A sports complex will finally re-open today – as the world headquarters of a Pentacostal church.

Hundreds of worshippers are expected to descend on the former Buckmore Park Scout centre, which they have renamed Prayer City.

The London-based Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC) bought the site in November.

Led by the wealthy Nigerian pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, KICC has expanded rapidly in the past few years and runs its own bookshops and TV station.

The registered charity, which took £6.7m of worshipper donations last year and whose two top staff earn more than £80,000 each, sold its previous home to make way for London’s Olympic Park.

The church’s chief operations officer James McGlashan said Buckmore Park was “virtually a shell” when they bought it.

He claimed KICC has already spent £1m turning it into a Christian retreat.

He said: “There are 12 buildings or so on the site and they had all suffered an awful lot of vandalism. All the glass was smashed.

“Our first priority was to try and get the site up and running for our own purposes... for example all the bungalows are still locked up and boarded up at the moment.”

"It’s not what I had in mind originally, but I think it’s good there is a community-spirited group getting involved” - MP Tracey Crouch

The site’s swimming pool is currently covered and turned into a sports hall, while the original sports hall has become the main room for mass worship.

Chatham MP Tracey Crouch has met church leaders to push for the sports facilities to be re-opened to the public.

Mr McGlashan said KICC hoped to do so, but because funding was not guaranteed, he could give no timescale.

Miss Crouch said: “I’m pleased it’s not just sitting there declining into ruin. It’s not what I had in mind originally, but I think it’s good there is a community-spirited group getting involved.”

• Prayer City will open today with a three-day event called Fire on the Mountain.