Parents have been left outraged after a church that preaches being gay is a ‘trap of the devil’ has been granted permission to open at a former recreation centre — forcing out a children’s nursery which has served the community for 30 years.
Living Faith Church Worldwide, known as Winners Chapel, are planning to open a chapter at the Kingsnorth Recreation Centre in Ashford, Kent, despite fierce opposition from the community with more than 380 written objections.
It is understood the church bought the site from Ashford Borough Council for £600,000 in May and submitted plans to convert the centre into a place of worship.
Part of the centre has been rented to the Little Acorn’s Pre-School, which has been a mainstay in the community for 30 years. But the nursery has reportedly been told by the church it needs to find a new home by the end of this academic year.
Planning permission was granted for the church’s application at a planning committee meeting held last night.
It comes after homophobic remarks made by leaders and pastors of the evangelical church – which has its headquarters in Nigeria – came to light this week.
Among them is Pastor Faith Abiola Oyedepo, a senior preacher at the church, who referred to homosexuality as a ‘corrupted mind’ and a ‘trap of the devil’.
Shanni McDonald, a parent of Little Acorn’s, told MailOnline: The ‘church’ or should I say cult has some awful values and should not be taking over a centre that serves the local community. All it takes is two minutes to type in online to see what sort of things come up. How can this have been allowed?’
Pictured: Kingsnorth Recreation Centre once the home of Little Acorns Nursery. It has now been granted planning permission by Ashford Borough Council to become a place of worship under its owners Winners Chapel
Pictured: A post by Pastor Faith Abiola Oyedepo, a senior preacher at the church and the wife of its founder Bishop David Oyedepo, stating homosexuality is a ‘trap of the devil’
Pictured: Another post by Pastor Faith Abiola Oyedepo whereby she refers to homosexuality as a ‘corrupted mind’
Ms Oyedepo is the wife of Winners Chapel’s founder Bishop David Oyedepo, who has been dubbed by Forbes as the wealthiest preacher in the world with a net worth of more than $150million (£115m).
In February this year, she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: ‘God loves you and wants to deliver you from every trap of the devil. Homosexuality is a trap, and its reward is fatal. Do not toy with it; come to Jesus today, and He will free you from its hold.’
A second post read: ‘The penalty for dabbling into homosexuality is a corrupted mind.
‘If an individual has had previous homosexual experiences, even after giving his/her life to Christ, another battle has to be fought and won in the mind. Continue to purify your mind by praying in the Spirit.’
‘To be free from homosexuality, continue to ‘wash’ your thoughts on your knees in prayers’, another post said.
Emily Horton, whose son attends Little Acorn’s, also told MailOnline: ‘The way they have been treated by the council is appalling.
‘Not only was the premises originally purpose built for them, but they were reassured during the selling process that they would not be affected by this sale. Following this, the council have played no part in helping seek new premises for the Pre-School.
‘It’s deeply upsetting to think my son may not have a future at this Pre-School after August, he has settled so well and loves all the staff. Also to try and find another nursery space in an already overcrowded childcare system is going to be stressful for all of us.
‘Given when the church want to use the premises, I do not see why the use cannot be joint or why Little Acorns can’t remain where they are in their purpose built section, and the church have the remainder of the building? It’s ludicrous. It does not feel very in-keeping with religious beliefs either to turf the nursery out.’
Pictured: Residents and staff of Little Acorn’s Nursey attend the planning meeting last night
Pictured: Councillor Bell speaking at the planning meeting last night where permission was granted for a change of use of the building
Senior managers at Little Acorns Nursery have been told they must vacate at the end of the school year next summer, leaving parents and children with nowhere to go.
They expressed serious concerns about the type of teachings the church will bring to the small suburb.
They told MailOnline: ‘In early years there’s such a big drive to promote British values in terms of safeguarding future generations and we are quite surprised that a church with such extreme views, which goes against everything we teach, has had the planning permission go through.’
Senior managers claimed the Council has made no effort to rehome the nursery and that the area was crying out for nursery spaces.
Staff from the Little Acorn’s Pre-School attended the meeting, saying afterwards that many of them will lose their jobs.
Speaking after the conclusion of the meeting, a spokesperson from the nursery said: ‘We have been told by the church that we cannot stay. The council have given us permission to stay, but the church has told us unequivocally that we cannot stay.
‘The nursery has been in the building for 30 years, many people working there have been there almost two decades. Many staff went to the nursery themselves and it is a vital lifeline in the local area.
‘Two other nurseries have closed in the area recently, and parents simply don’t know where they are going to send their children.
‘All of this is on top of the fact that the church stands for everything we are against.
‘We teach tolerance and open-mindedness to our kids, and now a church preaching the opposite is forcing us out.
‘We weren’t even allowed to host our Christmas play despite holding it in the hall every year since the nursery opened.’
Pastor Faith Abiola Oyedepo is a senior preacher at the church and the wife of its founder Bishop David Oyedepo, dubbed by Forbes as the wealthiest preacher in the world with a net worth of more than £115m
It is not just staff from the ousted pre-school who are upset.
Local resident Paul Seaby gave a speech before the debate, questioning how much the chapel will contribute to the community, he said: ‘Winner’s claims about services to the community are doubtful, and anyway will not benefit the Kingsnorth community.’
He pointed out that at Winners Chapel’s church in Dartford, many of the services including a foodbank are not used by local residents.
