Christianity has been around in the Kendal area for more than 1,000 years.Parts of the present Kendal Parish Church date from the early thirteenth century.

In 1652 George Fox preached on Firbank Fell, leading to the birth of the Quaker movement and to the building of the Friends Meeting House in Stramongate in 1816.

John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, preached in Kendal in 1753, according to a plaque on Stricklandgate Methodist Church, opened in 1883.

So what is the point of all this? Simply that the churches in Kendal have seen many fashions and trends come and go.

Often nowadays the media tells us that things have never been so bad. What they mean is that it is the worst in living memory.

Yes, it is bad for those going through it, but previous generations lived through things equally bad, if not worse, and yet survived.

As it says in the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes – traditionally ascribed to Solomon – “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

This is not a recipe for pessimism, but optimism. That no matter how bad the media tells us things are, it will pass, for God is in control, not man, and certainly not this current generation.

So the next time you come into Kendal, whether from the south, the north, or the east take a look at these churches and be encouraged to take the long view.

Mike Hutchings, Churches Together in Kendal & District