A Cairn is a meeting place of disciples of Jesus where we pray, eat and study together. A cairn on a mountain is a place that helps us to stop, meet and check our bearings as we journey together. In the same way, the purposes of Cairns in our diocese are to provide:

• Support for personal wellbeing
• Encouragement for mission
• Accountability in discipleship

So this is more than a prayer group, it’s about becoming intentional followers of Jesus who seek to share the good news of His Kingdom by becoming missional disciples. Cairns have grown out of a long tradition of spiritual discipleship drawn from ancient monastic communities. As well as praying for one another we seek to see how God can use us as we move out in mission and follow him more closely in our daily walk as his disciples.

It is part of the REVIVE element of our diocesan strategy to set up Cairns across the diocese.

In Cairns we pray, eat, study to support, encourage and grow as disciples.

Who

We hope that Cairns will be for everyone. We suggest groups of three to six people who need to be ready to open up in trust and vulnerability. Peer groups without power dynamics will allow this to happen most easily.

What

We hope that Cairns will spring up in all sorts of places amongst all sorts of people. There could be Readers' Cairns, coffee Cairns, clergy Cairns, running Cairns, curates Cairns, cooking Cairns, hiking Cairns, knitting Cairns, the choice is endless. We have a list of resources for mission and discipleship to help you move forward here.

See the section on how to form a Cairn for more information on making this happen.

We suggest that the prayer part of your meeting is based upon Lectio Divina which enables all to participate and provides a starting point for your prayer. We have provided a simple pattern here.

You may also want to use a set of questions for each other that will help the members of your Cairn to be spiritually accountable to each other. You can read or download them from here.

Where

Again, this decision is up to you. Somewhere special, perhaps a thin place like a beach, bench or church space. But equally somewhere convenient like a home, local cafe or pub.

When

As we are looking to eat together you have the choice of breakfast, lunch or supper. We suggest a once a month commitment and to aim to meet for an hour to an hour and a half. Try to spend an equal amount of time on each section and purpose.

Pilot Cairns

Within the Portsmouth Diocese we have Pilot Cairns where a group of people in an area of ministry get together as a Cairn in the same way but go on to form a Mission Action Plan. There are specific resources that help to make this happen. 

In the future Pilot Cairns might be a combination of smaller cairns with a shared mission focus. We will be forming more supported Pilot Cairns for 2026. If you are interested in being part of a Pilot Cairn please contact Neil Smart at neil.smart@portsmouth.anglican.org.