Alpha UK

6 June 2003

The UK's biggest annual Christian advertising initiative is to use a poster design featuring three young people this September. The Alpha Initiative is supported by 7,000 churches of all denominations across the country.

The colourful design, which is revealed today, will be seen on:

• Hundreds of billboard sites across the UK

• The backs of thousands of buses throughout the country

• Hundreds of thousands of leaflets, brochures and guides

• Thousands of posters outside churches and homes across the UK

More than 1.5 million people throughout Britain have completed the Alpha course - a 15 session introduction to Christianity running in churches, schools, universities and prisons. Last September a MORI poll revealed more than eight million adults could identify Alpha as a Christian course, nearly a million more than the previous June.

This is the sixth annual poster initiative in the UK and it is aiming to increase the profile of Alpha among non-churchgoers still further.

A television documentary series on the Alpha course hosted by Sir David Frost. "Alpha: Will it change their lives?' is currently being repeated on Sunday mornings on ITV1.

The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has been a strong supporter of Alpha, saying, "What Alpha has to offer is a unique mixture of Christian content and Christian style.'

The Revd Prebendary Sandy Millar, Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, London, the Anglican church which has pioneered the Alpha course, said, "These annual initiatives are intended to make it easier for church members to offer a personal invitation to their friends. All the evidence shows that they are working.'

The Revd Nicky Gumbel, who presents the Alpha material, said, "We have heard so many wonderful stories of people - many of them young - whose lives have been changed by God through the Alpha course in churches of all denominations throughout the country.'

ENDS

For further information, contact:
Mark Elsdon-Dew, Communications Director
+44 (0)845 644 7544 or +44 (0)7623 975422 (pager)

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Notes for Editors
The Alpha Course

Devised in the UK, the Alpha course is supported by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and by leaders of all the main denominations. The course is now running in over 25,400 churches and 134 countries around the world.

The Alpha course is now running in 132 of the 160 prisons in the UK and in many of the country's universities. Alpha materials are now available in 48 different languages including Shona, French, Croatian, Chinese and Russian.