During that period, he was a prominent and controversial figure for his activism against xenophobia, and clashed with the South African government over his decision to accommodate hundreds of refugees at his Central Methodist Church in the Johannesburg city centre.

[1] While still a university student, Verryn began working (as a junior minister)[3] in the Methodist churches in the Eastern Cape – first in Uitenhage (1973), and then in Southern Transkei (1974–1975) and Grahamstown (1976–1978).

[2] He also chaired Interchurch Aid and the Standards Generating Body for Christian Theology and Ministry, and was involved in the work of the National Cancer Association in the Eastern Cape.

[1] DPSC primarily assisted the families of activists detained without trial under the Terrorism Act, and Verryn was its Port Elizabeth chair between 1982 and 1983.

[6][7][8] He has cited among his influences other progressive South African clergymen with a concern for social justice, such as Beyers Naudé, Peter Storey and Mvume Dandala.

[2] In December 1987, under the direction of his earlier inspiration Bishop Storey, he moved to the Methodist Church in Orlando West, Soweto, outside Johannesburg.

[1] Unusually for a white minister in Soweto, Verryn lived among his congregation in the church's manse, where he continued to shelter activists and to work with the DPSC.

[2] When apartheid ended in 1994, Verryn continued his work in Orlando West, and taught divinity at the MCSA seminary, the John Wesley College, from 1994 to 1997.

[10] The MUFC was a private force of bodyguards, who answered to and were controlled by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, then Nelson Mandela's wife and a leading anti-apartheid activist.

Madikizela-Mandela also claimed that Seipei (Moeketsi) was a police informer, a charge which in those days could have resulted in mob execution of the accused.

[7][14][15] The Johannesburg Central Methodist Church, under the leadership of Bishop Paul Verryn, had established a tradition of ministering to the poor and marginalised in the city centre.

Many Zimbabwean immigrants (whether legal or illegal), together with Mozambicans, Malawians, Taiwanese and others from any other African country became victims of the violence, losing lives, businesses, jobs and families.

The medical staff of Médecins sans Frontières, who by now also worked among the refugees, stated that they had treated only one girl for rape, and that this attack had not taken place at the church.

[22][23] In December 2009, Verryn resigned as Bishop and was replaced by Peter Witbooi,[24][25] but retained his ministry at the Central Methodist Church.

[34] He continued his activism through the community centre, where about 100 migrant families lived as of 2022,[35] and through Peace Action, a non-governmental organisation which he founded in 2010 to monitor and document violence against foreign nationals in South Africa.