About Anglicanism
What does it mean to be Anglican?
Anglicanism is an ethos or understanding that is best caught and experienced rather than explained. Yet it is our comprehensiveness which defines us most. In all ways, we are seeking to incorporate, experience, and embody the fullness of the Christian faith.
The word “Anglican” simply means related to, or coming from, England. Anglican churches draw their identity and historical roots from the Church of England, one of the main bodies formed during the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century.
The Word & Table
Every Sunday, our service comprises two main parts: Receiving the Word of God through the public reading of Scriptures and through preaching; and receiving the gifts of Holy Communion.
In a single word...
FULLNESS.
Historical connections aside, what it means to be Anglican can be summed up in a single word – "fullness." As Anglicans, we are about the fullness of the faith in several important ways:
What do Anglicans believe?
In one sense, Anglicans have no distinct beliefs of their own. Anglicans simply believe what Christians have espoused since the times of the historic creeds and councils. These essentials are what C. S. Lewis had in mind when he wrote Mere Christianity in order “to explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times” (Mere Christianity [New York: Collier Books, 1952], vi.).
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.
However, in another important sense, Anglicans do have a unique set of beliefs that embraces the best of the ancient Christian faith and the Protestant Reformation. In an article titled “Is There an ‘Anglican Understanding’ of the New Testament?” Professor Wesley Hill said the following about Anglican beliefs:
“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 book and other formularies.”
Rather than reinventing the faith, Anglicanism reminds us that we need to get back to the foundational truths of Christianity, back to orthodoxy. Perhaps this is why the late Rev. Billy Graham told his final biographer that if he were starting all over again, "I would be an evangelical Anglican."
Still Curious?
There are many great resources out there to help you learn more about Anglicanism. The first we would commend to you is the site for the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), of which we are a part.