A church in Liverpool is being accused of running 'gay cure' therapies after being targeted by an undercover investigation.

The Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry was found to offer prayers and counselling to help a reporter from the Liverpool Echo posing as a gay member of the public wanting healing.

The church's assistant pastor, known only as 'Brother Michael', told Josh Parry he would have to 'humble his soul' by fasting without food or water for 24 hours and the therapy would 'allow him to marry and have children'.

Describing homosexuality as a 'deceit from Satan', Parry was told people 'chose' to be gay.

He attended a prayer session and a one-to-one counselling session where Brother Michael said: 'You cannot be saying God gave you your penis and make it a rod, and now he created another thing like a hole that it fit properly into it.

'So for you to have a penis, it means you are a man. That is the way you are created.

'I will say one thing as well, you say all these things about "I'm feeling I'm confused about my sexuality".

'Thank God you say that you are looking for deliverance because you have got your deliverance.'

The Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries was orgininally founded in Nigeria in 1989 and has thousands of branches around the world including 90 in the UK.

When contacted for a response, the Liverpool branch's senior pastor, Dr Desmond Sanusi, said Brother Michael was not acting under his guidance and insisted the church does not discriminate.

'If you come to the church to come and pray to come and know god better you are welcome. We don't discriminate against people,' he said.

'It's been running for over 20 years and nobody has dropped dead.'

Christian Today contacted the national church's headquarters and was told they are looking into the matter but declined to give further details.

It comes weeks after the Church of England passed a resolution condemning conversion therapy as 'unethical, harmful and has no place in the modern world'.

In doing so the CofE became a co-signatory to a statement from several professional bodies including the UK Council for Psychotherapy and The Royal College of General Practitioners that says: 'Sexual orientations and gender identities are not mental health disorders, although exclusion, stigma and prejudice may precipitate mental health issues for any person subjected to these abuses.'