Our Story

We exist to see God’s kingdom come in Cumbria as it is in heaven, playing our part as a transformational community of intergenerational disciples contending for regional renewal.

In 2022, the Diocese of Carlisle dreamt of a church for the towns and rural communities around the A66 corridor in the northern Lake District that would serve those who were not currently engaging with a church. This vision has caught and spread to a team of church planters and families who are committed to seeing a fresh move of God’s Spirit in the region and a church sold out to contending for a renewal of Cumbria and its church.

In 2024, St. Aidan’s was born as a small group began to meet together for prayer and worship and to build towards this vision that we see. We’re in the early pages of the story God is writing in us and through us, and we would love to invite you to come and be a part of all that God will do.

What we do

Whether we’re gathered all together, or scattered into our own contexts, we believe that to be church means choosing to follow God by being with Jesus, becoming like him, doing what he did, and living life in community.

  • Transformational community

    When we spend time in God’s presence, God’s Spirit increasingly transforms us so that we look more like Jesus: living as he lived and sharing his character. We have a vision of a church, churches and a family of Christian communities in which this transformation happens as we intentionally follow Jesus.

  • Intergenerational discipleship

    The good news about Jesus and the call to follow him is for people of every age. We have a vision of a church of young and old that makes space for everyone to worship God and learn how to follow Jesus. We believe that children and young people are equally called to follow Jesus and lead within his church, and so we want to make St. Aidan’s a place where that happens.

  • Regional renewal

    We don’t believe that God has called us simply to build a church, but in order to see his Kingdom come across our region. Having been transformed by an encounter with God, we believe that we are sent as agents of transformation to our neighbourhoods, communities, workplaces and schools to be and bring the good news of Jesus Christ we have experienced for ourselves. We have a vision of a community of Christians going back into their own contexts to bring the kingdom of God, as well as of many churches renewed and established carrying the same vision.

How we do it

As we follow Jesus as a church, we have a particular set of values that define our way of living and acting, and that shape the choices that we make and the things we do together.

  • Gathered to scatter

    We believe in the value of gathering together regularly to encourage one another, tell stories of God‘s goodness and encounter God together. However, these gatherings are not our end goal, and we gather to be scattered back out into the world as salt and light to our communities.

  • Word and Spirit

    We are dependent upon the power and presence of God’s Spirit to guide and empower us in living for Jesus. As we go, we are confident that God is and has spoken to us through his Word, which we trust as God’s good and loving words to us.

  • Kingdom Generosity

    We are not about building our kingdom, but God’s. To that end, we want to be defined as a community of generosity who joyfully give away the abundance we have received from God to bless those around us, in and outside the church.

  • Creative Hope

    We are convinced that God has a plan for Cumbria and is already on the move to see it come to fruition. For that reason, we will courageously and creatively try new things as God leads us, trusting that He is working to bring about His kingdom with us.

Why St. Aidan?

St. Aidan was an Irishman, sent from Scotland to share the good news about Jesus Christ with the north of England. He did this by travelling around, taking time to meet with people and lead them closer to their Saviour. As he went, he established communities of Christian faith to continue this mission across the North, forming disciples of Christ who would reach out in mission.

As a church, we share this sense of vision and calling with Aidan, whose name means ‘little fiery one’. We want, like him, to light spiritual fires across our region as we establish a family of Christian communities and share the good news about Jesus.

“See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.”

— Isaiah 43:19