A Florida church has said that signs warning that the property is not a gun-free zone helps protect the congregation from attacks.

The River at Tampa Bay Church, in east Tampa, Florida, has a sign on every door of the building warning people that the congregation is 'heavily armed'.

'Please know this is not a gun free zone - we are heavily armed - any attempted will be dealt with deadly force - yes we are a church as we will protect our people,' pastors from the non-denominational church say on the signs.

The church has had the signs up for a year, but well-known senior pastor Rodney Howard-Browne reminded his followers about them days after the Sutherland Springs, Texas, massacre earlier this month.

The River at Tampa Bay Church, in east Tampa, Florida, has a sign on every door of the building warning people that the congregation is 'heavily armed'

'He made it very well known on social media and here at the ministry, if you're going to come here to look to do harm, you're going to be met with force,' Associate Pastor Allen Hawes told ABC.

Services at the church, which seats more than 1,000, are broadcast live.

Its head pastor is evangelical Dr Howard-Browne, a South African-born US citizen who first came to the United States as a missionary in 1987

His teachings on the concept of 'holy laughter' - an outpouring of joy caused by the Holy Spirit - helped to inspire the Toronto Blessing, which many believe to be an instance of mass blessing which took place in 1994.

The church has had the signs up for a year, but well-known senior pastor Rodney Howard-Browne reminded his followers about them days after the Sutherland Springs, Texas, massacre earlier this month

But the church wants to make its stance on guns known worldwide after a gunman killed 26 people during services at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.

'If you think you are going to come here and do that, this is a deterrent for you because it is everywhere, it's not like we hide these signs. They're big signs, and it's going to tell these people, we will protect our people,' Pastor Hawes told Fox 13.

Those who are armed during services include parishioners with concealed-carry permits, uniformed deputies and private plainclothes officers.

'I believe, if you look at the teachings of Jesus, Matthew, and different places in the scriptures, we see it will get increasingly darker - wars, rumors of wars, and people with not good intentions are going to look for a way to make a statement,' Hawes added.

The non-denominational church has 24-hour-a-day security at the 83-acre property.