Learning to Play the Long Game with Alpha

Derek Heilmann is the Lead Pastor of Vineyard Altoona in PA, which he planted in 2014 out of Vineyard Columbus with Jeri, his wife. They dreamed of starting a thriving church where people would meet Jesus and become disciples, but the spiritual landscape of Altoona was different from Columbus, OH. While Columbus had people from diverse faith backgrounds or no faith background at all, Altoona was steeped in cultural Christianity. Many people were familiar with Christian beliefs, but deep, vibrant discipleship was less common.

Determined to engage their community in a fresh way, Derek launched an Alpha course in 2018, inspired by the dynamic and large-scale approach he had seen at Vineyard Columbus. “In Columbus, Alpha was a big deal. They regularly had a couple hundred people attending, and it felt like a huge production,” he recalls. Eager to replicate that success, they assembled a 24-person team, purchased signs, and promoted it heavily. On the first night, the team arrived full of excitement, only to realize no one else had come. “We did a full course for our own people, and it was fine, but we stopped doing it after that. We just quit.” 

In the Fall of 2022, while they were revamping after COVID, they decided to try Alpha again. Derek shared with a friend about their disappointing first experience running Alpha, who responded, “Well, that’s how it always goes. When you start, it’s just your own people because they don’t trust it enough yet to invite anybody. You have to do it a few times before they’ll start inviting their friends.” 

They committed to a regular rhythm of Alpha, and early on, it was mainly their church attendees. In January 2023, Derek attended the Experience Alpha event in London with a group of Vineyard pastors and was reassured when he heard Nicky Gumbel (the founder of Alpha) say, “You have to run it at least nine times to see what you actually have.” Nicky said the first three to four courses are usually mostly church members. He confirmed Derek’s friend’s assertion that it takes a church member being around it and experiencing it a few times in order to feel comfortable enough to invite their friends, family, and coworkers to join them. That insight solidified their long-term strategy.

“We love Alpha because it’s just so Vineyard. Our church’s mission statement is ‘Lost people Found, Found people Formed, Formed people Sent,’ and Alpha takes care of the first part of that. We invite people to attend, and then we invite them back to help at a table, and then we invite them to lead a table. If someone makes a decision for Christ or wants to get involved in the church, there’s an easy path to small groups because they’re already used to that dynamic.” 

Derek says he also loves how Alpha creates an avenue for discipleship and formation. “When we train people to lead tables, their job isn’t to provide answers, it’s to facilitate discussion. That means learning to manage their own anxiety, sitting with people’s questions, and resisting the urge to jump in with solutions, even when they think they have the perfect response. It builds character and develops leaders.” 

Their current group is about 35 people and consists of a table of college students, a table of attorneys from a local law firm, and a table full of people who are all in some way connected to Derek’s mentee, who is preparing to take over leadership of the ministry. She grew up in a traditional denominational church where questioning faith was discouraged. “This is the kind of space I wanted and needed when I was growing up, but didn’t exist, so I want to help create it for others.” 

Looking ahead, Vineyard Altoona dreams of growing Alpha to 50 attendees this year—more than half of their regular Sunday congregation. But for Derek, it’s not just about numbers. It’s about building a culture where people move from simply knowing about Jesus to becoming deeply transformed disciples, and where inviting others into the journey becomes second nature.

I Want to Run Alpha at My Church