When the Fitzwilliam Museum described Church of Burn as "organisers of special events that resemble religious ceremonies," it felt like we were being observed through the lens of a Victorian anthropologist — as if our rituals needed some kind of official seal to be considered authentic.

The museum curators aren’t alone in wrestling with how to define us. Many people struggle with the idea that we call ourselves a Church. To them, a church is necessarily Christian and refers to the building, not the people. Yet the real challenge comes when they confront the concept of burning money, which many find shocking, even morally reprehensible.

For us, though, it’s straightforward. We are a Church in the truest sense: a gathering of people around a sacred act. It's just that in our case that act is a real ritual sacrifice; an unmediated experience of loss directed through the body of money.

At the heart of our Church is a communal affirmation and a visceral renunciation. The potential of a literal transformation in our relationship to money should not be underestimated. Its effect on the individual and the collective consciousness can be profound. 

In our Service, we say, “Money is not out there in the numbers; it’s in here with you and me.” While this may seem obvious —after all, currency emerged from human civilization —in everyday life, money takes on the power of an Old God. It can grant wishes and fulfil desires, or it can starve us and take away our homes.

There is a singular, collective prescription for how we must engage with money: to gain its favour, we are told to be prudent and make ‘hard choices.’ The moral path of money is one of moderated asceticism.

Yet, as individuals, we are irresistibly drawn in the opposite direction: toward generosity, lavish expenditure, gambling —any way of being with money that reclaims our sovereignty and declares, “Today, I shall not serve this God.”

Church of Burn stands poised between these two poles. What grounds us is the understanding that humankind's relationship with money is not merely conceptual; it is embodied. The human experience of money has a somatic underpinning.

We believe that our economic cosmology—and the politics of money—cannot be fully reimagined until this truth is acknowledged.

We all have the capacity to feel magic—to experience ecstasy, release, transgression, groundedness, insight, enchantment, union, and sovereignty. Yet, while money and the digital age shorten the distance between our earthly desires and their satisfaction, those shimmering possibilities of transcendence seem ever more distant.

Church of Burn exists to help you bridge the gap. We’ll guide you toward an experience of the ritual sacrifice of money. We draw not only on a wealth of practical experience in Ritual, Ceremony and Radical Theatre but also on a deep knowledge of the metaphysics, philosophies and theologies of money itself.

Our Church doesn’t demand your faith, only your respect for the Altar and for those with whom you make Ritual. Beyond that, all we ask —and what the act itself will demand of you— is immersion in the moment: to “Be Here Now” as we say in Service.

If you can do that, then we believe that the magic is there, ever present in ritualised sacrifice, longing for you to feel it.

Whether you’ve registered directly, discovered us on social media, or arrived here through the #TakeTheTest page, you’re already part of an exceptional group. Most people think of money as just a tool, a measure, or a claim on goods and services.

Thus, money's true power is hidden behind a veil of these ‘common-sense’ rationalizations. We fail to appreciate how deeply it influences our thoughts and actions. Instead, we point fingers—blaming ‘the system,’ other people’s greed, the banks, the corporations, or the government.

Church of Burn wants to change this. We aim to help everyone recognize and understand the profound impact of money—the most potent and universal symbol ever known—on both individual and collective consciousness.

We’re thrilled that you’re here, and that you’re open-minded and curious enough to explore further. But for us to truly make a difference, to challenge more people’s perceptions of money and spark meaningful change, we need more than curiosity. We need action.

Here are five things you can do to make change.