A 17-year-old youth is in a serious condition in hospital after being chased into a church and beaten with a baseball bat yesterday.

The youth was taken by ambulance to Middlemore Hospital suffering from face, arm, leg and spleen injuries, after being chased into the Seventh-Day Adventist Church on Puhinui Rd in Papatoetoe about 2.15 pm.

Police said three other people suffered minor injuries in the attack. Most of the assailants left the area by car.