Church of England Advent Calendar Draws Nearly 20,000

Church of England's first online Advent calendar has attracted nearly 20,000 visitors since its launch on Advent Sunday (December 3) - and momentum is snowballing behind the calendar, with someone opening a virtual window somewhere in the world every 80 seconds.

Web surfers as far away as Australia, Jamaica and the Bahamas have logged on to the calendar, and the site has even received two visits from the Vatican City State.

Around 1,000 visitors have gone on to explore more about the Christian faith through following a link to www.rejesus.co.uk, a UK website designed to explore the person of Jesus and what the Christian faith means today.

A large number have also followed a link to separate website 'A Church Near You', to find the details of their local Anglican church.

The calendar draws together a range of real-life stories about what Christmas means to people today. On each day of Advent, a virtual 'window' is unlocked for visitors to click open, revealing the personal words and a portrait photograph of Christians specially interviewed for www.adventstories.org.

In the few remaining days of the run-up to Christmas Day, visitors will open doors to a paramedic from Carlisle, an expectant mother from Wigan, and even three Kings from Swindon!

Most of the visits have been made by people browsing the Church of England's main website, www.cofe.anglican.org, or have found the calendar after visiting the BBC website or one of the links offered by diocesan, cathedral and parish websites across the country.

The Advent Calendar has been generously supported by the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group and Christian Aid.