Helen Baylor sings her heart out as the saxophonist and the 100-strong choir join her in a rousing Gospel-style rendition of Amazing Grace. The congregation sways and hands are held in the air, with gazes fixed on the American Gospel singer.
"Excuse me sister, is this your first time at Kingsway?" And with a nod of agreement, those of us who were visiting Kingsway International Christian Centre for the first time were asked to stand up before 3,000 people while we received a round of applause and a burst of another Gospel song.
There was more shaking of hands and a leaflet was passed down the aisle entitled Rediscovering Intimacy in Marriage. Then we were off again, giving thanks for the presence of the Holy Spirit while we clapped along to the music.
KICC is a unique place. Its membership of nearly 5,000 people - from doctors to bankers, single men and women, to children and married couples - is the largest independent church congregation in Britain and is witness to the growing popularity of Pentecostal services at a time when the mainstream churches are struggling to get people through their doors.
The KICC worked for more than five years to get there and last week it opened the biggest church in Britain since the 1860s on the site of a former eight-acre derelict warehouse in east London, next to Hackney's greyhound racing stadium.
The site was bought for £2.7 million and the money was raised from among the adults in the congregation who hand over one-tenth of their income to the church. Some £450,000 was spent on converting the warehouse into an auditorium-style venue.
All the renovation work was finished in 2 1/2 months and the KICC, with its lighting and sound systems and giant video screens to relay the services to the people at the back of the auditorium, opened its doors with a powerful performance by the leader of the church, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo.
The opening attracted worshippers from London and the south-east. Pastor Ashimolowo says the reason the church is so popular is because he speaks to people using ordinary language they can relate to, rather than archaic Christian terminology.
The KICC's success over the past five years, during which its membership has grown from fewer than 20, is also due to the pastor's charismatic leadership. In a colourful red and orange tie, black braces and smart gold watch, he carries his Bible with him practically everywhere and he is always polite, shaking a hand here and placing a comforting arm around a member when it is needed.
He came to Britain from Nigeria as a missionary 14 years ago because, he says, the Christian movement in Britain was under the influence of "dark forces of humanism".
"I have a dream that Britain will be great again, and will lead Europe and the world to a spiritual awakening, banishing poverty and war and the ills that too easily destroy our precious families."
The church is not aimed at traditionalists but everyone feels part of a big family.
Then there is the music. Just as we would imagine a Gospel service in the Louisiana heartland to be a sweaty, uplifting, spiritual mix of song and prayer, the services at KICC owe much to that "deep South" approach to thanksgiving as first we clapped, then swayed to the music and eventually wafted our programmes in front of our faces.
There was calypso music to welcome the worshippers into the hall, R'n'B and Gospel for the first hour or so and, between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., the preaching gets under way.
Martin and Monica, a "mixed race" Christian couple from Bromley, said they had first heard about the church on the Christian satellite channel and on their first visit last week they listened to a sermon from another Nigerian pastor. He broke off his sermon and asked anyone who thought they had been wrongly accused of a crime to come forward.
"About 50 people walked up to the front," Martin says. "Everybody gets involved and during the service everyone wants to join in."
To keep the money coming in - the Sunday collection plate brings in about £6,000 - the KICC has a large range of products on offer in its glossy magazine, Winning Ways.
A three-volume set of educational videos, such as The Marriage Matters and One Big Family, can be bought for £30 each while the 12-set collection of videos entitled The Road to Success lend a somewhat Billy Grahamesque flavour to the church.
Marriage and the family seem to be a key theme, perhaps reflecting the fact that some 90 per cent of the members are under 45, and the majority are single people and young couples.
Not everyone is happy about the church and even in its first week of operation it has attracted a group of Born Again Christians which has been picketing the hall and handing out leaflets condemning the KICC for its methods.
One such group, the Shekinah Dayz Ministries, believes it is using mind control to take money from its members.
One of the Born Again Christians harangues a bouncer outside the hall. "These people have big cars and money. They are telling people to hand over money because they will get it back 10-fold. This is not biblical Christianity," she says.
The bouncer ignores her and the crowd pushes past her to get to the last seats in the hall.