Alice Goble is in her third year studying Acting at Rose Bruford College in Sidcup. Two weeks before Fuse spoke to her two of her friends gave their life to God whilst on an Alpha course.
When I got to Rose Bruford I was thrown in with lots of people who don’t have the same beliefs in me.
Having grown up in church, I loved being out of the church building and with people who needed to know God’s love, so I spent a lot of time investing in my course mates. I started inviting them to a church in Sidcup. It was weird; it was uncomfortable at times and there were moments when the Pastor would speak about things and I would think “please word that differently!” I’ve had to accept that the Word can be offensive to those who don’t believe.
I’ve had lots of questions thrown at me about how I live my life; why I don’t take drugs or have sex, for example.
You can feel like you’re in the firing line. I think it’s really important to let people ask the awkward questions, the ones that Christians deem inappropriate. Obviously guard your heart and have boundaries but if you’re comfortable talking about the things they’re asking about then you can help them understand more of the Kingdom of God.
I took some friends to Alpha and we all found it hard.
My friends found it overwhelming and they got frustrated by things that were said. I spent a long time battling with that; I thought it would be easy once I got them along. I felt God say to me ‘brick-by-brick, baby steps. I’m planting a seed, don’t underestimate how much it will grow, it will just take time to build its roots.’ So I kept standing firm in my faith, kept asking people along.
Away from Alpha I spend 13 hours day with these friends in a rehearsal environment.
They’ve seen me at my worst when I’ve made mistakes, but they’ve also seen that I get my hope not from acting or fancy headshots, but from Jesus.
Recently I thought I’d give it one more try. I took four girls to Alpha and they loved it! They’re starting to read the bible and pray. One of them texted me to say she was in the toilet praying for confidence and then she went into an audition and felt a real peace.
Two weeks ago, two of them gave their lives to God.
I can’t say it’s suddenly all blue skies. One of them is a bit overwhelmed, not in a bad way but she comes from an atheist family and she finds it hard to talk about this new belief. My prayer is that God will start growing those roots. I’ve had a few friends come to Alpha and say ’my parents don’t know I’m here, if they did they’d kill me.’ They’ve been brought up to think faith is all wrong, and it’s so wonderfully rewarding to see them sitting there thinking it might be right.
