Marlborough Boys has a faith flavour to its after school activities. With the help of local churches the students were offered the chance to participate in an "Alpha" group in early March this year.

The group incorporates many of the denominations in the Marlborough region: Elim, Baptist, Nativity, Assembly of God and the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand are represented. Third formers to seventh formers are invited to attend the advertised meetings. With the last session at the end of May the students involved talked to Rebecca Paton about the Alpha group.

What made you want to join the Alpha Group?

"We were really desperate to have a Christian club of some sort because we wanted to meet each other and get to know each other better as Christians. And Proverbs 27:17 says 'iron sharpens iron' and I think friends sharpen the irons of each other - we sort of based the idea of a club around it - and then Alpha group started. It was like the answer to our prayers pretty much." - Stephen Webb

"It is uniting - and uniting the churches is a really good feeling." - Stuart Gay

What do you do in Alpha?

"It's questions of life ­ answering the questions of life and what we don't understand about our Christian faith. It helps us to be better Christians." ­ Mike Johnston

How does it feel to be identified as a Christian in a secular school?

"It can be a scary thing because sometimes you feel that you can be rejected by other people and that they'd spread it around. But you find that people generally accept it, and it gets easier every time you tell someone new. And they start to notice you a lot more ­ they say, "look, he's a Christian ­ he doesn't swear or anything" and we get put in role model positions." ­ Stephen Webb

So what does it mean to you to be Christian?

"It's probably about respect - respect for others. Also just little things like listening in class, obeying what the teacher is actually saying. And not drinking or swearing ­ these things just block you from God. There are a lot of stereotypes from TV about what it is to be Christian. People think that Christians have to follow the rules, but we do things because we want to, not because we have to." - Stuart Gay

How do you talk to people in your school about God?

"Sometimes we just try to change the subject so that we can talk about God and how people view God. Sometimes we give them hints and tips about what God might be like and then we see people start questioning themselves and challenging themselves." - Shannon Kissell

What are you going to do now that the Alpha groups sessions are over?

"As a result of Alpha group we started up a prayer meeting that operates every Monday night and we are getting more involved in the school and having prayer walks, voluntarily picking up rubbish and doing other such things." - Stephen Webb

"We're also going to become a part of a group called "the rock' which is students leading students to Christ. We'll be organising more activities and being more open to the college ­ maybe teaching a little more about God". - Mike Johnston

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Tali Steele a fifth former at Wanganui High School made a speech about God to her school. Visit the site to read her story.