There are two Parenting Courses – The Parenting Children Course and The Parenting Teenagers Course. The Parenting Children Course and The Parenting Teenagers Course act as a bridge between the church and the local community by recognising the need to go beyond the social, as well as physical, walls of the church to help parents, step-parents, prospective parents and carers invest in their relationships with their children. The Parenting Courses are designed to be easy for churches to run; with episodes that are available to buy and download online, along with training, guides, and journals.

Currently we have hundreds of Parenting courses across 127 countries, in 45 languages. For further information about our courses, please have a look at our website: gulf.alphamena.wpengine.com/the-marriage-courses

The Parenting Children Course was developed in 1990 by Nicky and Sila Lee (authors of The Parenting Book) for parents, step-parents, prospective parents and care-givers looking for practical support to strengthen their relationships with their children (0-10 years).

Over five sessions, the course will help you to:

1. Build strong foundations
2. Meet your children’s needs
4. Set clear boundaries
5. Teach healthy relationships
6. Consider your long term aim

The Parenting Teenagers Course was developed in 1990 by Nicky and Sila Lee (authors of The Parenting Book) for parents and care-givers looking for practical support to strengthen their relationships with their teenage children (11-18 years).

Over five sessions, the course will help you to:

1. Keep your long term aim in mind
2. Meet you teenager’s needs
3. Set clear boundaries
4. Develop emotional health
5. Help them make good choices

The Parenting Children Course is for parents, step-parents, prospective parents or carers of children aged 0-10 years.

The course is for every type of parenting situation including parenting on your own, step-parenting and parenting as a couple.

The Parenting Children Course is based on Christian principles but designed for all parents/families with or without a church background.

The Parenting Teenagers Course is for parents, step-parents, prospective parents or carers of teenagers aged 11-18 years.

The course is for every type of parenting situation including parenting on your own, step-parenting and parenting as a couple.

The Parenting Teenagers Course is based on Christian principles but designed for all parents/families with or without a church background.

We would love any parents, grandparents, step-parents, prospective parents or carers of children or teenagers to feel welcome to attend the Parenting Courses.

While The Parenting Course is based on Christian principles, it is designed for parents and/or carers with or without a Christian faith. We would love parents/carers to feel welcome to attend it whether or not they have a Christian faith or any religious faith at all. We are confident all parents/carers will find the courses relevant and helpful for growing their relationship with their children.

To find a course near you, visit our Course Finder and search by country, city, or area code. If you’re having trouble finding a course where you are, please get in touch with your local Alpha office who will be happy to help (The Parenting Courses are part of Alpha International’s offering).

Yes. To get the most out of the Parenting Courses, we recommend you try to come to every session, but if you do miss one you could always ask the course organiser to catch you up by sending you the missed session’s episode. You can then work through it in your own time.

We believe that anyone who has a desire to see families strengthened, has experience of working with families and enjoys hosting parents/carers can run a course. You do not need to have a perfect family or be an expert/experienced in family ministry to run it. We have a number of short training videos that will take you through how to run the Parenting courses. Register your course on the Marriage Course Builder to access the training videos.

Yes, it is very easy! All of the talks are available online, along with a Leaders’ Guide which has instructions for when to pause for exercises and private conversations for parents. Promotional materials and other resources are also available once you register your course on the Marriage Course Builder.

The website requires fixed dates in order for a course to be entered. Please note that course dates will show until approximately two weeks after your course starts.

Running sections of the course means guests don’t get the full experience or the full benefit of the course. The course is written in a way that the different sections build upon each other and don’t work as effectively when done independently. We would recommend you run the full course, rather than just use sections.