Skip to content
Bookings are open for REBOOT City London – Ilford in November!
Book today
Overview
Testimonials
Speakers

Questions?

A Confident Faith Day will usually consist of 3-4 lecture sessions, Q&A panels, and the opportunity for group work and good conversation. Turn to our brochure above for more details, or keep reading below for a brief snapshot.

OCCA is keen to tailor the content to your church’s needs. It may be worth thinking through the big conversations in your congregation right now and what it could be good to address – albeit classical, cultural, ethical, or existential questions. OCCA’s diverse speaking team is ready and able to respond to the many questions society has today. Find some examples of questions you may want to tackle in our brochure above.

Each session can be comprised of lecture time, group work, and Q&A – or all three. Typically, it’s worked well to allocate approximately 1 hour for each session.

It is also important to think through the level you’d like OCCA to pitch their material so that the content is suitable for the desired audience group(s).

A simple metric might be:

  • Introductory – introducing basic reasons for faith, suitable for everyone
  • Intermediate – going into more detail and getting people thinking more deeply
  • Advanced – unpacking philosophical and theological concepts in more depth

Naturally, your church might be a great place to host your event! However, it might be worth thinking through capacity and audience. Perhaps there is a local venue that could hold a number of people from local churches that you invite, or perhaps there is a more neutral setting to host your event if the main goal is outreach. Or, maybe a building that offers various breakout rooms is needed.

Each venue has pros and cons. It is worth thinking through what setting will help to facilitate the desired tone and atmosphere for your event.

OCCA recommends charging for the event to cater for your guests and to signify what they can expect – high quality material. The typical cost for OCCA to run a Confident Faith Day would account for 2-3 OCCA speakers plus travel expenses (i.e., £250 per speaker). OCCA is a charity and can only run days like this thanks to the generosity of its supporters. In light of this, we welcome any additional donations to help us to keep impacting lives through our events, trainings, and outreach.

All said, we love to partner with churches and groups, so if finances are an issue, please do still get in touch with us.

Hear what past churches have had to say

  • The day has really inspired people's faith, increased confidence and modelled how we can use our minds and critical faculties in the service of God. It taught us the importance of genuinely listening to people and reminded us that we have nothing to fear from truth, indeed pursuing truth leads us closer to God.

    Richard Mortimer Christ Church Dartford

  • Great biblical content on subjects that were close to our heart and highly relevant to our changing culture.

    Geoff Felton Mersey Synod Moderator

  • I felt I was in good hands from the outset, working with a professional organisation that cared about the people they were working with and wanted to meet the needs of our group.

    Richard Mortimer Christ Church Dartford

  • “We absolutely loved having OCCA come and lead us for the day. It was so valuable to inspire the Church and to empower them with knowledge they can use in sharing the Gospel.”

    Marcus Hart Curate at Christ Church, Ware

  • Thank you for the high quality and important service that you bring - very good at reading the room and pitching it right.

    Sam Mckee Aylesbury Vale Church

  • We are so thankful for OCCA's partnership. Their speakers have been a great blessing to the Albanian audience. Everyone seems to love them and there is so much to learn not only from their in-depth biblically scholarly talks but also from their humble and loving attitude.

    Kaon and Danjela Institute for Faith and Cultural Engagement

Our Speakers

Get to know the team and find out who may be the best fit for the topics you may have in mind.

Photo of Aase Victoria Bøe
Aase Victoria Bøe

Aase Victoria is a Speaker-in-training at the OCCA The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics.

She loves meeting people who think differently, especially when those encounters lead to meaningful conversations about life’s deepest questions.

Some of the questions she often explores and wrestles with include: If God exists, why doesn’t He make Himself more obvious? Are feelings a reliable guide to one’s relationship with God? If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world?

Alongside her interest in theology and philosophy, she has a passion for fantasy literature. She is fascinated by how stories like The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, and Avatar awaken in us a sense of longing – and by the question of whether that longing points to something real beyond ourselves.

Though she has always been a Christian, she has also always been a sceptic. Her questions about faith sparked a lifelong desire to search for truth and to examine which worldview best explains the reality we live in. For that reason, she believes it is essential to honestly explore and engage with the many questions people bring to the Christian faith.

Aase Victoria holds a degree in Theology and Leadership (BTh.) from the Norwegian School of Leadership and Theology. She is currently studying philosophy at the University of Cambridge and Intellectual History at the University of South-Eastern Norway.

In the past, she worked as editor of the Christian online youth magazine iTro.no in Norway. She has also worked on ethical issues relating to human dignity, biotechnology, abortion, and euthanasia.

While from Norway, Aase Victoria currently lives in Oxford with her husband.

Photo of Alanzo Paul
Alanzo Paul

Alanzo is passionate about literature, philosophy and theology. His work primarily focuses on questions such as, ‘Why does God allow suffering and injustice?’ and ‘What is the meaning of life?’. Additionally, he enjoys exploring topics such as the Occult, identity, Gen Z, difficult passages in the Old Testament, and the case for the historical Jesus.

