Existing books and other materials, he felt, were bland and generalised, classified under headings decided on by others. What he wanted was something which enabled church members to show what their place of worship, and the activities within it, meant to them.

“I wanted to take the pupils to the heart of what was going on,” he says. In pursuit of this, he filmed events in the church in such a way that pupils can, for example, see something of the emotion and concentration on the faces of the congregation.

The obvious question is whether he’s going to use the same approach to places of worship in other faiths.

“I’ve just started filming at a Sikh gurdwara in Leeds,” he says, “and we’re talking to a mosque.”

* Farmington Fellowships are available to full-time teachers of RE in secondary schools, sixth-form colleges and colleges of further education. They allow teachers to spend a term at one of a number of universities and colleges, studying a subject of their choice directly or indirectly relevant to the teaching of Christian education in schools. The cost of tuition and, if necessary, of accommodation, is covered by the Fellowship, as is the cost of a replacement teacher.

Details from: The Director, The Farmington Institute for Christian Studies, Harris Manchester College, Mansfield Road, Oxford OXl 3TD

Tel: 01865 271965

Fax: 01865 271969