Sam Couper recently started an Alpha course. In this blog he shares his testimony about what God is doing in Seaham, close to Durham (United Kingdom).
Hi Sam, please tell us something about yourself?
I’m Sam, a civil engineering masters student based at Durham University in the UK, currently working on a project to make buildings safer in Nepal. I’m passionate about sharing God’s heart for all nations, and long to be part of a generation of students who are totally surrendered to Him!
Recently you started an Alpha course. Tell us more about that!
The vision to start an Alpha goes back almost a year ago. During the lockdown I asked the Lord ‘where are you moving?’ in prayer before bed one evening. That night I woke up and wrote down ‘Seaham’, a town not too far away from Durham on the northeast coast. I began to pray for the town during the lockdown, mainly using google maps to look around the place! A couple of months later I heard from someone at my church that a number of people in Seaham, who were attending a rehabilitation centre, had recently given their lives to Jesus and started coming along to our church. As a result, we decided to start an Alpha course for all of the guys at the centre- we’ve had around 15 people coming each week so far.
We’ve just had week 5 of the Alpha, ‘Why and How Do I Pray?’, which many of the attendees found to be the most relatable session so far. Some of them shared stories of things that have happened in the past when they prayed, and it’s been amazing to have already had the opportunity to pray with some individuals that they would encounter Jesus personally. People are at different stages on their journey, and we trust that the Holy Spirit is at work!
What are your hopes for the future?
My personal hope is that what the Lord is doing in the centre would spill out into the streets and that we would see the whole of Seaham transformed and won for Jesus. It only starts with a few right?! We’re hoping to equip a few of the guys who are a little further in their journey to read the bible using the DBS at the centre during the week, so please pray that the Lord would be leading and directing this! Pray that we would continue to follow the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit in what he is already doing!
Read here more about the work of ICP in United Kingdom.
