching everything flourish and just continuously saying yes, even when it was really hard, or even when I'd end up saying “thank you, but no, thank you.” I had those around me to be able to be able to give me that nudge, you know, because I get in my own head a lot, very much so. So the folks that God was able to put into my life—like from looking from today back is absolutely incredible, and it was all the right people to be able to help shape me and be the hands and feet of Jesus in my life.

Kristin Ostensen

Yeah, that's so beautiful. And how would you say your life has changed since you gave your life to God?

Marie Caillouette  

Complete 180. My life now looks nothing like it did—absolutely nothing. I often say there's my old life and my new life, and I don't want anything from my old life's seeping into my new one. And I mean, there, there has been some battles over the last 10 years, you know that try to deter me from keeping that new life. But I've also noticed anytime that, you know, just before God makes a big move in my life, there's always the struggle to get through and lessons to be learned so I can handle the next big thing.

Kristin Ostensen  

So given that you had this incredible experience with Alpha yourself, how excited were you to bring this to your own church? What made your church decide to run alpha because, of course, it has been around for quite a while. How did it sort of fit into your ministry context? 

James Anderson  

Yeah, Kristin, I actually became aware of Alpha back in the very beginning of 2000, and we were doing a Power to Change Conference in Regina, and we were looking at a material that would actually, after people made decisions for Christ, help them to understand what that decision was about, or to give them the further clarity as to what that decision was about. And Alpha just seemed to be the perfect fit for it. So in the process of that, I began to develop a sort of a larger conference, and that was held in October of 2000. Since then, Alpha has always been a part of my ministry, you know, or part of the ministry of the churches I've been. And so we started talking about Alpha, and I felt led of God to speak with a gentleman in our church, Dean Pritchett, and to see, you know, what that would look like in terms of Alpha starting, because as a pastor, I didn't want to really champion it this time, but I wanted to be able to build a team that could champion it. And so, he came on stream. Marie came on stream with reference to the audio-visual communications, and, of course, her own experience, which was very, very powerful, and to be able to communicate that experience to the team as we were sitting in a meeting, was a bit of a wild moment for everyone. Because I think with maybe the exception of myself, due to some of the conversation that we had had previously, I come to learn of how Alpha really impacted Marie and forever changed her life, as she said. So we began and we pulled together our team leaders: five, six individuals. And Marie, I will say, played a very critical role in the success of that, not only from the point of view of her experience, but also from the point of view of her passion. She knew what it did in her life, and she just wanted somebody else to experience what had happened, you know, for her, to let that be the experience for others. And that propelled her into a, well, like a runaway train, to be honest. [laughs] It was just kind of like, head down, shoulder squared and away she went. [laughs] Yeah, so it was incredible to watch her, actually, because she just became so enveloped in the possibility that this could become somebody else's dream. And, you know, watching her put together the books and the lessons and coordinate it—I mean, she was weeks ahead, long before the Alpha even started, and she had everything, kind of, pardon the phrase, but tickety-boo.

Kristin Ostensen  

Marie, I'm curious, what was it like being sort of on the other side, you know, being one of the people running the program this time?

Marie Caillouette  

It was absolutely incredible. When the term Alpha got used again in my life, I got so excited. I ran home, I hauled out my old Alpha book, and I was very, very excited to be able to bring it here, and to be able to not just share my story and give some inspiration to folks, but just to be able to watch it work in the lives of others. And I knew what it did for me, and that was within a jail, you know—it was completely it was different, but it was the same. On the same token, to be honest, but to be on the other side of it, it's still a “pinch me” moment. I don't think I'll ever get over that part, to be honest. It was very, very exciting, and I'm so thankful to be able to lead and help in any way that I possibly can with the Alpha here and make those connections with folks. And, you know, because I don't think a lot of people as Major James said, not a lot of folks knew my background. They just knew that one day I showed up, 10 years ago.

James Anderson 

And to the surprise of the people in the church, she actually shared as one of our promo Sundays, she shared something of her journey with Alpha, and people had no idea. And it was, it was quite exciting. 

Kristin Ostensen 

Yeah. Well, and I'm glad we have a chance to share some of that too on the podcast today. But yeah, I'm wondering how, how was your experience of running it once it did get up and running, how did the group respond? And how did you see God at work in the program?

