The Anglican Church

If one were to look for a simple phrase to describe the Christian faith of the Anglican Church it would probably be the Latin phrase ‘Via Media’-The middle way.  The Anglican church developed out of the political and theological controversies which surrounded the English Church in the 16th Century. During that time the church moved from the Church in England (meaning the English expression of the Roman Catholic Church), to the Church of England, which was a catholic expression of a uniquely English church. The new Church sought to hold in balance, and sometimes in tension, its Catholic roots with the insights of Continental Protestantism.  As a result the Anglican Church holds to the historic orders of ministry of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, the teachings of the first four great councils of the Church, the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and that ‘scripture holds everything necessary for salvation’.  However the freer thought of Continental Protestantism also allowed the Anglican expression of Christianity to develop to meet the needs of the times and as a result we celebrate gender equality in the Ordination of women, the invitation to All Baptized Christians to partake at the Eucharistic table (Holy Communion), and more recently a move to full inclusion of the LGBTQ2 community in our corporate life.

The faith of the Anglican Church is usually said to reside in our liturgies. We use the term Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, meaning essentially ‘what we pray, we believe’. As a result, our worship resources are an important part of understanding the faith of the Anglican Church.  Currently there are two key books in usage, the Book of Alternative Services (BAS) 1985, and the Book of Common Prayer 1962. The BAS is today the most commonly used book, and is a more contemporary expression of Christian faith from an Anglican perspective.

The Christian faith itself is centered on the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as expressed in the Four Gospels (part of our sacred scripture) and the Traditions of the Church as expressed by people of faith through timep