A screengrab from the video showing the 'Wrestling Church'
Credit: X/@Alex_RobertsJ
A church in England has a unique way of attracting new followers -- by using pro-wrestling. St Peter's Anglican, also referred to as 'Wrestling Church', was started by 37-year-old Gareth Thompson.
As per a report by the New York Post, Thompson began this after he was "saved by pro-wrestling and Jesus".
Calling it the "good vs evil", Thompson said that after he became Christian, his perception towards wrestling was coming through 'Christian lens'.
"I started seeing David and Goliath. I started seeing Cain and Abel. I started seeing Esau having his heritage stolen from him. And I’m like, ‘We could tell these stories'," he said as reported by the publication.
Mentioning about the 2021 census, the publication stated that attendance of people in church has been declining, with less than half the population there considering themselves as Christians.
Ones who believe in having no religion have touched the mark of 37 per cent from 25 per cent in a decade's time. Seeing the decline, the churches now have taken up the responsibility of becoming creative and attracting more followers.
Rev Natasha Thomas, the priest of the church, said that she wasn't "entirely sure" about this idea. "You’ve got to take a few risks," the priest said.
She further added that this church was "different" from the others and "certainly not for everyone". However, it was attracting a different group of people and community.
Recently, the church witnessed a crowd of 200 people gathering around the ring.
After prayer, a two-hour smackdown took place, the report said.
Thomson's charity Kingdom Wrestling also keeps training sessions for people and teaches self defence to women, along with a mental health session for men. The charity also provides coaching for students who got expelled from school.
The publication stated that very few people attend the Sunday morning services after watching the wrestling. However, the church has said to have baptised 30 people in their first year.
Thomson also believed that he wished to start his own church and take his idea to other cities too, it said.