Argentineans, Chinese, African - they have all been reported arriving here from towns and cities around the world where evangelical Christianity is growing at a phenomenal rate - and they all have the same aim: to bring back something of what they claim England gave to their country many years before.
A few stay, such as Matthew Ashimolowo, a Nigerian minister, who planted a church in Hackney, East London, 15 years ago. Starting with less than 20 people the Kingsway International Christian Centre, now one of the biggest churches in the country, has around 5000 meeting each Sunday in a converted warehouse. He came to Britain because he believed it 'bereft of true Christianity and in the grip of the dark forces of humanism'.
Most don't stay because of concerns over managing the growth of their churches in their native countries. One such person is Ram Babu, an Indian evangelist, who is on his second visit to Britain.
I caught-up with him at a temporary base in Bedford with his wife, Vinita, and their four-year-old son. He was in the middle of a tour, teaching and preaching in several large towns and cities in the Midlands. He told me that he was born in Belari, near Bangalore, into a Hindu family of five. As he grew-up he became a zealous Hindu.
At the age of twenty he was converted from Hindu Brahmin Priest to Christian preacher. As a “Christian hater” he used to publicly burn Bibles. He wanted to “mock Christianity and test Jesus”, so he took a mute girl with him to a Christian meeting. He claims that he saw her healed and this is what led to his conversion.
Ram's conversion caused family division. When married in 1994, his father performed Hindu last rites over him. “He considers me dead”, says Ram. His father, well known and respected in large parts of India, is a journalist for the Indian national newspaper The Hindu and a professor of English. Paradoxically, although still considering him dead, Ram says, “He now respects my character as a Christian”.
Ram has, at times, been a total outcast, scorned by family and friends who hoped he would renounce Christianity. For many years he lived rough and persecution against him took many forms. Once, when preaching, opponents burst into the hall where he was speaking, smashed-up all his PA equipment and tried to kill him. “Friends rushed me outside”, he says, “but soon after, when my attackers had fled, I returned to the platform”. I listened, amazed, as he told me that with two broken ribs, a fractured hand, cuts, swellings, and no PA, he continued preaching.
He sustains this dedication to his 'calling' by remembering, what he calls “the men of God” who went to India many years ago: John Hands, William Carey, and Alexander Duff to name a few. He likes to point out that William Carey's face appears on Indian postage stamps and that his work included much social action. He was a teacher and a translator who wrote a dictionary in several Indian languages. He passionately tells that many of these missionaries died directly because of their struggle to bring the Gospel to India being rejected and denied food and water.
Comments about his visits here give insight. When I asked him what he thought of England he replied with echoes of William Blake, “I love it. It is a feast to my eyes ... so green ... so pleasant”.
On the spiritual state of the nation he, interestingly, drew an analogy between cricket (he loves cricket) and Christianity. In India, most of the population think that the English, having brought the game to his country are “mad on cricket”. On arriving here, he found that we are now more interested in football. Citing our rich Christian heritage and “the sacrifices of people like John Bunyan and the Wesleys” he feels that England, which “blessed the world with Christianity has now lost it”. He says, “You forgot cricket ... and you forgot the Bible”.
On the question of the relevance of his faith for those in this country he declares, “The Bible addresses all contemporary issues, and it has answers that cannot be found in other places ... philosophies or ideologies”. He maintains that there is a spiritual hunger here. Sounding harassed he says, “Many hundreds of people want to see me when I come here, not only Christians but those of other faiths, Muslims, Sikhs ... they all try to contact me ... all the time!” Further to this, he reckons that the popularity of New Age beliefs “shows that the youth of Britain are looking for something”.
You could be forgiven for thinking that his trip here is just a matter of a man from a deprived nation raising funds from a rich one. Mr. Babu assures me that this is not the case. Even though relatively poor he is determined not to ask anyone for anything whilst here. He never talks about any of his needs and never asks for money in any of the meetings at which he speaks. “I did not come for money” he says, “I came to bless. Just as England blessed other nations, this is how I came”.
Such sentiments, as displayed by all these 21st century missionaries, can't help but make you wonder. If they're so determined to reinstate the Christianity which we in post-modern, humanist western Europe are so quick to dump maybe there is a valid reason for it. Maybe we will see their dream fulfilled of a religious revival in Britain - now that would be a twist in the story.