A HAMPSHIRE church has booked an entire cinema and is splashing out more than £2,000 on taking people to see Mel Gibson's controversial film, The Passion of The Christ.

North Baddesley's Victory Gospel church has booked a 330-seat theatre at Southampton's Leisureworld complex.

They are paying for 30 homeless people as well as friends and relatives of the church's congregation to attend the special showing today.

For Pastor Andrew White, from the church in Nutburn Road, it is money well spent.

"We want to make this available for church members to bring their friends along. People who are regular church-goers will pay about £5 and anyone they bring can go for free," he said.

"The largest theatre we could get has 330 seats and we expect it to be packed. One lady is bringing 21 members of her family.

"Hopefully it will be a real opportunity for people to see what happened at the Crucifixion. If people can see the evidence about what happened, they might take more notice."

The church, which now has two Sunday services because it has grown so rapidly, is even taking drug-users, alcoholics and homeless people from its weekly drop-in centre.

"We run an outreach project in Northam community centre every Thursday, called Pitstop, which feeds about 100 people and there's been a lot of interest there too," said Mr White.

Everyone who attends will receive a welcome pack containing a book about the film, a list of churches involved and a copy of Mark's gospel.

Mel Gibson's self-funded film The Passion of The Christ traces the last 12 hours of Christ's life and has been described as the most violent film of all time.

It has won praise from many Christian groups for its accurate and moving portrayal of Jesus' suffering but has been criticised by some for being anti-Semitic.