The congregation at St Elizabeth's Church in Clendon, South Auckland, is like no other I've seen in the world. Clutching prayer books in liver-spotted hands are the silver-haired ladies you might expect to see in church on a Sunday morning - but towering over them with menacing tattooed knuckles grasping hymn books are former gang members.
It's not just the swastika tattoos, the missing teeth and scars that make these men - and some women - frightening. The list of serious crimes many of them have been convicted of is also terrifying. And those are just the crimes the police know about.
These people come from outlawed communities, steeped in so much crime that for many, savage beatings, rape and general brutality have been a daily occurrence.
It's a brave old lady that approaches this lot armed with nothing but a Bible and a warm smile.
