This is an edited version of the keynote delivered by Director of the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation Daniel Ang at the ‘Way of Hope’ Alpha Catholic Conference 2025, held at the Liverpool Catholic Club from 31 October to 1 November.
As Christians, our deepest experience of hope comes from encountering the living presence of God in our lives – the God who entered our humanity, shared our suffering, and rose from the dead to make all things new. This hope is not passive comfort or merely consolation; it is an active summons and a challenge that calls us forward.
In other words, the sustaining presence of God in our lives is inseparable from His sending power. The presence of God both sustains and sends us, calling us to share in His ongoing work of renewal.
The hope we find in God does not leave us unchanged; it does not leave us where we are, but dares take us where we have never been. To pray, to adore, to seek God is to be drawn into His movement of grace – grace that transforms us and commissions us to carry the hope of the Gospel into the world through word and deed.
True hope does not remain inward-looking. It matures when it becomes mission – when it moves from sanctuary to street, from the Church gathered to the Church sent, from a congregation to a convocation. Like Moses at the burning bush, we discover that God is already active in the ordinary and the uncertain, inviting us not to wait until we are ready, but to step forward now with trust in His promise: “I will be with you.”
In Jesus Christ, God’s presence draws nearer; He enters our human story so completely that every moment of our lives becomes a place of encounter and invitation. The question is not whether God is at work in our lives, but whether we are ready to join Him here and now in the transformation of our Church and our world.
Our own Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP has spoken of a “second spring” stirring across the West – a quiet resurgence of faith and longing for truth, meaning, and community in an age of fragmentation. Many hearts that claim to have moved beyond God still ache for Him, unable to silence the echo of grace within.
This is true for an entire generation: resistant to religion, yet unable to cast off the restlessness of grace within; suspicious of the Church, yet drawn to something transcendent, something holy; dreading commitment, yet secretly yearning for a life that matters, a love that lasts, and a hope that does not disappoint.
This tension reveals a profound truth: beneath the surface of apathy or even cynicism, a hunger remains – a longing that no ideology, entertainment, or achievement can satisfy.
This spiritual hunger, so often masked as cultural disillusionment, reveals an opportunity and a call: to offer not arguments but authentic witness; not programs but relationships of hope. Only the Gospel, lived with joy and integrity, can meet this longing with lasting peace and purpose.
To live this “Jesus-shaped hope,” we must allow it to shape our parishes, schools, and communities into true centres of evangelisation. Hope does not deny our challenges or struggles but insists that God’s promise of renewal is real and active.
When Christ commands, “Go and make disciples” in the power of the Holy Spirit, he is not calling us to dust off a few brochures, schedule meetings, and put out some flyers but to encounter others – to seek the lost, to walk with the weary, to share life with those who hunger for meaning. Evangelisation is not a department or a meeting; it is the heartbeat of a Church alive in hope. Christ’s vision for evangelisation goes far beyond routines and programs; it calls us into the dynamic work of encountering lives, inspiring hearts, and drawing people into the living hope of Christ.
How do we make this a reality for our communities? This mission of evangelisation begins with relationships grounded in faith.
As Canadian evangelist and friend Marcel le Jeune observes, many fallen-away Catholics today drift from the active reception of the sacraments not because the sacraments themselves failed them, but because something non-sacramental was missing – most often, relationship. If we want to welcome people back or even for the first time, we must aim to restore what is missing for so many, which is relationships that offer hope, healing and the restoration for which their souls long.
Imagine a young man returning to his parish after years away. He carries the weight of mistakes, addiction, and shame, quietly sitting at the back of Mass. A fellow parishioner notices him. Instead of whispering judgment or offering unsolicited advice, she smiles warmly after Mass, sits beside him, and simply asks, “It’s good to see you here. How have you been?” She listens attentively, celebrates small victories, and gently encourages him to take steps toward reconciliation with God and community. Her presence communicates a profound message: “I believe in your growth. I see God’s presence in your life, God at work in you, even now”.
This relationship is marked by hope rather than judgement because it focuses not on past failures but on the potential for transformation through God’s grace. She embodies patience, encouragement, and trust in God’s work in the other person’s life. In doing so, she mirrors Christ Himself, who met the woman caught in adultery not with stones of condemnation but with mercy and invitation to new life. Some may hunger for knowledge but above all people want to be known.
Hope in Christ, then, is never abstract; it is relational and active, lived through encounters that bring healing, welcome, and the possibility of transformation. Whether through Alpha, a coffee, the simple act of praying for another who has lost their way. This is the story of the Church: a company of sinners learning to be saints, into whose body others are grafted by the mercy and love first poured out by Christ. Through our words, actions, and love, the risen Christ makes His grace tangible, working through us to reveal His mercy, hope, and redeeming presence.
Scripture teaches us this harmony between faith and effort. Nehemiah’s rebuilding of Jerusalem shows that vision, planning, teamwork, and prayer must move together (Neh 1-6). His hope led to concrete steps – assessing the damage, organising teams, facing opposition, persevering through prayer – until the city and its people were restored.
Likewise, our communities must turn hope into strategy: defining a shared vision, discerning strengths and needs, empowering leaders, setting goals, and sustaining prayer. Renewal happens not by wishing, but by working with God in faith toward the things for which we pray.
So, as we look to the future, let us be a people whose hope acts and becomes flesh. Let us pray deeply, plan wisely, and serve boldly. Let our parishes and schools become places where every person is welcomed, formed, and sent. Hope that stays on the page is not hope at all – it must move, build, and transform.
The God who called Moses, who rebuilt through Nehemiah, and who entered our world in Jesus now calls us to carry His promise into our own time. The same Spirit who began this work will not abandon it. God is with us, not later, not elsewhere, but here and now, guiding us to rebuild His Church with courage, creativity, and hope that endures.
