CHRISTIANS are using the power of text messaging to get people through East Lancashire church doors.

Posters advertising Alpha courses - 15-week 'no strings' introductions to Christianity - ask people to think 'is there more to life than this?' and then text a number to find out more.

Over 250 courses will be run across the county during the autumn, including several in Blackburn, Darwen and Burnley.

And church leaders of all denominations are hoping Alpha will reverse the decline in congregations.

Among those who have already experienced Alpha is Julie Hartley, of Mill Hill, Blackburn. She recently finished a course at Blackburn Community Church which meets at Crosshill School, Shadsworth Road, on Sunday mornings.

Julie said: "I got an awful lot out of it. I made a lot of new friends and have more understanding of Christianity and Jesus."

Alpha courses were launched in 1992 and now run in more than 28,700 churches around the world.

Groups meet up, have a meal, listen to a speaker and then sit and talk about the week's topic or ask questions.

Blackburn Community Church elder Dave Wade said his church, part of the Newfrontiers group, said Alpha had been a success.

He said: "A lot of people have really been blessed by finding out what Alpha is.

"It's about finding out what Christianity is all about. A lot of people's perception of church is that it's a building or a vicar or a dull, boring place. But they find out there is more to Christianity. It's about their relationship with God and with each other.

"We've had a wide diversity of people, ex-drug addicts and heroin addicts, middle-aged people, young, single, everyone searching for something.

"Lives have been changed from despair to real happiness and joy."

To find out more about Alpha courses contact 0845 644 7544 or text ALPHA to 60030.