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Church of England unveils its first Christmas advert

'The advert we’ve produced isn’t about buying costly presents, but instead celebrating the ultimate gift - the birth of Jesus Christ'

Sunday 16 December 2018 20:38 GMT

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Church of England releases first ever Christmas advert

The Church of England has launched its first national film advert for Christmas.

While John Lewis recruited Elton John for its Christmas campaign and Burberry’s advert stars Naomi Campbell and Matt Smith, the Church of England’s features real parishioners.

The 90-second clip shows church-goers in Hertfordshire taking part in Christmas preparations at local churches.

The advert features a new version of the carol O Little Town of Bethlehem, arranged by composer Will Todd.

The single was recorded by St Martin’s Voices, a choir from St-Martin-in-the-Fields church in central London, and will receive its radio premiere next Sunday on Aled Jones’s show on Classic FM.

Adrian Harris, head of digital for the church, said: “The advert we’ve produced isn’t about buying costly presents, but instead celebrating the ultimate gift – the birth of Jesus Christ.

“Our Follow the Star campaign will see thousands of churches up and down the country displaying stars as a sign of welcome and millions of people will follow the star to gather in churches this Christmas.”

Independent campaign with the Elton John AIDS Foundation

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1/10Independent campaign with the Elton John AIDS Foundation

Independent campaign with the Elton John AIDS Foundation

Sir Elton John and Evgeny Lebedev

The Independent has launched it's Christmas charity appeal for essential HIV testing around the world with the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Funds raised will pay for those at risk to be able to get tested, and will make sure they have access to the treatment they need. Sir Elton John and Evgeny Lebedev with their HIV test swabs at the Ponce Centre in Atlanta

Jeremy Selwyn

Independent campaign with the Elton John AIDS Foundation

Elton John and Andrew Williams

Andrew Williams had never heard of the word HIV when he tested positive. It was his mother who had forced him to go to the doctor where he got the diagnosis that he thought was a death sentence. At that time he was in a wheelchair. It was the unbearable itching of his back that finally got him to get medical help but, he discovered, he not only had HIV but diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease. That was two years ago. This week, as the 31-year-old joined Sir Elton John and Evening Standard and The Independent owner Evgeny Lebedev in Atlanta to witness the revolutionary new breakthroughs against the disease at the city’s Grady Ponce De Leon Centre, there was no need for a wheelchair. Nor, he now knew, was there any need for fear

Jeremy Selwyn

Independent campaign with the Elton John AIDS Foundation

Evgeny Lebedev and Andrew Williams

Within two months of starting the latest antiretroviral drugs, the virus in his body had become undetectable in his blood. Not only is he now healthy, partly due to the drugs and partly due to the healthy lifestyle adopted for his other illnesses, but he can virtually not pass the infection to other people. He feels, he says, “reborn”. “I have a reason to live,” he explained, “and that is to help people who were like me – and to show you’re going to be OK.”

Jeremy Selwyn

Independent campaign with the Elton John AIDS Foundation

It was a message so stark in its optimism that it reduced Sir Elton to tears. He knows first-hand the realities of what, in the past, an HIV diagnosis can mean. When he started his Elton John AIDS Foundation in the US in 1992, it was because his friends were dying and he wanted to do what he could, anything that he could, to help. “When we set up the Elton John AIDS Foundation we were delivering meals to people’s doors,” he said. “[The stigma meant] they would not go outside. We have come a long way.”

Jeremy Selwyn

Independent campaign with the Elton John AIDS Foundation

But part of the reason for his tears was not only happiness at Andrew’s story. It was also the knowledge that, despite all the advances that have been made, the fight is far from won – indeed, in some parts of the world, things are getting worse. Sir Elton John with everyone at the Ponce Centre in Atlanta

Jeremy Selwyn

Independent campaign with the Elton John AIDS Foundation

It is why he and Mr Lebedev had come to Atlanta to mark the first day of our Christmas Appeal, for that city, sadly, is one place where the situation is not only getting worse but, as those at the centre made clear, dramatically so.

Jeremy Selwyn

Independent campaign with the Elton John AIDS Foundation

Sir Elton John with Vic Mensa at the Ponce Centre

Jeremy Selwyn

Independent campaign with the Elton John AIDS Foundation

Sir Elton John with his HIV test swab

In Atlanta, one of America’s richest cities and the home of such international corporate giants as Coca-Cola and CNN, if you are a gay black man in 2018 then, unbelievably, you still have a one in two chance of being diagnosed as HIV positive during your lifetime.

Jeremy Selwyn

Independent campaign with the Elton John AIDS Foundation

Elton John with the mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms

Jeremy Selwyn

Independent campaign with the Elton John AIDS Foundation

Elton John talks at the Ponce Centre

Jeremy Selwyn

On Friday, Canterbury and Durham cathedrals will have huge stars projected onto them, while The Great British Bake Off contestant Martha Collison has prepared a special star-themed recipe in collaboration with school children.

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