A Devon beach was awash with new Christians last weekend, as 170 people were baptised in the sea at Bigbury-on-Sea, with many more looking on. 

The mass baptism was organised entirely through social media by Merlin Kraft, founder of the Christian channel BibleLadUK, after he began receiving requests from people across Britain wanting to take part.

Kraft put out an online invitation and attendees travelled from as far as Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Liverpool, Manchester, Salford and the Isle of Wight as well as more locally from Cornwall and across Devon.

Some went to remarkable lengths to be there. Speaking to Premier Christian News, Kraft said: "There was an extraordinary couple that came from Leeds, and they could only get themselves as far as Kingsbridge, and then they walked the remaining three hours through fields to get to Bigbury to be baptised."

The event was partnered with local churches, pastors and volunteers who helped baptise attendees and provided free food and Bibles afterwards.

Reflecting on the day, Kraft, who says he's not a pastor himself, but a "follower of Christ" said: "I'm still in disbelief at what I saw at Bigbury Beach at the weekend. God was in it the whole way. All I can say is all glory to God at this point, but what we saw down there was extraordinary. It was amazing."

Kraft, whose channel has seen a surge of interest in Christianity, says he thinks people responded to him because of his boldness in talking about his faith and the fact that there is a lot of "doom and gloom" in the news.