As a member of ChurchAds.Net, I was part of the team which developed the Second Life Chance campaign for Christmas 2007, under the headline, ‘Want a second go at life?’

The campaign encompassed several media, with a poster, a series of radio ads, a website and an island in the virtual world of Second Life.

Francis Goodwin, Chair of ChurchAds.Net, summed up the campaign message: ‘We all make mistakes in our lives. Some of us from time to time… others more often! One of the messages of Jesus was that God loves us even when we make mistakes, and by turning to him we can have a second chance at life.’

I worked with Andrew Down, a Second Life developer, to produce the virtual island. The island, named Patmos, was modelled to look like a tongue in cheek Bible-times town, with a pub called The Everlasting Arms, a sacred space surrounded by olive trees, and a Roman amphitheatre with its own giant cinema screen.

Visitors to the island were able to find information about the Christian faith in the various buildings, and an animated nativity film was screened in the amphitheatre in the run up to Christmas.