Our Mission & Ministry
From earliest times, the Cathedral has been a source of sharing the good news of God's love and the advancement of learning. Christians believe sharing love is at the heart of God's nature and activity in the world.
“Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.”
Jesus said ‘I am the good shepherd’
Led by the Canon Missioner, various people share in the care of both those who join the Cathedral community, and those who simply pass through. As Jesus seemed to care for people in all sorts of situations, the Cathedral community aims to care for the wide range of people connected to or visiting the Cathedral and grounds. Although we do not have a specific area of the City to serve (like other churches), our grounds and church are quite busy, especially since we are often the only church open every day.
Ministry plays a central part of any church community. Every believer is called to play some part in God’s team, the Church: no matter what their age, strengths or weaknesses.
All baptised (christened) members are called to be ‘ministers’ (channels) of God’s presence in their individual daily lives as well as with others in focussed working-parties. The Cathedral seeks to equip every member to be a sharer of the good news of God’s closeness and a channel of his love, at school, work, home and in the neighbourhood.
As well as serving in their daily lives, Carlisle Cathedral offers several opportunities to work together in united ministry: the Pastoral Team, ‘The Link’ to the housebound and the Hospital Visiting team.
Heart of the City
After many years working together, several City Centre Churches have pledged to share more resources for the good of the City’s residents, workers and visitors.
With the firm belief that God is for All (not just those that go to church), each congregation has committed itself to supporting the others in taking the good news of God’s love to the people around them. By pooling resources where they can and spending time planning together, they will be able to take on projects and events which no one church would be able to host by itself.
Salvation Army | The Border Kirk | St Cuthbert with St Aidan | Methodists @ Tithe Barn | St Georges URC | Carlisle Cathedral
Children, Young People and Families
Our all-age informal PLUS celebration takes place most Sunday mornings in term time in the Fratry Hall, 10.15am-11.00am. We gather informally in café style with refreshments and games, then move into songs and prayers until we welcome the choristers from our 10:30am Cathedral service. At this point, we watch a video Bible story and explore the story through activity sheets. Our families are then able to stay and chat, or go across to the Cathedral for the last part of the Eucharist service.
All children must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
CATHEDRAL PLUS EUCHARISTS
Several times a term, our 10:30am Cathedral Eucharist takes on a more all-age focus and involves our children and young people in the leadership of the service. There is always an all-age talk, some contemporary music and often music from our community children’s choir: Cantate.
Please see Our Services for forthcoming dates and more details.
MISSION LINKS
In 2023, Carlisle Cathedral is working with a number of local partners:
Representatives of the Ukrainian community
We are also supporting several charity or mission projects both financially and in prayer:
The Cathedral contributes 10% of the pledged giving scheme to charity. For more information about becoming a pledged giver, please follow this link.
Between 2014 and 2022, the Cathedral supported the building of a school in Kenya for deaf children, known as Project Riandu. We are delighted to confirm that the school is flourishing with almost 100 pupils, and that the support of our pledged givers over the years has meant that we were able to contribute 10% of all UK-based donations to the project.
