Successful partnership working depends on knowing how your partner organisations work, including their lines of communication and decision making. Below is a summary of the different structures and terms used by the main Christian denominations in Cumbria. Click here for information on working with minority faith communities.

The Church of England Diocese of Carlisle

• Covers a slightly smaller area than Cumbria County Council.  The exceptions are the Alston area (in the Diocese of Newcastle) and the Sedbergh area (in the Diocese of Bradford).
• The senior clergy in the diocese are the Bishop of Carlisle and his assistant, the Bishop of Penrith. The administrative team is based in Church House, Carlisle and is led by the Diocesan Secretary.
• The diocese is split into three areas called archdeaconries (Carlisle, West Cumberland and Westmorland & Furness), each managed by an Archdeacon. The archdeaconries are divided into three or four rural deaneries, each overseen by a Rural Dean (even in urban areas).
• One or more individual parish churches form a benefice, with a minister or team of ministers.  Each parish is administered by a Parochial Church Council (PCC), a team of volunteers which includes two to four Churchwardens who are responsible for the building.
• Occasionally a church does not have its own PCC and is described as a daughter church.Carlisle Cathedral lies outside the above structure, and is run by a Dean.
  There are about 340 CofE (or ‘Anglican’) churches in Cumbria.

The Cumbria Methodist District

• Covers the same area as the County Council (plus Cowan Bridge in Lancashire)
• The Chair of the District is equivalent to a CofE bishop.  The Cumbria Methodist District is split into 16 circuits, each with between one and three paid ministers led by a superintendent. 
• There can be up to 20 churches in a circuit and individual churches are locally managed.
• There are about 130 Methodist Churches and chapels in Cumbria.

Roman Catholic Churches in Cumbria

• All RC churches in Cumbriaare within the RC Diocese of Lancaster, which has four deaneries in Cumbria.
• Each parish usually has its own priest.  The parishes are currently undergoing restructuring.  Decisions about the use of buildings are made more centrally than in the other major denominations.
• There are 42 Roman Catholic Churches in Cumbria.  Roman Catholic Churches on average have larger congregations per church than other denominations, and are most heavily concentrated in urban area to the west of the County.

Smaller groups of faith buildings in Cumbria

• The most numerous are Quaker Meeting Houses, United Reformed Churches and Baptist Churches/Chapels. 
• Increasingly frequently, a church building may be used by more than one denomination.  This is known as a Local Ecumenical Partnership (LEP).
• For more details see our Church Directory.

Titles given to Ministers of Religion
The array of titles can be bewildering, but you needn’t be too concerned about the difference between a rector or reverend, curate or canon, vicar or presbyter...  It is quite acceptable to simply address them by name.  If you are interested in the different roles you can look them up on Wikipedia.