Why The Prodigal West Is Coming Home

Dan Patterson, founder of Questioning Christianity and a speaker at the upcoming Good News Aotearoa Forum, discusses the changing cultural mood around Christian faith. He points to high-profile sceptics and commentators publicly reconsidering Christianity, likening the West's secular detour to the Prodigal Son discovering the "far country" hasn't delivered on its promises of meaning and hope.

Patterson argues apologetics must be nimble, meeting people where they are—some need rational persuasion about God's existence and the resurrection, others arrive already convinced evil is real and simply want to know how to relate to God. He stresses that how Christians actually live, citing 1 Peter 3's call to gentle, hope-filled witness, remains the most persuasive "argument" for the gospel, backed by sociological research showing religious people outperforming secular peers on wellbeing markers. He previews his sessions at the two-day forum, hosted by Journey Church in Auckland this October and run by the Wilberforce Foundation ([www.wilberforce.org.nz/events](https://www.wilberforce.org.nz/events)).

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