Home Office Minister Lord Bates, who is a Christian, resigned from government on Thursday as he sets off for a 2,000 mile charity walk.

Lord Bates will leave his post in the House of Lords at the end of March after 18 months as a minister. He will walk from Buenos Aires in Argentina to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to raise money for Unicef and promote the Olympic Truce.

The minister and former Conservative MP for Langbaurgh in the north-east of England told Christian Today his Christian faith was "central" to his decision.

"In many ways these are pilgrimages for peace," he said. "The place where I will finish - God-willing - is the statue of Christ the Redeemer overlooking Rio.

"In politics it can be frustrating because you become increasingly aware of the problems and yet you have very little opportunity to make a real difference unless you are at the very top of government.

"If I have a criticism of the Christian community and of myself is we focus far too much on what governments and others should do and far too little on what we as individuals can do.

"If there is anything one can think about Easter and the message of the Christian faith, it is the power one individual's life had. To me that is immense."

Lord Bates said he found walking for peace an "immensely spiritual" experience.

"At the end of each day there is a sense you have done something," he told Christian Today.

"The other thing about politics is that a lot of the time you are planning ahead and thinking about the upcoming election, or budget, or speech.

"The beauty of the walks I undertake is that each day all you are thinking is: 'give me water along the way and something to eat and if you can find me a bed for the night that is great'."

Lord Bates said he hoped the walk would have a "modest impact" in terms of promoting the Olympic Truce.

The truce was an aspect of the ancient games where war was halted to allow athletes from opposing nations to compete without violence. At the UN general assembly, 180 countries signed a 2016 Olympic Truce resolution which aims to "promote and strengthen the culture of peace" and to "use sport as a tool to promote peace". Lord Bates called on all 180 nations to take one concrete action to further its aims.

He has been a long-time advocate of a modern-day Olympic truce. Ahead of the 2012 Olympics he walked 3,000 miles from Olympia in Greece to London and last year he undertook a 64-day hike in China for charity.

Lord Bates denied the truce was an unrealistic prospect for modern warfare.

"We can say for certain it was possible with wars in ancient Greece and the fact we even question whether it would be possible when we have international institutions and have grown in our understanding says quite a lot about our society."

The peer entered parliament in 1992 as an MP under then Conservative Prime Minister John Major. Despite his many walks, he said it is not something that he naturally enjoys and has described himself as "more 'Beer & Grills' than Bear Grylls".

Politics, he told Christian Today, was his "calling" and he would not have resigned for any other reason but the Olympic truce walk. He hopes to return to the House of Lords on September 5 when it resumes after summer recess.

Lord Bates will set off from Buenos Aires on April 6. You can follow his progress on twitter here and sponsor him here.