Exploring Workplace Evangelism in
Hong Kong – In-Depth Interviews with
Alpha Workplace Leaders
Institute For City Transformation, Alpha Hong Kong
Many believers would not deny sharing the Gospel is their duty, yet most feel they lack the gifts for it, being neither eloquent nor formally trained. And thus evangelism is left to missionaries, pastors, and for the church to organise short-term mission trips, evangelistic rallies, and other outreach events. Influenced by the "sacred-secular divide”, many seasoned Christians would not even reveal their faith at work, let alone share the Gospel.
With the development of workplace theology and ministry in recent years, more pastors and believers are embracing the view "workplace as mission field". Alpha seems to provide the right tools and system, enabling believers to leverage their strengths in the workplace and share their faith without pressure. Alpha Workplace has now been conducted in over 50 industries in Hong Kong and is still growing rapidly. This is not only a bright spot but it also provides a starting point for exploring workplace evangelism in Hong Kong. Therefore, the Institute For City Transformation (ICT) and Alpha Hong Kong began researching in this area in May of this year. The first phase mainly involved semi-structured interviews with 13 Alpha Workplace leaders from diverse sectors, including banking and finance, information and communications, law, non-profit organizations, engineering, and small-to-medium enterprises. The findings of this study aim to bring some inspiration to the church and the wider Christian community, offering a starting point for their response.
Key Findings
After carefully analyzing the interview content, we identified the following themes (italicized quotes are direct excerpts from interviewees):
1. Daily Togetherness, Common Struggles, Concrete Needs, Authentic Encounters
Many leaders recognize that they spend more time with their colleagues than with family, friends, or neighbors. Sharing the same context and daily interactions makes it easy to understand each other’s needs and challenges without much explanation. The Bible’s teaching of love your neighbor as yourself refers to these very people, making it natural to want to share the Gospel with them.
"One of the Bible’s most important lessons is to love your neighbor as yourself… We spend so much time with our colleagues everyday - they are our neighbors. Alpha Workplace is about sharing God’s love with them."— Interviewee #9
Alpha creates a platform for more open and deeper exchanges in a safe, natural environment. It sharpens believers’ sensitivity to their colleagues’ needs, allowing them torespond in life’s highs and lows, offering prayer support and fostering genuine encounters with God.
"An assistant was about to work for a notoriously bad-tempered boss and was terrified and worried. Though she wasn’t a believer, I took her aside to pray. She suddenly burst into tears - I had no idea she was so upset and worried, yet surprised I could reach out to her in such closeness. Though she hasn’t yet believed, I feel that seeds were sown. I’ll keep loving her, and take every opportunity to pray and care. One day, she’ll experience God."— Interviewee #1
2. Conversion Isn’t the Only Goal - More are Getting Closer To God In Every Step
While Alpha is designed primarily to help non-believers explore faith and accept Christ in the process, many participants are actually believers - some no longer attend church or are lukewarm in their faith. But through Alpha, many experienced renewal and reignited their faith through participating and serving. Some return to church, others seek God more actively, and some experience profound spiritual revival, becoming more committed. We all understand that faith is a journey, not a destination. Whilst conversions are celebrated, spiritual renewal and drawing closer to God in every step are the more common outcomes.
"I believe Alpha isn’t just for non-believers - it benefits believers too, helping you grow closer to God, understand the Bible better, ask questions you would never dare to ask in church, and not feel embarrassed. Hearing others’ testimonies has also enriched me greatly."— Interviewee #4
"The most important thing is that in serving, we experience God ourselves. When we reach out to others, we witness God’s grace and how He meets and fulfills people’s needs. That far surpasses the satisfaction of closing a big business deal."— Interviewee #2
3. Organic, Bottom-Up Growth - Everyone Can Serve
Alpha Workplace is largely initiated by believers spontaneously, without any system or top-down directives. Its flexible format adapts to different work environments, locations, and industries, developing naturally and organically. Everyone can participate, utilizing their strengths, and serve in their roles whilst experiencing God and building friendships.
"Actually, it doesn't feel so hard when a large group of people do it together. I focus on intercession… and lead groups when needed. Some who have strong organizational skills would act as liaisons. Some who are friends of everybody like people magnets focus on invitation. Some are strong in IT so they take care of the logistics like sign up forms."— Interviewee #1
Workplace believers are often busy and stressed, struggling to attend or serve during Sunday church due to work, business travels, or family commitments. Alpha Workplace offers them midweek opportunities for worship, Christian fellowship, and ministry.
