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June 27 - July 21, 2022
Rather than coming up with something new and trendy, many people today are hungry for a faith that is vintage and time-tested. The truth is, many contemporary people are longing for a faith that was not started yesterday and is not driven by fads or personalities.
Far from being a faith of the past, Anglicanism presents a rich spiritual tradition that has matured into a worldwide movement of Christians on every continent. The Anglican tradition offers a refreshing alternative to our postmodern world by helping us reconnect to the historic Christian faith in a way that speaks to our present age.
was longing to be a part of a tradition with a connection to the historic Christian faith.
liturgical worship service that brought together a beautiful blend of what some have come to call the three streams (Evangelical, Sacramental, and Charismatic).
Becoming Anglican helped me realize that I am a part of the larger Christian family whose roots go back to the time of Christ.
Too often, contemporary Christians forget that the church has existed with a rich history for two thousand years.
to navigate the rich and beautiful liturgical tradition of Anglicanism.
the Anglican way brings together the past, present, and future through a foundation built upon the “faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3).
there are now more Anglicans worshiping in Nigeria than in England, Canada, and the United States combined.
the one great Story: the Bible’s Story of God’s redemptive plan for humankind throughout the ages. God is the great Storyteller, and history is one grand narrative of God’s redemptive love for lost humanity. It begins with creation and climaxes with God sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins and rise victorious over evil and death.
Many contemporary Christians have historical amnesia and are missing vital aspects of the faith that are necessary for spiritual growth and maturity. The result is that we have no roots and therefore don’t know who we really are. In many ways, we have lost our story.
Anglicanism has a rich history that can help us rediscover our own place within the larger Story of God.
The Anglican tradition traces its roots back to the time of the Roman Empire when a Christian church first came into existence in the British Isles. Anglican actually means “English,” and refers to the church’s place of origin. The term “Anglican church” is simply a translation of the Latin phrase ecclesia anglicana and refers to the church in England.
Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury and established a center for Christianity in Britain.
From that time onward, the Archbishop of Canterbury has been honored and respected as the spiritual leader of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion.
It was also during this time that division between the Orthodox Christian Church in the East and the Roman Catholic Church in the West began. At the heart of this split was the Roman Catholic Church’s insistence on the Pope as being the head of the Church as well as the emergence of differing views on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Sadly, the two branches of Christianity reached an impasse and permanently split in 1054.
the medieval time period offered many contributions to the faith that would eventually bear the name Anglicanism. For instance, a number of the great cathedrals in England and the rest of Europe, including Canterbury and Westminster, were constructed during this time period.
At first, the English Reformation was political as much as it was theological.
In 1533, Henry selected a young priest and theologian who was broadly sympathetic to his cause, Thomas Cranmer, as Archbishop of Canterbury. This began an unusual relationship between Cranmer and King Henry. The two men used one another to accomplish their own personal goals and ambitions. The King wanted to remarry and Cranmer wanted to see Reformation come to England. The break with Rome was enacted through a series of acts of Parliament passed between 1532 and 1534, among them the 1534 Act of Supremacy, which declared that Henry was the “Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England.” This
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the English Reformation was, in part, associated with the wider religious and political reformation movement that affected all of Europe during this period.
Thomas Cranmer vigorously worked to see the Reformation come to England. Under the leadership of Cranmer, the Church of England began to embrace elements of the Reformation throughout England, but still retained many of the historic practices of the Catholic Church.
The Reformation in England has been called “Reformed Catholicism” because it embraced theology of the Reformation while at the same time it retained many of the time-honored practices of the historic Catholic tradition.
Edward VI gave his agreement to Cranmer’s initial Forty-Two Articles of Religion, which would eventually become a foundational document for Anglican doctrine and beliefs.
In March 1554, Cranmer defended his religious views against a delegation appointed by the queen. Subsequently, the Roman Catholic Church condemned his views as heretical and commanded him to recant his beliefs and declare his support for Catholicism. In an interesting turn of events, Cranmer recanted in private.
However, on March 21, 1556, Cranmer was to do the same in public, but he refused and was burned at the stake as a heretic.
At his execution, he withdrew his forced confession and proclaimed the truth of the Protestant faith. He placed his hand in the fire, the hand with which he had falsely signed his renouncement of his beliefs, and declared, “This hand hath offended!”6 The Reformation in England ultimately cost Cranmer his life, but his legacy remains. Despite his re...
