More than 15,000 Kenyan young people have undertaken the Alpha course thanks to a unique partnership between Alpha and Compassion International.
Compassion, which engages in anti-poverty and educational programmes through child sponsorship, partners with local evangelical churches in 26 countries around the world. It aims to offer children and young people a "holistic" curriculum which includes their physical, spiritual, socio-emotional and intellectual development.
Alpha's evangelistic programme, founded at Holy Trinity Brompton and based on talks on Christian basics and small group discussions over a meal, has been widely used in the UK and elsewhere.
A Compassion report on its partnership with Alpha in Kenya says the Alpha Youth course helps young people address doubts about their faith in a supportive setting.
Compassion Kenya Director Joel Macharia says: "It attempts to answer the questions and to resolve the conflicts between individual beliefs and sound biblical teachings ... the individual takes personal responsibility for his or her beliefs and feelings."
The partnership began in 2013 and in the 18 months to June 2014 more than 15,000 young people went through the course. The report said that it resulted in increased levels of discipline and spiritual growth.
Compassion also offers a Leadership Development Programme (LDP) for graduates of the child sponsorship program aimed at further developing their potential. The report says that LDP students who went through the Alpha course showed a deeper understanding of the gospel and were more confident in defending their faith.
Compassion works with around 95,400 children and young people in more than 355 child development centres in Kenya.
Compassion UK spokeswoman Bekah Legg told Christian Today that its anti-poverty mandate "also means that we will fight spiritual poverty".
"The reality is that poverty teaches kids that there is no hope; that they do not matter and that no one cares," she said. "Compassion is committed to making sure that those children are known, loved and protected through their local church.
"Compassion has a holistic approach to child development; we help children to grow physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually as well as providing for their core economic needs. We know that for a child to reach their full, God-given potential you cannot miss a part of that matrix out."
She stressed that local churches ran the courses as voluntary programmes and that there was never a "compulsion to convert". "The truth is that, as a Christian organisation, we have a deep desire to see young people get to know the God who created them," she said. "But we firmly believe that all we can do, all anyone can ever do, is introduce a child to Jesus and then allow them to decide whether or not they would like to follow Him."