He said: ‘Dartford Winner’s foodbank is not even registered with Dartford Council.
‘For the youth centre, read a youth bible study group.’
Speaking to MailOnline this morning he added the loss of the nursery will leave a ‘big hole that will never be filled’.
He also objects to the church only granting nursery Little Acorns one more year to stay, and is sceptical they will be allowed to remain beyond this time limit.
Paul said: ‘Winners could and should have allowed Little Acorns to remain, but this went against Winner’s objectives and doctrine.
‘Winners is neither diverse nor inclusive. Theirs is a controversial, extreme form of Pentecostal worship, as reported in the media.
‘This surely is contrary to the council’s development plan encouraging inclusive places of worship.’
In response to these criticisms, Enoch Akame, 54, trustee of the church, described their views, he said: ‘We believe in the word of Christ and our services are open to anyone.’
Speaking after the meeting concluded, he added: ‘We are happy about the result because we know we are doing the right thing.
‘Being here will allow us to meet the needs of our followers and the local community.
‘They may not feel that now, but we know that they will be grateful for our presence.’
During the councillors debate, members of the public attempted to interject, but were told they could not by Chairman Cllr Diccon Spain.
Pictured: The results of the planning meeting concerning the Kingsnorth Recreation Centre
During the councillors debate, members of the public attempted to interject, but were told they could not by Chairman Cllr Diccon Spain
Many are worried it will cause disruption to the local area, with increases in traffic, cars parking on the street and loud music played during services.
Cllr Linda Harman, Cabinet Member for Planning, Housing Delivery and Communication, disagreed with this, she said: ‘I think it is less disruptive than most village halls’ – prompting laughs from disgruntled locals.
One of the main complaints about the church other than its beliefs is the impact traffic from the 200 person congregation could have on small local roads.
The organisation are planning to mainly use the former community centre as a place of worship, with occasional conferences with guest speakers.
But, in her presentation planning officer Kathryn Matthews said: ‘There are 58 car parking spaces and some will still be used for the nursery.’
She added: ‘It will not cause harm to the area.’
Later in the discussion she also clarified the conferences will not be ‘frequent’ and that if the church wanted to expand its congregation beyond 200 people, or stay open later than the 8pm limit they would need to apply for a new permit.
At this, Paul Seaby who gave a speech in objection at the start of the meeting called out, he said: ‘That is wrong, this is not right.’ –
and when the councillors voted to permit the church he stormed out.
Other councillors voiced their support of the residents and voted against the plans.
Cllr Neil Bell argued that changing the use of the building will breach a covenant placed on it when it was built that it must be used for community purposes.
Pictured: The proposed plans for the centre as shown on a screen at the meeting last night
Pictured: Attendees of the meeting discuss the plans to change Kingsnorth Recreation Centre into a place of worship
While there are congregants in the surrounding area, there are reportedly very few in the immediate area.
He said: ‘There is very little support for this.
Cllr Bell added: ‘It is for the community, and by that I mean the local people who live nearby the building.
‘My feeling is just living in Ashford is not enough to be considered part of the community.’
But, the council’s principal solicitor Jeremey Baker said: ‘They are not bound to be used for residents in a certain radius.’
Despite the fierce opposition, when a motion was put forward by Cllr Brendan Chilton, and seconded by Cllr Linda Harman, to accept the proposal, the committee voted in favour.
Currently, members of the congregation living in the town have to get coaches to Dartford to attend the Pentecostal services, where an ITV reporter discovered ‘gay conversion’ practices taking place.
At the planning committee meeting on Wednesday night, plans to change the use of the old gym into a place of worship were permitted, with seven councillors voting yes, three voting no and two abstaining.
Groups including the National Secular Society (NSS) raised concerns about the church, amid claims it links child ‘disobedience’ to witchcraft – citing the David Oyedepo Ministries website, which states ‘disobedience is as terrible as witchcraft’.
In 2012, the Mail reported how Mr Oyedepo, ‘The Pastorpreneur’, was accused of slapping the face of a young woman he said was a witch.
His son David Oyedepo Junior is the pastor at Living Faith Church Worldwide’s European headquarters in Dartford.
Tenterden-based Steve Bowen, a humanist and a member of Kent County Council’s committee on religious education, previously said: ‘While I do not in any way agree with the views of this church and would vastly prefer any resources be used for secular purposes in the service of the wider community I also value freedom of thought and belief.
‘To the extent that the centre is being used as a place of worship for this congregation I wouldn’t oppose it. However should it be the case that it becomes a hub for hate speech or conversion therapy then I would hope that the law would become involved.’
Human rights activist and Nigerian Humanist Movement founder Leo Igwe told the BBC the church obtained money from its members using what it called a prosperity-in-gospel narrative.
He said: ‘They make this money using this narrative and then they use it to establish business, universities, schools.’
In 2018, an undercover ITV news reporter attended the Dartford site where they appeared to offer ‘complete mind reorientation’ for gay people, and attempted to ‘cure’ the reporter of homosexuality.
The new government has committed to outlawing ‘gay conversion therapy’ and any attempts to change people’s sexual orientation through religious, medical or psychological means.
In response to the issues which came to light in the ITV report, the National Secular Society said: ‘The pastor stated that messages about gay acceptance in society were ‘carefully scripted’ by Satan, and compared it with Nazi propaganda.’
MailOnline has contacted The Winner’s Chapel and Ashford Borough Council for comment.