James Anderson 

It was kind of like watching, I'll use the analogy of a flower, kind of blossom, you know? It was one of these things where people came in and they weren't really sure about what Alpha was about. And there was an inquisitiveness, but there was also a bit of a caution. But as the session started to progress, there were those who were there minutes, like, I'm talking 10-15 minutes even before it would begin, and they would be amongst the group, chatting, sitting around the tables, having some conversation about last week's session while they were waiting for the next session. And of course, the meals were a brilliant part of the fellowship, and we held very strongly to those. But we saw, as things continued to unfold, that it was a tremendously enriching experience for those who are participating. For those who knew the Lord, it was the affirmation of their faith, and they came to understand not only what they believed, but why they believed it. And that was a great experience. And for those who were there to explore their journey with Jesus, particularly on the weekend where we focus on the working of the Holy Spirit in people's lives, that was a tremendous weekend. We watched unfold before us, really, you know, some pretty incredible, incredible moments in the lives of people.

Kristin Ostensen 

Yeah. Are there sort of specific examples that come to mind for you?

James Anderson 

Well, we were watching, actually, the videos, and then we would get into the discussions, and after the discussion, once we finished up at the end of the day, we had a time of worship where we wanted and to encourage and to invite people to either make a decision or to surrender to a more fullness of themselves to the Holy Spirit. It was just a holy hush of a moment where, because we were gathering in the sanctuary, some people decided to go to the altar and pray, and other people as groups were praying around their tables. And there was this holy hush that was absolutely lovely. And then, of course, the worship leader was leading in worship while we were singing, while all that was happening. It was just a very sacred moment. That's all I can say. You know, it was just an incredible experience to be a part of very enriching as a pastor. And I think people received more than they possibly ever anticipated.

Marie Caillouette 

I'd have to reiterate what Major James had said—that Holy Spirit weekend was absolutely incredible. And for me, what stood out is the worship piece and how it felt in the sanctuary, because we were able to host it right in the sanctuary, which was beautiful and very, very meaningful, I think, for everyone too. But that's where I think I would say that I would have seen the biggest transformation, you know, as he said, for those that already believed, you know, why they believe, and those that are just stepping into their faith.

Kristin Ostensen 

Are there any other moments from the program, any other stories or experiences that come to mind?

James Anderson  

I think there was the connection of community. We had journeyed together for 8-10 weeks, and there were relationships that were formed there that went beyond and extended beyond Alpha in one way or another. And one of the things for me is being both part of the Alpha ministry and the pastor of the church is to see how that got translated into church life and how people became more excited about their experience in the Lord and how they appreciated that they were able to have such rich teaching and have their questions answered, and to be in a very—and this is what I really appreciated. To be in a very non-judgmental space. Like, nobody was saying, No, that's wrong. Or, No, you can't think like that. Or, That's not what that's all about. Or, You can't—nothing of that was happening. There was just this community of learning and trying to encourage each other in terms of understanding what it means to be in relationship with Jesus—but even if you said something that was probably, you know—not that we heard many of these—but even if you were to say something that was way out in left field, no one would look at you and say, well, where in the world did that come from? It was just a very accepting, embracing and great community to be a part of because you didn't feel threatened. You could say what you wanted to say, express how you wanted to express it, and no one—you know, everybody received it, and it just kind of built on the whole session for the day or for the evening. 

Kristin Ostensen  

Now that some time has passed, what would you say has been the lasting impact of the program on the church there? 

