And with that begins a quite out-of the-ordinary Sunday service, even for St Matthew’s.

Three alpacas, representing camels, and three children, representing the three wise men, parade down the aisle past bemused worshippers.

While the church is accustomed to animals, it’s not often they actually set foot in the building itself.

The three noticeably twitchy alpacas stand at the front of the church as the first hymn is sung.

They seem keen to head back down the aisle after a few minutes in the limelight.

Their handlers, sisters Marley and Stella Walter and their cousin Ricco Thyer, explained they were pretending to be three wise men as they brought gifts to baby Jesus.

The trio, who were visiting from Sydney, had never seen animals at church before and were extremely impressed.

Ricco was particularly fond of the donkey in the courtyard.

“I think they’ve got a different personalty to other animals,” he said.

“The white ones always comes up to you and wants a pat and rubs its back against the fence.”