When a diocese decided to explore strategies for evangelisation, the results were more positive than many had anticipated. One key discovery was the deep and neglected spiritual hunger in the general population

The general public have a need to relate to something spiritual – preferably something small and cosy rather than something big and impersonal – even if they may have lost contact with the local church.

In the spring of 2015, Bishop Philip Egan asked each pastoral area in Portsmouth to set up an Evangelisation Strategy Team. The priests and their pastoral councils in each of the six parishes in the area were asked to nominate two potential leaders from each community. A few of us met with the nominees to discern what they had to offer and share the vision in a personal and direct way.

I had personal reservations about this process but, with hindsight, it actually enabled everyone to work as a team. The more we talked about the vision the clearer it became. We finally distilled the vision to this simple statement: “We Catholics will use every opportunity to share our faith with everyone we meet.” At our first meeting we outlined a plan for the rest of the year. Our main objective was to encourage everyone in the pews to “move out of their comfort zone” in order to “welcome home” for Christmas 2015 those Catholics who had lost touch with the Church.