James Anderson

We attended the Refresh Conference in September here at the [Atlantic] Division. And in doing that, I was privileged to have, I think it was nine leaders join me, selected for purpose, selected for intent. And Marie was actually a part of the organizing committee and team for that Refresh Conference. And so, one of the things that we were focusing on was trying to have our leaders discover what would be an area of ministry where they feel God is targeting them or leading them toward or targeting them in. And out of that Refresh weekend, a lot of things came out of it, but primarily a very keen interest in Youth Alpha and what that would mean for our youth in our church. When I came to this church in 2020, there probably might have been a couple, or three, four kids. Now we've got 17, 18 teenagers who are in leadership and training under the tutelage of Dan Cooper and Jalianne Lee Cooper, but Jalianne and I were doing it in tandem before Dan came into the picture and they got romantically involved and then got married. But the point being is that these leaders in training were really developing an aspiration to discover what God wants me to do, and how can I express my faith in church? So, we had them begin reading Bible and involved in songs or doing ushering, or, you know, assisting with some of the children's programs, or whatever the case, and so that started to develop. But out of this Refresh Conference came a passion in two of the leaders, because they wanted to have the youth not only participate, but again, understand what they believed, and then to explore more deeply what the relationship with Jesus actually meant. So we've been in touch with Peter [Park] about what it will mean for us to start a Youth Alpha. And some of the youth are very, very excited about that, and it's sort of the next stage of development in terms of their spiritual journey that we see would be very, very beneficial in coming through. So we're in the preliminary stages of that, but excited because we've got, again, four leaders who want to be a part of that, and we'll be meeting with Peter quite soon to kind of shape up what that's going to look like.

Kristin Ostensen

And Marie, do you have any thoughts on the lasting legacy of hosting the Alpha program at the church?

Marie Caillouette  

I think the couple things that stand out for me is the relationships that were built, even with those that have come from outside of our church are now still attending or connecting in some way. So that's been very, very beautiful. And then to also now see the passion for the Youth Alpha, you know, and being able to get that up and off the ground. So I'm very, very excited to be able to launch it with the youth. And, you know, be able to see what grows from those seeds.

Kristin Ostensen

So given that you've had this incredible experience, Marie, you personally, but then also as the church and you're looking forward to hopefully hosting Youth Alpha soon, what would you say to other Salvation Army corps about hosting the program, who might be considering it, and, you know, not sure, or yeah, what would you say to others? And in terms of our own context—how did you feel like it fit the Salvation Army context?

Marie Caillouette  

I think it fits perfectly, in my opinion, especially the pieces around the providing a non-judgmental space to be able to explore your faith.

James Anderson  

In my journey, I've done Alpha for a number of reasons, really, one of which was to affirm the faith of those who are in the church—people who, you know, have questions about their journey that doesn't always get answered in a Bible study and doesn't always get answered in a sermon or doesn't always get answered period. And it was a way, really, to be able to not only help them through that spiritual journey, but it was also a way to help them in the subsequent Alphas, when they were inviting people to come to Alpha and what Alpha was about, and how they would be received and what they would be participating in. And so it gave them a real keen insight into Alpha from again, like, I said, I love the phrase, you know, “knowing what you believe and why you believe it.” Because I believe a lot of people sometimes know why it is or what it is they believe, but they don't always know necessarily why they believe it or be able to express it. And those two pieces really came out in Alpha. The other side, of course, is purely for outreach. It brings people, as Marie already said, you know, it brings people into this safe space where, even if you don't know anything about faith, even if you don't know anything about Jesus, the truth is that you're invited into this safe space where you can explore. You can be yourself, you can be real, you can be authentic, and you can express yourself in a way that is meaningful for you and hopefully, I mean, it's been our experience, but hopefully people will see the church as a place where there's inclusion, there's acceptance, and there's room for dialogue, even if it's uncomfortable. And I think that's the beautiful thing about journeying in faith with those who don't otherwise know the Lord, but they have all kinds of questions about life and about living, and, yes, about faith. 

Marie Caillouette

If the seed’s been planted on your heart to potentially run an Alpha, just do it. You know, there's so many others out there, like myself. I mean, mine happened to be in a prison context originally, but you know, if it wasn't for that couple coming in, I wouldn't have the life I have now, you know. So, I just hope that if it happens to cross their minds, to run Alpha, to not give it a second thought, and just start planning, because you never know who's going to walk into your class that, you know, that it will change their life forever.

Kristin Ostensen 

Amen. Well, thank you both so much for your time today. It was great to hear about the program, and especially thank you, Marie, for sharing your testimony, and may God bless your ministry as you look forward to hopefully hosting the Youth Alpha soon. 

Marie Caillouette

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Kristin Ostensen

Thanks for joining us for another episode of the Salvationist podcast. For more episodes, visit Salvationist.ca/podcast.