About Anglicanism

Anglicans are the third largest group of Christians in the world (after the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox), but our ‘flavor’ remains a mystery to some.  Maybe you haven’t heard of the Anglican Church before. Anglicans are a family of Christians all around the world who trace their spiritual heritage back to the Church of England. The Christian faith came to England in the first or second century AD. It flourished there for over a thousand years as part of the Catholic Church. In the 1500s, leaders in the Church of England grew concerned that the Church had drifted from the biblical faith handed down by Jesus’ apostles. Like other church leaders throughout Europe, leaders in the Church of England sought to bring the church back to its biblical roots. So, the Church of England went through its own reformation as part of the larger Protestant Reformation. Since then, the Anglican way has spread around the globe. Today there are Anglican churches on every continent. Being an Anglican is a way of being rooted in thousands of years of Christian history. Each Anglican church is part of a global movement of more than 80 million people in over 150 countries.

Our local church is connected with a regional group of churches called the Reformed Episcopal Church. Our diocese is connected to many other diocese throughout the USA and Canada and forms The Anglican Church of North America (ACNA). The ACNA is connected to other Anglican provinces around the world in a movement called GAFCON(Global Anglican Future Conference).

There are three words that helpfully express the heart of Anglicanism: Rooted, Reformational, and Roomy.

• ROOTED.  Anglicans are deeply and intentionally rooted in Christian history. In fact, English/Celtic Christianity dates back to the earliest days of Christianity.  The Anglican Reformation of the 16th and 17th Centuries did not throw away the entirety of the tradition which came before it; instead, our framers ‘reformed’ the already existing patterns of worship in the Church.  Anglicans utilize ancient modes of worship (often called ‘liturgy’) and creeds.  We use the Church Calendar (which includes holidays and seasons like Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost) as it reminds us of different aspects of what God has done in Christ.  In keeping with the pattern of the ancient Church, Anglicans retain the ‘3 orders’ of clergy – bishops (who oversee a geographical Diocese), presbyters (sometimes called ‘priests,’ who oversee a parish church), and deacons (who serve those in need within local congregations).  Anglicans aren’t ‘romantic’ about church history or tradition (we don’t think either of them is infallible), but we do see these things as helpful and important.

• REFORMATIONAL.  Anglicans are deeply shaped by the liberating insights of the Protestant Reformation.  Our beliefs are best summarized in a document called the ‘39 Articles,’ which represents a hybrid of Lutheran and Reformed theology.  Anglicans affirm the unique role and authority of Scripture as the place where special, redemptive revelation from God is found (we say ‘it contains all things necessary to salvation’).  Anglicanism affirms that we are rescued by Christ alone, and this rescue is received by grace alone through faith alone.  We believe in the reckoned righteousness of Christ.  We affirm the two biblical sacraments of Baptism and Communion.  We affirm the centrality and efficacy of the Gospel message (that Christ died and rose again for sinners – that is, all of us).

• ROOMY.  Anglicanism enjoys a marvelous degree of elasticity, both in worship and in less essential aspects of doctrine.  In Anglicanism, you can find ‘high church’ folks (they look and sound somewhat Catholic), ‘low church’ folks (they look and sound fairly Protestant), and all sorts in between.  So long as we affirm our ‘formularies’ (that is, those documents that bind us together and bind us to Truth — the Scriptures, the Articles of Religion, the (1662) Book of Common Prayer, etc), we can have certain disagreements and retain common cause.  We share a common life with those who have different emphases, seeking to grow from the insights of others with whom we might sometimes disagree. Anglicans have a wide range of opinion regarding how to interpret the opening chapters of Genesis, we don’t fight over the ‘right’ understanding the Book of Revelation, and we don’t endlessly debate about particular gifts of the Holy Spirit. We appreciate a range of opinion under the authority of Scripture and within basic orthodoxy. We also appreciate the ‘Christian-ness’ of other denominations (Baptists, Pentecostals, Catholics, Lutherans, etc), and do not ‘de-church’ those with whom we disagree. We are intentionally ‘roomy.’ If someone abhors flexibility, they’ll probably abhor Anglicanism. But we affirm what Augustine once said: In essentials, Unity; in non-essentials, Liberty; in all things, Charity.

*The above is adapted from All Saints Anglican Church and The Table in Springfield, MO.