Faith and worship

In Jesus, God spoke his last and final word about everything. Christians, followers of Jesus, believe this and attempt to shape their lives around the teachings of Jesus found in the Bible (especially in the Gospels). We do this in church through our worship which involves offering prayer, praise and thanksgiving to God but we also do this by the way we live our lives at work and at home.

Durham Cathedral is an Anglican church, and part of the Church of England. We are sometimes called the ‘mother church’ of the Diocese of Durham, and the Bishop of Durham has a literal (and highly ornate) seat at the cathedral.

Did you know that the word cathedral comes from ‘cathedra’, a latin word meaning chair?

Everyone is welcome to come to a service and spend time in prayer and reflection at the cathedral.

Our morning, afternoon and evening services are quiet and reflective, and mark the passing of the day in a tradition stretching back hundreds of years to when Durham Cathedral was served by a community of Benedictine monks. Many of our evening and Sunday services feature the music of Durham Cathedral Choir, who sing a wide selection of music from the English choral tradition.

Large services are often held at the cathedral to mark the highlights of the Christian year, and to mark significant events with the region. Join us to sing carols at our candlelit Advent and Christmas services, greet fellow worshippers with ‘Alleluia! Christ is risen’ on Easter Day, and to mark annual occasions like Remembrance Sunday and the Durham Miners’ Gala.

Everyone is welcome to join a service at Durham Cathedral, whether you’re visiting Durham, attend church services occasionally, or are not religious at all.

We welcome a group of regular worshippers to our services both in person and online who, together with staff and volunteers, form the cathedral’s community. There are several ways that you can get more involved with life at the cathedral, including joining our Community Roll, becoming a member of our online Community of Prayer, or marking a life event with us.

We are greatly assisted in our prayers at Durham Cathedral by the presence of two of the great Northern saints, St Cuthbert and St Bede, whose final resting places (‘shrines’) lie at either end of the cathedral. They worship with us but ‘on another shore and in a greater light’, and their presence wraps us in the prayers of people down the ages and today who come to Durham Cathedral to get closer to God.