Photo of Ben Thomas
Ben Thomas
Ben qualified as a doctor in 2003, and worked full-time in the medical field outside of the one year he took to pursue training in Theology and Apologetics at the University of Oxford and OCCA. In 2016, he became a consultant in Neurosciences Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia unit, but now works as a consultant part-time alongside his role as a speaker at the OCCA.
Ben has interests in the intersection of faith and sexuality, gender, medical ethics, and psychology. He has spoken numerous times to the younger generations and adults in churches, conferences, and mission events across the UK and Australia. In his attempts to work out what it looks like to follow Jesus well, he is also a keen runner (Forrest Gump style!), musician, chef, and loves spending time with his family, friends, and Godchildren.
Photo of Charlie Styles
Charlie Styles

Revd. Charlie Styles is currently an Associate Speaker with OCCA, has been in church leadership for 12 years and loves teaching the Bible. Before becoming an Associate speaker, Charlie spent the last three years as CEO, helping to set the direction of OCCA through strategic and mission initiatives.

Photo of Clare Williams-Sarpong
Clare Williams-Sarpong
Clare's work focuses upon questions of race, justice and culture, and what the Christian message has to offer these contested issues. She studied English Language and Literature at Oxford University, and has Masters degrees in Leadership, Culture, Diaspora and Ethnicity.
Photo of Cristo Rodriguez
Cristo Rodriguez
Cristo has a background in Modern Foreign Languages and Religious Education in secondary schools. He has been involved in education for over 20 years in one form or another. Having worked in schools abroad with the British Council he worked in Alternative Provision, Youth Work and the voluntary sector as well being Managing Director of a Christian Education Charity and recently a Chaplain. He currently works as a subject leader in Religious Education and is a speaker and tutor responsible for schools work here at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. Cristo will be a Farmington Scholar at Harris Manchester College University of Oxford 2024/25 researching RE exam questions. Cristo is also a trustee of the Association of Christian Teachers (ACT) and a member of the Christian Coalition for Education (CCFE) and a Committee Member of the Religious Education Network (REN).
Photo of John Lennox
John Lennox
John is the President of the OCCA The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. He is an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University and speaks on the interface of science, and religion, and is a well-known biblical teacher. He has debated the likes of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Peter Singer, and has lectured extensively in North America, Eastern and Western Europe, and Australasia on mathematics, the philosophy of science and the intellectual defence of Christianity.
John is also an Emeritus Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford University. In addition, he is a Senior Fellow with the Trinity Forum, and has written a number of books exploring the relationship between science and Christianity, among them: Where is God in a Coronavirus World? (2020), 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity (2021), and Cosmic Chemistry: Do God and Science Mix? (2021). Most recently, Lennox has produced a biblical exposition, Friend of God: The Inspiration of Abraham in an Age of Doubt.
He gained his MA, MMath, and PhD at Emmanuel College, Cambridge University. He also holds an MA and DPhil from Oxford University (by incorporation), an MA in Bioethics from the University of Surrey, and a DSc from the University of Wales.
John lives near Oxford and is married to Sally. They have three grown up children and ten grandchildren.
Photo of Rahil Patel
Rahil Patel
Rahil's work revolves around Hinduism and searches how to offer the beauty of the Christian Gospels to that eastern worldview in order to build bridges across demographics and faiths.
Photo of Sara Stevenson
Sara Stevenson
Sara is passionate about exploring questions raised by Philosophy of Religion and Ethics. She has an MSc in Philosophy of Science and Religion from the University of Edinburgh, and an Education Degree in Religious Studies.
Photo of Sharon Dirckx
Sharon Dirckx
Dr. Sharon Dirckx is a speaker, author, and an Associate Lecturer at the OCCA The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. Her interests include questions of meaning, purpose, and identity, and how they relate to Christian belief.
Over the last 10 years, Sharon has been invited to speak internationally in a variety of contexts such as schools, universities, medical colleges, churches, workplaces, and conferences.
Her first book, Why?: Looking at God, Evil and Personal Suffering (2014) interweaves the stories of people who have suffered and our practical questions about suffering. Sharon’s latest book, Am I Just My Brain? (2019), examines human identity from the perspectives of neuroscience, philosophy, and theology. She is also a contributor to best-selling author, Lee Strobel’s latest book, The Case for Heaven (2021).
Sharon holds a Ph.D. in brain imaging from the University of Cambridge and held research positions at the University of Oxford and the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Photo of Tom Price
Tom Price
Tom Price studied Philosophy at university and later completed an MA in Christian Apologetics, and is currently undertaking doctoral research in theology, philosophy and film.

Set up your Confident Faith Day now!

While our Confident Faith Days tend to follow a similar structure, we know each church is facing its own challenges and so are happy to tailor topics, Q&A, and anything else that might maximise accessibility. If you have any specific questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to invites@theocca.org!

OCCA The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics is committed to engaging the curious and equipping the saints in their faith. OCCA acknowledges everyone, of all demographics and ages, has big questions about life, meaning, purpose, and morality. We seek to respond to these big questions with kind and credible answers that are intellectually rigorous yet emotionally intelligent.

- Charlie Styles, CEO

Tell us about your event

(e.g. Lead pastor, school teacher, etc.)
e.g. Central Church, Leeds.
Event start date & time (proposed)
Let us know if you have a specific start date/time in mind or, for longer events, include more details in the box below
End date & time (proposed)
When do you propose this event will end?
Select up to a maximum of four speakers
If you don't have a preference or would like us to make a recommendation, select 'Any Speaker'
e.g. God and Suffering
An optional space to provide very brief additional details.
I'd like to receive updates from OCCA

Hear from us

Subscribe
Support Us