"Weekends are for family, leaving no room for ministry. But on weekdays, my wife doesn’t mind me using work hours or coming home a bit later after work. I have more space to engage in God’s work on weekdays."— Interviewee #11
4. Paths Vary, Relationship is the Major Thread
Every Alpha Workplace was birthed with a unique story. Some emerged from existing workplace fellowship groups, others extended from other Alpha courses (such as marriage and parenting). Many started with prayer and gathering of a few committed believers. But what runs through all of these are authentic relationships. The workplace is characteristically transactional, often reducing relationships to superficial functions. Alpha creates a space and channel for genuine connections - from invitations to participation, follow-ups, discipleship, and pastoral care - all stem from relationships. Relationships also have many layers. Some believers excel at mobilization and can invite lots of people, while others focus on in-depth cultivation of relationships, providing care and prayer support in critical moments.
"Busyness makes it impossible for people to connect, leaving them in acute loneliness… I think God designed mankind for relationships, but Hong Kong’s work culture deprives us of authentic relationships. I want colleagues to experience the beauty and goodness of relationships and stay in it."— Interviewee #13
Relationships extend beyond non-believers, to between leaders and believers as well, ultimately deepening each person’s relationship with God.
"When people first experience Alpha, those who haven't been exposed to it before, find it strange at first. But after experiencing it, they encounter the Holy Spirit, and suddenly, which church you come from does not matter anymore; what matters most is your relationship with Jesus… If you’re trying to just ‘retain’ people, you might lose them all... So we’re always trying to build relationships."— Interviewee #6
5. Led by the Holy Spirit - One Sows and Another Reaps
Many leaders mentioned that leading Alpha is low-pressured and requires little preparation. They understood their role is to walk alongside, not to provide all the answers. The transformation of the heart comes not by human eloquence but the Holy Spirit’s work.
"What’s important isn’t how well we lead Alpha, but to let the Holy Spirit lead. We just show the videos, facilitate the discussion, and ask open-ended questions." — Interviewee #3
Due to different work situations and demands, attendance is often irregular, and many participants don’t stay. Yet the leaders all understood this to be the work of sowing. "Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." (John 4:37-38). The work continues even when the results are yet unseen as God remains sovereign.
"Some people finished and that’s it, like the parable of the seeds eaten by birds or choked by thorns. By success rates, around a quarter of the people stay. People leave for many reasons." — Interviewee #1
"Alpha is mainly for sowing seeds. But in crises such as illness of a family member, death, or broken relationships - your words would suddenly ‘click.’ Their hearts would be opened and the seed sprouted, asking, ‘Why do Christians help others so selflessly?’" — Interviewee #8
6. What’s Next After Alpha?
While Alpha Workplace introduces many to Jesus, what would happen next? Currently there are no set models yet. Often leaders try to connect new believers with suitable churches, but those who got used to Alpha’s informal atmosphere found it harder to adapt. Some also chose to continue in workplace small groups and fellowships. Alpha has also developed a follow-up course Beta, allowing them to continue meeting in the Alpha setting for a longer period. One leader even planted a workplace church, and extended it to home gatherings for ex-colleagues and their families to continue growing in faith communities. Some leaders invited churches to help out, including leading Alpha and the subsequent discipleship. How to connect with local churches afterwards is, frankly, still an area requiring further exploration. For instance, local churches are more inclined to one way communication like preaching and teaching, language and vocabulary used also differs vastly from that of the workplace. This opens up a whole new area of learning and adapting from both sides.
"I think the next mile is the collaboration of church and workplace. Churches have a lot of resources, but there are supply and demand mismatches… I’ve heard of a beautiful analogy. Workplace evangelism and the church’s relationship is like architects and engineers - both must unite to accomplish something wonderful - so that the completed buildings are both beautiful and stable. May Hong Kong’s workplaces and churches become each other’s blessing in the next season." — Interviewee #13
6. Conclusion
The 2024 Hong Kong Church General Survey reveals declining church attendance and baptisms, momentum for evangelism is waning. With a churn rate of over 27% for baptized believers in each of the three survey cycles of 15 years, churches really have great difficulties in retaining people. Core leaders and volunteer numbers also dwindled while church-planting momentum has also plummeted. The situation poised a stark contrast to that of the workplace. During the research, we observed that the Alpha leaders were brimming with evangelistic zeal, their teams were actively participating and serving, and they cooperated seamlessly, bringing their colleagues closer to Jesus step by step through prayer, concrete actions, and personalized care. In the long-term, however, discipleship requires closer collaboration with the church. As to how to collaborate, both sides must learn and adapt in this regard. May this study spark a new beginning. Let us unite and discern God’s work in the workplace and co-labor with Him. The possibilities are endless, including the church-planting opportunity that became Aspire Church, etc. God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts, may we say “yes” to Him even amidst the unknown! In His grace and to His glory, not only the workplace flourishes, the church also revives.
[1] Interviews conducted by Apphia Research.