THE words of Jesus are to adorn London buses in the run up to Easter, in an advertising campaign funded by the founder of a Christian TV channel.

The campaign “Quote Jesus” will feature on 75 of London’s Routemaster “Boris” buses for two weeks from 10 April, after recently being piloted in the south-east.

The quotations include: “I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again”; “Look I am coming soon!”; and “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, though he dies.”

The campaign was the idea of the founder of Revelation TV, Howard Conder. “In the wake of the Westminster attacks,” he said, “it is clear that hope — or, to be precise, the lack of hope — is becoming an issue in this generation. We think the Bible has a lot say about ‘hope’, and our vision for this campaign is to influence the hearts, minds, and perceptions of this generation, to offer them hope and faith for a better future.”

The former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, cancelled an advertising campaign placed by Anglican Mainstream in 2012, which suggested that gay people could be “converted” to heterosexuality (News, 20 April 2012). Three years earlier, a bus campaign by atheists ran on London buses with the slogan “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” (News, 16 January 2009).