BBC Religious Affairs Correspondent Alex Kirby examines the Christian dimension to the Millennium.

One Roman Catholic priest, writing in the newsletter of the churches' umbrella group on the run-up to the year 2000, has called the Millennium 'the golden opportunity of our lives . . . the moment of hope in history'.

Not all Christians would go that far. But all agree that it's a rare chance to reassert the role Christianity has played in shaping the culture and civilisation of a large part of the world.

The Millennium does mark a historical event: there is evidence that somebody called Jesus of Nazareth did live in Palestine around two thousand years ago.

He was probably born in the year 4 BC, so we will certainly be marking the Millennium in the wrong year, quite apart from the argument over whether the new century starts in 2000 or 2001.

But the British churches have agreed that, for them as for most people, the approach of midnight on December 31, 1999, will be the crucial time.

They are taking care to say that, although celebration may be the keynote for many people, for Christians it should be only part of the Millennium.

They define their task as 'to forge a link between the year 2000, the name of Jesus Christ, and the possibility of personal meaning and public hope'.

They are suggesting that, in the dying moments of 1999, everybody should do three things: keep silent for a minute, light a candle, and say a prayer.

There are plans to enlist local churches to make sure that everyone in the country is given their own Millennium Candle, together with a simple prayer that all can join in saying.

Mainstream Christian thinking is perhaps best summed up in a booklet published in 1996 by Churches Together in England, a body which unites Protestants and Catholics. Entitled A Chance to Start Again, it recognises that many people may feel deeply thoughtful as midnight strikes, 'reflecting on the mistakes of their past, as turn-of-the-century introspection takes over'.

It says the churches will need to strike a note of penitence for the evils of our age -- and not least for those which have involved Christians, like the Crusades, colonialism and slavery.

For many people in Britain, the Millennium will have no particular religious significance. They are the Britons who practise other faiths, or who hold to none. The booklet warns Christians against any show of triumphalism, and calls on them to show practical concern for righting the world's wrongs.

One significant attempt to set the world to rights is the churches' Jubilee Campaign (though it is not by any means limited to Christians).

That aims to persuade politicians to cancel the debts of the world's poorest countries, giving them a fresh start to face the new millennium, free of the massive indebtedness which forces them to cut back on essentials like health care and education.

But there will be celebration too -- the Open Churches Trust is trying to ensure that every church bell in the land is rung for five minutes at noon on New Year's Day, 2000.

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