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John Jewel (1522–1571), bishop of Salisbury, helped to defend the English Reformation from Roman Catholics. In his Apology for the Church of England, he argued against the supremacy of the pope and stated that the Roman Catholic Church, not the Church of England, had departed from the faith.
The Puritans in the 16th and 17th centuries believed that the Reformation in England did not go far enough and they sought to “purify” the Church of England from all Roman Catholic practices.
In 1660, Charles II came back into power and the Church of England was reestablished.
Several significant things happened in 1662. First, the Parliament passed the Act of Uniformity that required all clergy to adhere to the rites and ceremonies of the Book of Common Prayer.
Second, the Book of Common Prayer was revised. This 1662 edition of the Prayer Book is still considered authoritative to this day
This final edition completed the development of the classic Anglican Formularies (foundational documents): the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, the Ordinal, the Books of Homilies, and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion.
“The liturgy continues to ground me. Whether it’s by its prayers or by its lectionary readings, or by how it has created a rhythm of life, I feel that for once in my life I know what solid ground feels like. My solid ground is not just faith, it’s not just liturgy, it’s not just Scriptures. It’s all those, but it’s also the shoulders of the saints that have gone before, the shoulders of the saints living now, and (mysteriously) it’s the shoulders of the saints that will come after me.” -Demelza Ramirez
influential group known as the “Oxford Movement” sought to recover the Catholic thought and practice of the Church of England. Centered at the University of Oxford, the proponents of the Oxford Movement believed that the Anglican Church was by history a truly “catholic” church. They believed that Anglicanism was one of three historic branches of Christianity, including Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism.
Although it started in England, Anglicanism has become one of the world’s most multicultural and multiethnic churches, having grown into a worldwide family of churches.
Anglicanism has more than eighty million adherents spreading across 165 countries, making it the third largest body of Christians in the world.
The “Anglican” movement in the sixteenth century was a return to the pure and simple faith of Christianity as embodied in the Holy Scriptures. —W. H. Griffith Thomas
a right belief is a belief that agrees with the whole of Scripture and the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. This is especially true regarding the core doctrines of the Trinity and the Church.
Our orthodoxy—right beliefs—are important for discipleship because orthodoxy is directly connected to orthopraxy, our “right action.” The practical application of a belief is an action taken in response to or based on that belief.
Since the earliest of times, Christians have believed the teachings of the Bible and recited the creeds during times of prayer and worship to remind them of the faith they professed, the faith handed down to the apostles and guarded by the church to the present day.
Anglicans do have a unique set of beliefs that embraces the best of the ancient Christian faith and the Protestant Reformation.
Anglicanism’s chief glory is to present and embody the faith of the church catholic—downwind of the Reformation, with a robust understanding of justification by faith in tow—in such a way that Anglicans may be confident that they are adhering to the same apostolic teaching and inhabiting the same ecclesial order as their earliest forebears in the faith did. . . . We are distinctive precisely by aiming not to be distinctive. Our theology is the theology of the early church, the era of the Fathers, the best of the medieval world and the Reformation—all set decently on the table in our prayer
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Rather than reinventing the faith, Anglicanism reminds us that we need to get back to the foundational truths of Christianity, back to orthodoxy.
believers must revisit the faith and doctrines of the early church as found in the Holy Scriptures and the historic creeds.
Anglicanism has common beliefs, a corporate confession, and a corporate affirmation of faith that forms our faith and gives us a foundation to stand in the midst of a changing world.
Anglican Christianity is unified by its center, not by its boundaries. In particular, the three creeds of the church (the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed) constitute the core of Anglican belief.
A creed is a brief statement of faith used to summarize Biblical teaching, clarify doctrinal points, and distinguish truth from error.
Bible contains a number of creed-like passages (see Deuteronomy 6:4–9; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 15:3–4; 1 Timothy 3:16).
The historic creeds offer us a concise summary of authentic Christian beliefs. They contain essential Christian doctrines (e.g., the divinity of Christ, the virgin birth, the Trinity) common to the majority of Christians. It is through our common faith in these essentials that Anglicans can seek unity with other Christians. Our creeds guard the faith, but they do not limit the leading of the Holy Spirit. The common ground of faith established by the creeds allows us to move forward together into the world to fulfill the mission of God. Because of their importance, the creeds fill the pages of
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the Apostles’ Creed accurately reflects the teaching of the apostles—the apostolic faith.
