Recently, OCCA partnered with All Saints Church – Weston, Incoming Ministries, and UCCF to host Questioning Faith, an apologetics day in Bath that brought together around 60-70 attendees. This event aimed to equip Christians with thoughtful answers to engage those exploring faith with intellectually and spiritually rich conversations.
“You’re responding to the things I’m thinking about” – Questioning Faith attendee
The event featured a range of topics designed to both equip Christians with confidence in their faith and engage those curious about Christianity:
- Trinity and Loneliness: Behold, I Am Always with You – Cristo Rodriguez
- Is There Meaning in My Pain? – Alanzo Paul
- Sexuality and Sex – Ben Thomas
- Scientism and Spirituality: Exploring Worldviews – Cristo Rodriguez & Alanzo Paul
A defining feature of every OCCA event is the dedicated time for Q&A, allowing attendees to delve deeper into their questions and receive thoughtful, well-reasoned answers to help them continue exploring their faith.
Meaningful Moments
One of the most encouraging aspects of the event was hearing personal testimonies of how these discussions resonated with attendees.
- After the Scientism and Spirituality session, one attendee shared, “You just talked about the past ten years of my life. I got into New Atheism, kind of came out of that, jumped into the occult, and I became a Christian. So I was psyched about this talk.”
- Several attendees shared that they have gay friends who are very cynical about Christianity. Ben Thomas was able to help them navigate conversations and dismantle arguments in a way that makes sense to their friends—while also responding in love and pointing them toward a Jesus-filled perspective rather than a self-filled one.
- A young man approached Alanzo after the event, sharing that the talk on the occult deeply resonated with him because he had previously been a Shaman.
- Many attendees expressed gratitude for the way the speakers engaged with their questions and addressed the issues they were wrestling with.
The Joy of Partnership in Ministry
The impact of Questioning Faith has extended beyond the event itself. Ben, the youth pastor at All Saints Church, is eager to collaborate with Reboot (OCCA’s youth apologetics initiative) and surrounding churches on a future event at Bath Abbey.
This is just one of the many possibilities of partnership that we are thrilled to explore with our new friends!
Your Partnership
None of this would be possible without the generosity and prayers of our supporters. Your investment in OCCA enables us to take the Gospel into spaces where tough questions are asked and to provide meaningful, biblically grounded responses. Thank you for standing with us as we continue to reach hearts and minds with the good news of Jesus Christ.
Finally, a big thank you to our Public Engagements Assistant, Ben Lloyd (there are a lot of Ben’s in this post), for coordinating this wonderful day!
