In an unassuming, quiet corner of northern England, salvation now comes with flying headbutts and foam fingers. St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Shipley is home to what might be the most unexpected religious revival in the U.K.: Wrestling Church, where faith and body slams collide in glorious, sweaty harmony.
Created by Gareth Thompson—who wrestles under the name “Gareth Angel”—the Wrestling Church blends Christian storytelling with professional wrestling theatrics. “Boil it down to the basics, it’s good versus evil,” Thompson said. “When I became Christian, I started seeing the wrestling world through a Christian lens. I started seeing David and Goliath. I started seeing Cain and Abel.”
Inside England’s Wrestling Church
Attendance in traditional British churches has been shrinking for decades, with fewer than half of England and Wales now identifying as Christian. But in Shipley, pews have been swapped for wrestling mats, and a new kind of congregation is showing up. After a brief homily and prayer, the church transforms into a raucous ring, where cheers of “knock him out!” fill the room and morality tales play out in headlocks and powerbombs.
“It’s not church as you would know it. It’s certainly not for everyone,” said the Rev. Natasha Thomas, the priest in charge at St. Peter’s. “But it’s bringing in a different group of people, a different community, than we would normally get.”
In its first year, Wrestling Church baptized 30 people. But its mission stretches far beyond the monthly Saturday night matches. Thompson’s charity, Kingdom Wrestling, also runs youth coaching, men’s mental health groups, women’s self-defense classes, and training for kids who’ve been expelled from school—all from the back room of the church.
For Thompson, the connection between wrestling and belief isn’t just symbolic. “People say, ‘Oh, wrestling and Christianity, they’re two fake things in a fake world of their own existence,’” he said. “But my personal experience of faith is that it is alive and true. With wrestling, you suspend your disbelief because you want to believe. You want to hope for it.”
It may not be what most imagine when they think of church—but for some, it’s the only place where they feel seen, welcomed, and spiritually body-slammed into something resembling redemption.
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