Brenden Thompson is the UK Programme Director for Word on Fire, Lead Coordinator of Catholic Voices, and a Trustee of the Bible Society. He joined Nell O’Leary to discuss his new course in the Word on Fire Institute in which he teaches how to evangelize those who are resistant to the faith and introduces the “10 doors” you can knock on to encourage someone to let Christ into his or her heart.
Nell O’Leary: Hello, Brenden! You’re the Programme Director of Word on Fire UK and the Community Leader of the UK Community. You just finished up a wonderful conference on the Bible with thousands of people in England—Bishop Barron included among your many speakers and presenters. And now the Word on Fire Institute is launching your first course with us. What an introduction! Can you share a little about this course and how it came to be?
Brenden Thompson: It’s an honour to have been invited to pray, reflect, and develop the course lessons for Evangelizing Post-Christian Cultures because I see this as one of the greatest evangelistic challenges of our time.
St. John Paul II spoke of the need for a “new evangelisation”—not new in content, but in ardour, method, and expression. The work of Bishop Barron and Word on Fire has been a wonderful example of what this looks like in practice: reaching the religiously unaffiliated (the “nones”) and re-presenting Christianity in a way that speaks compellingly to a culture that often feels like it has already heard and dismissed the faith. The challenge, then, is not just to introduce people to Christianity but to reintroduce them in a way that breaks through indifference and misrepresentation.
This course is a theological, pastoral, and practical response to that challenge. It is shaped by my own study of evangelisation, engagement with Bishop Barron’s work, and nearly two decades of ministry in the Church in England. It also informs much of my current work as I seek to grow Word on Fire as a movement in the UK. My hope is that this course will inspire and equip Catholics to confidently share their faith in today’s cultural landscape.
“Evangelizing Post-Christian Cultures” sounds perhaps to be a statement on our American culture, European culture, and more. Would you say these cultures are beyond Christianity? Why or why not?
The term “post-Christian” is one I use in the course, and it’s widely used elsewhere, but I approach it with some hesitations. In fact, at the start of the course, I highlight reasons why this term should be used with caution. There’s a risk that calling our culture “post-Christian” can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, fostering a kind of defeatism. There’s also a danger of projecting this label onto people in ways that assume too much about their beliefs or openness.
The story of Jesus is, for some, as unfamiliar as ancient mythology, which creates both challenges and opportunities for evangelisation.
I am also cautious of the term “post-Christian” because of the insights of the historian Tom Holland, particularly in his book Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind, where he compellingly argues that Western culture is still deeply shaped by Christian ideas—even as many of those ideas have become severed from Christian belief, behaviour, and practice. So while we may be “post-Christian” in a certain sense, we are not entirely so. Christianity still lingers in the moral and philosophical DNA of the West, even if it’s often unrecognised.
Some others have even suggested we might be so post-Christian that we are pre-Christian—that our culture has become so detached from its Christian roots that we are, in some ways, returning to a context akin to the pre-Christian world. In places like the UK, many people now grow up without any meaningful exposure to Christianity, even at the level of their grandparents’ generation. The story of Jesus is, for some, as unfamiliar as ancient mythology, which creates both challenges and opportunities for evangelisation. It means that, in some cases, we are introducing Christianity not as something to be rejected or re-evaluated, but as something new and undiscovered.
So while I use the term “post-Christian,” I do so with qualification. It acknowledges the process of secularisation that has taken place, which is particularly pronounced in the UK and Europe compared to the US. But at the same time, it reminds us that evangelisation is still very much needed—and, in many ways, more urgent than ever.
In your work of gathering, praying with, and encouraging Catholic Christians around the world, have you found that people desire to feel equipped, to be equipped on how to actually evangelize? I think of your work in Iraq and meeting with Archbishop Bashar Warda—talk about equipping eager evangelists as a religious minority!
I’ve been privileged not only to serve in the Church in England for many years, but also more recently to travel to different parts of the world and see that many of the challenges surrounding evangelisation are remarkably similar across different contexts. In my experience, most lay Catholics want to evangelise, but they don’t feel able to.
There are many reasons for this, but I’d simplify it into three key areas:
- A lack of confidence: Many Catholics feel under-equipped to share their faith. They worry that they don’t know enough, aren’t articulate enough, or that evangelisation is best left to clergy or professional apologists. Others have an unclear vision of what evangelisation actually looks like—often only imagining it as something confrontational or proselytising.
- A lack of connection: Especially in places where Catholics are in the minority, many feel isolated—not just when they might be the only Catholic in their family or workplace, but even feeling isolated from other Catholics! There’s often very few natural networks where like-minded Catholics can share ideas, encouragement, and receive support. Without this sense of community, evangelising can feel like a lonely or impossible task.
- A lack of cultural engagement: Many Catholics struggle to engage with high culture, popular culture, or the pressing concerns of the world around them in a way that is integrated with their Catholic faith. Many want to know how to respond to contemporary issues in a way that is both deeply Catholic and accessible to a wider audience.
