‘This is right, this is the future of the church’: gay black evangelist on coming out

Threatened with eternal damnation' and told he was akin to a paedophile, Seth Pinnock says he has finally found acceptance and hopes to help change the trajectory of someone's life'

The declaration by a highly influential black Christian gospel star that he is gay has exposed a generational divide in attitudes towards sexuality that could signal a transformation within evangelical churches.

Seth Pinnock, who founded a gospel choir and youth orchestra and was hailed by the Tony Blair Foundation as a young leader to watch", experienced depression, anxiety, self-hatred and drug addiction as a result of believing his sexuality was sinful.