EXCLUSIVEParents fury as church that preaches that being gay is a trap of the devil is allowed to open by council - marking the end of childrens nursery on the site

Parents have spoken of their fury as a church that preaches being gay is a trap of the devil has been granted permission to open at a former recreation centre — marking the end of a childrens nursery on the site.

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 Acorns Pre-School, which has been a mainstay in the community for 30 years. 

Now, the nursery has been forced to find a new home, after permission was granted for the churchs 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 Acorns, 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 Chapels 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. 

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 theres 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 Acorns Pre-School attended the meeting, saying afterwards that many of them will lose their jobs.

Pictured: Residents and staff of Little Acorns Nursey attend the planning meeting last night 

Pictured: One gentleman in the public gallery showed fierce opposition to the planning application

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 dont 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 werent even allowed to host our Christmas play despite holding it in the hall every year since the nursery opened.

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: Winners claims about services to the community are doubtful, and anyway will not benefit the Kingsnorth community.

He pointed out that at Winners Chapels church in Dartford, many of the services including a foodbank are not used by local residents.

He said: Dartford Winners foodbank is not even registered with Dartford Council.

For the youth centre, read a youth bible study group.

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

Ms Oyedepo previously posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, comments referring to homosexuality as a trap of the devil.

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 Winners 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 councils 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.

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 

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.

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 councils 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 Worldwides European headquarters in Dartford.

Tenterden-based Steve Bowen, a humanist and a member of Kent County Councils committee on religious education, 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 wouldnt 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 peoples 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 Winners Chapel and Ashford Borough Council for comment.