I hope this course—as part of the wider mission of Word on Fire—can help Catholics in some small way to overcome these barriers. Word on Fire has been instrumental in providing intellectual formation, fostering connections through the Word on Fire Institute, and equipping lay Catholics to become protagonists in the Church’s evangelising mission. Through this course and my wider work, I want to help Catholics wherever they are to grow in confidence, connection, and cultural engagement so they can share their faith with conviction and joy.
What’s the greatest tool for sharing the kerygma with people who are unfamiliar with the story of salvation and the redemptive love of Jesus Christ?
G.K. Chesterton once famously said that “the greatest argument against Christianity is Christians.” My hope is that the inverse is also true—that one of the greatest arguments for Christianity is the words and witness of Christians whose lives have been transformed by an encounter with the risen Lord.
The greatest tool for sharing the kerygma, the Good News of Jesus Christ, isn’t a technique, a programme, or even an argument—it is the witness of a life genuinely changed by Christ. People are drawn not just by what we say, but by who we are: a Christian who knows he or she is a sinner in need of a Saviour, who relies on the grace of God through the sacraments, and whose life is shaped by the great heroes of the faith, the saints. We are able to offer transformation to others only in the measure that we have been transformed ourselves.
This is why evangelisation is inseparable from what Vatican II called “the universal call to holiness.” To share the faith effectively, we must allow ourselves to be continually shaped by the love of God, so that this love overflows not only in our words but in how we relate to others and how we engage with the world. The Good News changes everything, and the more we allow Christ to shape us, the more we naturally become living kerygmatic witnesses in our daily lives.
And if I may add a Word on Fire emphasis here, our name itself points to the centrality of the Word. If we are to be witnesses of the kerygma, we must become people deeply formed by Sacred Scripture. As St. Jerome famously said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” A more biblically literate Church will be a more evangelistic Church. The more we immerse ourselves in the Word, the more our lives will radiate the Gospel to those around us.
Institute members can walk through your course with our Course Community, a gathering place of thousands of members who wish to learn about and discuss these kinds of concepts in depth. Will there be an opportunity for people to meet you live on the app and ask questions about your course while you discuss it with Vanessa Lopez, our Course Community Leader?
One of the things I love about the Word on Fire Institute is that it doesn’t just offer courses—it offers a community. It’s not just about making the course material accessible; it’s about creating a space where people wrestling with the same challenges can come together, share experiences, ask questions, and bring fresh insights to the discussion.
That’s why I’m delighted that this course is being taken up by the Course Community. I’ll be engaging with discussions every week, responding to comments where possible, and participating in conversations as they unfold. I’ve already agreed with Vanessa, our Course Community Leader, to join a live discussion towards the end of the course so we can have a more in-depth dialogue about the key themes and questions that arise.
For those joining from the UK, I also want to extend a special invitation to the Word on Fire UK Community, which I lead within the Institute. We’ll have discussions there as well, and I’d love to see members from the UK engaging with the wider Course Community as we unpack these ideas together.
The more we immerse ourselves in the Word, the more our lives will radiate the Gospel to those around us.
Another great feature of the Institute is the ability to send direct messages to one another. If anyone has thoughts, comments, or questions, I’m very happy to engage one-on-one in that way as well. I look forward to these conversations and hope that the course not only proves useful but also sparks a deeper engagement with the Church’s evangelising mission.
Any other thoughts of encouragement and empowerment for people who desire to evangelize but don’t know quite where to begin?
My final encouragement is inspired by a saying of St. John Henry Newman, “Growth is the only evidence of life.” How do you know something is alive? It grows. So wherever you are starting from, consider what growth looks like for you. Half the battle is simply committing to the journey. Evangelisation can seem like a huge, insurmountable challenge, but like prayer, it requires perseverance. Jesus encourages us to pray with expectation—to keep knocking, to keep seeking, to trust that doors will open. The same is true for growing as a Christian disciple and evangelist.
One of my favourite quotations is from St. Camillus: “Commitment is doing what you said you would do when the feeling you said it in has passed.” It’s easy to feel inspired in a moment of conviction, but without concrete commitments and daily habits, that initial enthusiasm can fade. This is something the Church understands deeply. Take Lent, for example—before we celebrate the Paschal Mystery, the Church encourages us to prepare through disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Why? Because real growth is greatly assisted by daily, consistent practices.
So, if you want to grow as an evangelist, start small. Consider one practical habit you can commit to:
- Daily Prayer – Simply ask the Holy Spirit each day for opportunities to share your faith and for the courage to respond when they arise.
- Ongoing Formation – Set aside some time in the course of the day (perhaps on your commute) to read or listen to something that will deepen your understanding of evangelisation, such as Evangelii Gaudium (Pope Francis) or Evangelii Nuntiandi (Pope St. Paul VI).
- Intentional Conversations – Look for natural ways to bring faith into everyday conversations. This doesn’t mean forcing discussions but rather being open about your Christian life in a way that invites curiosity and deeper discussion.
The key is to make evangelisation a habit—something you intentionally cultivate day by day. Over time, these small steps will help fan into flame the desire and confidence to share the faith with others.