The United Reformed Church is celebrating the early success of a three-year campaign launched this Advent to breathe new life into its congregations.

More than 500 churches - almost a third of URC churches - have signed up for Vision4Life, more than any previous nationwide campaign run by the Church.

The first year will see churches explore ways to re-engage with the Bible until Advent 2009, when the focus will shift to prayer. In Advent 2010, the final phase will centre on evangelism.

Participating churches have received resources to help them share their faith stories and look again at being church.

"The hope is that by December 2010, building on what we have already done, we should feel more confident to address the sharing of our faith stories which is one of the activities we seem to find most difficulty with," said the URC on its website.

The URC said Vision4Life was its most popular campaign yet and is appealing for more churches to get involved.

The Rev Roberta Rominger, General Secretary of the URC said, "I am excited, not only by the number, but also by the enthusiasm and creativity that local churches are bringing to their involvment. Clearly, Vision4Life is addressing the hunger for spiritual renewal. People are eager to engage with the Bible and discover something more of what God wants to do in their lives."