Church bosses have taken Bible-bashing literally as they’re putting on wrestling matches in a battle to beef up falling congregation numbers.
St Peter’s in Shipley, Bradford, is hosting the bouts as figures show Britain has become a nation of heathens, with sermon attendances at a record low.
The Yorkshire church’s Kingdom Wrestling matches mix body-slams and piledrivers with prayer, worship and sermons – as well as Christian-based trash talking from ring rivals.
God-fearing fighter Gareth ‘Angel’ Thompson, 37, said: “Kingdom Wrestling for me is this amalgamation, this mesh, of faith and wrestling.
“Any Christian will tell you that when you go through life, you wrestle with stuff, you wrestle with your faith… I really feel that wrestling gives us that opportunity to tell those stories.”
(Image: Times Newspapers)
Kingdom Wrestling is a Christian professional fighting charity designed to blend entertainment with worship in a battle to widen the church’s dwindling global appeal.
It runs once a month at St Peter’s, where a temporary ring is erected between tall stone columns in front of a huge stained-glass window.
Fighters go bare-chested – with the most recent bout featuring David ‘Star Killer’ Birch gloating over dad-of-two ‘Angel’ in the style of WWE trash-talkers.
The tub-thumper shouted in front of dozens of fans: “Is this your saviour? You have no God. These people have no God. The Star Killer is now your God.”
Kingdom Wrestling held its first “wrestling church” event in 2021 at Fountains Church, Bradford.
It saw Angel build a training school for children and adults.
The group has since put on dozens of performances – as well as baptising more than 30 people.
(Image: Times Newspapers)
Rev Natasha Thomas, from St Peter’s, said: “People may have a certain perception of what church can be but actually church can be anything about worshipping God and that can be having fun – and wrestling is part of that.”
Angel also gives testimony about his troubled upbringing and faith journey at the Kingdom Wrestling events.
He tells fans he came from a “broken home” as his father left when he was young and his mother was an alcoholic.
Angel was also sexually abused as a child and became homeless, living in a skip aged 15 before he ended up “sobbing” in a church and turning to Jesus.
He added: “As I grew as a Christian and as I grew as a wrestler, I wanted to bring those two things together.”
Other wrestlers in the charity include ‘Posh Princess’ Kiara, 26, who turned professional after studying natural sciences at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.
Not all the charity’s fighters are religious, but Kiara said the group had helped her rebuild her faith.
(Image: Times Newspapers)
She said: “We all pray in the locker room beforehand and if you’re not Christian, you don’t have to pray, but it’s really comforting and inspiring.”
Attendance at Church of England Sunday services alone has been tumbling for decades.
Figures for 2023 show the institution has 170,000 fewer worshippers each week compared with 2019 – falling from 854,000 to 685,000 across Britain.