Churches in northern Sudan are experiencing a continuous growth despite persecution, a local bishop said.

The Sudanese capital now boasts 121 priests ministering to 900,000 Christians.

Aid to the Church in Need reports that figures, which were released by Bishop Daniel Marco Kur Adwok, Auxiliary Bishop of Khartoum, indicate a huge increase in which the number of parishes has risen from four to 30 in just over 25 years.

Bishop Adwok said Aid to the Church in Need, the charity for persecuted Christians, had been crucial to the growth of the Church in such difficult circumstances.

He said: "The position of our archdiocese is strong mainly due to the support we received from Aid to the Church in Need over the past few years."

His comments, made in Sudan during a recent interview with Aid to the Church in Need, came after the charity gave a grant of over $360,000 (£183,061) to support Christian children in displacement camps outside Khartoum to help with much-needed education programs.

The "Save the Saveable" scheme now provides for 33,000 young people supported by 1,050 teachers.

Support from the charity also lies behind Bishop Adwok's plans for St Paul's Seminary, Khartoum, which he announced during the interview.

The bishop said he expected that within a year, the seminary's philosophy section, who make up a significant proportion of the seminary's 72 students for the priesthood, will be moved to their new base in Juba, the regional capital in the south of the country.