I baptised 500 asylum seekers in sea however half by no means returned to church

A church minister final night time revealed he has baptised as much as 500 asylum seekers within the sea – however greater than half disappeared after their Christian conversion.

Pastor Phylip Rees informed the Mail on Sunday that he organized mass baptisms of migrants on a seashore in South Wales throughout winter months as a ‘litmus check’ of their religion.

An extraordinary video posted on YouTube reveals as much as 40 asylum seekers being baptised on a windy seashore in Barry Island.

Wearing a woolly hat and coat, Pastor Rees is proven hugging the migrants as they waded out of the waves after their ‘full immersion’ baptisms.

The 74-year-old, a minister at Tredegarville Baptist Church in Cardiff for 16 years, estimated that as much as 60 per cent of the individuals he baptised had been by no means seen once more, with many leaving the areas to search out work, usually in London.

Pastor Phylip Rees (pictured) informed the Mail on Sunday that he organized mass baptisms of migrants on a seashore in South Wales throughout winter months as a ‘litmus check’ of their religion

An extraordinary video posted on YouTube reveals as much as 40 asylum seekers being baptised on a windy seashore in Barry Island 

Wearing a woolly hat and coat, Pastor Rees is proven hugging the migrants as they waded out of the waves after their ‘full immersion’ baptisms

The 74-year-old, a minister at Tredegarville Baptist Church in Cardiff for 16 years, estimated that as much as 60 per cent of the individuals he baptised had been by no means seen once more

Pastor Rees stated he wished to assist immigrants in want, including: ‘We prayed that God would ship us asylum seekers and lo and behold the Home Office opened up an workplace proper subsequent to the church.’

His feedback reveal the astonishing scale of Christian conversions amongst asylum seekers within the UK and can gasoline fears that many falsely declare to have embraced the faith as a part of bogus claims to remain right here.

The Home Office doesn’t acquire information on the variety of migrants who’re granted asylum on the idea of faith, regardless of proof that some are changing to Christianity to recreation the system.

Home Secretary James Cleverly commissioned a evaluation into the difficulty following the chemical assault in Clapham suspected to have been carried out by an Afghan intercourse offender who was allowed to remain within the UK after claiming he had transformed to Christianity.

Whistleblowing priest The Rev Matthew Firth final week accused the Church of England of being a part of a ‘conveyor belt’ of questionable conversions.

Pastor Rees stated he wished to assist immigrants in want, including: ‘We prayed that God would ship us asylum seekers and lo and behold the Home Office opened up an workplace proper subsequent to the church’

His feedback reveal the astonishing scale of Christian conversions amongst asylum seekers within the UK and can gasoline fears that many falsely declare to have embraced the faith as a part of bogus claims to remain right here

The Home Office doesn’t acquire information on the variety of migrants who’re granted asylum on the idea of faith, regardless of proof that some are changing to Christianity to recreation the system

CoE tips say clergy should be assured that these looking for baptism ‘absolutely perceive what it signifies’, with ministers suggested to be ‘smart as serpents and harmless as doves’.

Many church buildings that aren’t a part of the CoE wouldn’t have any tips for dealing with baptism requests from asylum seekers.

As nicely as these asylum seekers he has baptised within the sea, Pastor Rees baptised lots of extra asylum seekers on the Cardiff church. Many had been Iranian or Afghan and all however one was a former muslim.

The clergyman, who left the Cardiff church in 2019, says he wrote hundreds of letters to the immigration companies on behalf of asylum seekers who had been members of his congregation and attended lots of of immigration tribunal hearings.

Those eager to be baptised must attend bible courses one night time per week for 2 months and attend church on Sundays, he stated.

He claims to have refused to assist about 40 asylum seekers after deciding their want to convert from Islam to Christianity was not real. He reported one man to the Home Office after discovering that he was faking his religion.

‘If I suspected that somebody wasn’t real, I would not baptise them. I’d refuse.

He added: ‘If you might be looking for to make use of Christianity as a way of gaining British citizenship then you’re making an incredible large mistake. The Government frowns upon it, they do the mandatory checks and I’ve had quite a lot of individuals turned down through the years.’

Holding mass baptisms within the sea in the course of the winter was a manner of testing his worshippers’ religion, he claimed.

‘We would go in January and February and take as much as 60 individuals at a time, practically all had been asylum seekers.

‘No one ever stated no however you would not get lilywhite Welsh individuals getting in at the moment of yr, the water wasn’t heat sufficient. It was a litmus check of their dedication, if you cannot take care of a little bit little bit of chilly water then you definitely’re not prepared for baptism. It was a check of the fact of their religion.’

James Cleverly commissioned a evaluation into the difficulty after a chemical assault in Clapham suspected to have been carried out by Afghan intercourse offender Abdul Ezedi (pictured) who was allowed to remain within the UK after claiming he had transformed to Christianity

Pastor Rees, a father-of-four who turned a full time baptist minister aged 43, is now at Duckpool Baptist Church in Newport, the place he describes the congregation as ‘vastly totally different’.

‘They are largely aged, older than me. We do perform baptisms there however we have not bought any booked for the time being.’

A supply near the Home Secretary stated: ‘It is evident that the Home Office doesn’t regard non secular conversion as an automated proper to asylum.

‘Home Office case staff recognise, aside from somebody’s purely private opinion, there isn’t any mechanism or approach to authenticate whether or not a conversion is strong or significant, and even actual. Nor ought to any conversion be a automobile for gaming a system.’