The story so far…

St Luke’s was first consecrated (blessed by the Bishop and commissioned for public worship) in 1890, because there was not enough room in the existing parish church to accommodate all the local people who wanted to attend. Since then, the spiritual landscape of our city and country has changed. Rather than close the church, as was about to happen in the early 2000s, the Bishop of Newcastle at the time invited the Revd Dr Robert Ward to reestablish a worshipping community at St Luke’s, a Fresh Expression, and the diocese’s first charismatic evangelical church.

As the 2010s drew to a close, St Luke’s faced a number of challenges, not least the Covid-19 pandemic and clergy vacancies following Robert’s retirement. Numbers dropped, and despite diligent caretaker-leadership from the Churchwardens and Church Council, the future of St Luke’s was beginning to look a little uncertain. The embers at the core were still glowing, but there was some need for new life – some dry wood for the Holy Spirit to fan into flame.

In September 2019, a new Resource Church for the Diocese of Newcastle was planted into St Thomas’, just down the road from St Luke’s. As the Resource Church, they are called to resource mission and ministry by planting and revitalising churches across the North East – for the sake of God's kingdom. In partnership with senior staff at the Diocese, the St Thomas’ team began exploring what the first of these church revitalisation projects could look like and where it might be. After a long period of prayer and discernment, the Churchwardens and PCC of St Luke’s were approached and joyfully invited the Revd Adam Smith to lead a ‘church graft’ from St Thomas’ into St Luke’s.

After taking some time to get to know each other a little over the Autumn term, in January 2024 the existing congregation joined together with the grafting team from St Thomas’ to form one new St Luke’s church family, setting out together at the beginning of a new adventure.

Since then, under the leadership of Adam and his wife Abby, alongside Alice Wilkinson as the Associate Leader, we have been gathering on Sundays, investing in pre-existing ministries and establishing new ones, and meeting together in groups midweek – at first centrally, and now in homes, to eat, worship, pray, and read the Bible together as we dig deeper into our Sunday teaching series. Over time, things have begun to grow, and although there have been changes and challenges, the journey so far has been BIG fun. We remain convinced that our only hope of seeing our vision fulfilled is found in God’s strength rather than our own will-power, gifts or hard work.

St Luke’s is situated at the heart of the city, nestled in the former mining village of Spital Tongues. We see both the deep needs and great potential of the city all around us. From the its industrial heritage to Newcastle University’s leading cancer research lab, from terraces and tower blocks to town houses, Spital Tongues has long been a place of social diversity. As the parish church, St Luke’s is perfectly placed to serve all the people of the Newcastle and work together to see God’s restoration of our city.

You can read more about our vision here.

We believe the journey has only just begun and we’d love you to join us as the adventure continues!