A homophobic church, which preaches that being gay is “a trap of the devil” and appears to offer “complete mind reorientation”, has sparked concerns as it prepares to open in a former leisure centre.

Leaders and pastors of the organisation say homosexuality “corrupts” people and must be prevented.

The views of the church have been described as “abhorrent” but critics have stopped short of saying it should be banned from taking over the Kingsnorth Recreation Centre in Ashford.

Its move to the town has already been shrouded in controversy after the church told pre-school bosses it would be kicked out of the building, which has been its home for almost 30 years.

Living Faith Church Worldwide, also known as Winner’s Chapel, bought the site from Ashford Borough Council (ABC) for £600,000 in May.

The Nigeria-based evangelical protestant organisation applied to ABC for permission to convert it into a place of worship earlier this year.

The bid, which attracted 386 objections from residents, is set to be decided at a meeting of the planning committee on Wednesday.

Planning officers are recommending that councillors vote to approve the plans.

The building opened in 1997 using contributions from developer Persimmon Homes.

It was sold off by ABC earlier this year after the charity which ran and leased the centre from the council was wound up three years ago.

Senior managers at Little Acorns Nursery, which had been in the recreation centre since 1997, told KentOnline in October they must vacate at the end of the school year next summer.

However, the church has come under fire after its openly homophobic practices have come to light.

In 2018, an undercover ITV news reporter attended the Winner’s Chapel site in Dartford, where they offered 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.

Previous governments have committed to banning it since 2018.

Responding to the issues highlighted by the ITV report, the National Secular Society responded: “The pastor stated that messages about gay acceptance in society were ‘carefully scripted’ by Satan, and compared it with Nazi propaganda.”

Pastor Faith Abiola Oyedepo is a senior preacher with the church and the wife of its founder, Bishop David Oyedepo.

She sometimes posts about homosexuality to her almost one million followers on X (formerly Twitter).

“God loves you and wants to deliver you from every trap of the devil,” one post from February reads.

“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.”

Another post from February told readers “the punishment for homosexuality is a corrupted mind”.

Bishop David Oyedepo, head of Winner’s Chapel, was listed in 2011 by Forbes as the richest pastor in Nigeria.

In 2014, the organisation sought permission to open a school at its Dartford site - but withdrew the application after attention was drawn to a video of Bishop Oyedepo slapping a young woman and accusing her of being a witch.

Sojan Joseph, MP for Ashford (Lab), said: "People have the right to practise the beliefs they wish; however, they must always remain tolerant of others.

“Homophobia and the practice of conversion therapy is always wrong, and we must condemn it, along with any other illegal practices.

“People must respect the law and the rights of others. Any safeguarding concerns regarding children or vulnerable people must be reported to social services or the police and taken incredibly seriously."

Tenterden-based Steve Bowen, a humanist and a member of Kent County Council’s committee on religious education, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “I take the view that ‘I might not agree with what you say but I’d defend to the death your right to say it’.

“If it’s going to be used as a base of operations for things like conversion therapy or whatever, I think that’s a legal issue. I think that’s something that as a society we ought to have legal controls on.

“But as long as they operate within the law and they keep their religion within their church and their frankly quite abhorrent views on other things between themselves, I can’t really say that I would object to them having the building.”

The Winner’s Chapel was approached multiple times for comment.