Anglican 101

So, we’re Anglican. 

I know that’s a weird and unfamiliar word to many of you.  But it’s not a weird denomination.  At all.  I promise :)

We both grew up Baptist but have been attending an Anglican church (which we LOVE) for six years.  At Wheaton, Kolby experienced and was really drawn to a more formal, historical expression of worship and so, when we moved here and planted roots, he took me a little out of my comfort zone and we visited some churches outside of the more familiar Baptist, non-denominational, and Bible churches. We visited a large Anglican church that Kolby liked a lot but was too formal for me, but it just so happened that the church was launching a new church plant nearby that was small and more casual.  We met with the pastor and his wife and heard their heart and vision for the church and furthering the kingdom of God, and we knew instantly we wanted to be in on it.  The rest is history, I guess!

So, for anyone interested in hearing more about this “Anglican” thing, read on…

[And be warned this got way longer than I intended!  But I'm never one to be short-winded, and I actually learned some stuff as I was putting this together.]

A quick summary

Anglican literally means English, and the Anglican Church simply means the Church of England.  It took on that name when separating off from the Roman Catholic Church during the reformation in the 16^th century.  Anglicanism is the largest Protestant denomination and the third largest Christian religious body in the world (after Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy). Its membership consists of 80 million people in 164 countries. Anglicanism is often referred to as the via media, the “middle way,” between Protestantism and Catholicism. Like Protestants, Anglicans understand Scripture as the final authority for teaching and preaching. Like Catholics, Anglicans embrace the traditions of worship from the ancient Church.

If it’s such a huge denomination, how on earth have I never heard of it?

The Anglican Church here in the U.S. took on the name “Episcopal,” because during the Revolutionary War, it wasn’t cool to say you were part of the Church of England.  The Episcopal Church is the American wing of the worldwide Anglican Church.  But in the last few decades the Episcopal Church started liberalizing on some theological matters, and about ten years ago a group of Episcopal churches in the U.S. decided to realign themselves with the beliefs and theology of the worldwide Anglican Church.  This group broke away from the name “Episcopal” and reverted to “Anglican.”  There haven’t been churches in the U.S. with the Anglican name until fairly recently, so you might not have even come across one yet.

You’ve probably heard of Anglicans and just didn’t know it. Many noted evangelical scholars and authors are Anglican, including C.S. Lewis, John Stott, J.I. Packer and N.T. Wright.

What do Anglicans believe?

Because Anglican is such a foreign word to many, people often ask what we believe, namely—what makes your denomination different from mine?  And I don’t really have a good answer for that because Anglicanism is anything but unique.  We don’t have a defining thing that makes us different. 

Our statement of belief is just this:  the Nicene Creed.  This statement of belief, which all Christians have adopted since it was crafted in 325 A.D., is the bare minimum standard for what it means to be a Christian.  There are lots of other topics that churches can land on either side of (how/when to baptize, women’s role in ministry, if/how to use music, etc.), but this unifying creed is the litmus test for Christianity and outlines the core beliefs of the Anglican Church.

The Via Media

Anglicans hold on to the Catholic heritage in the ancient creeds, sacraments, and the threefold ministry of deacons, priests, and bishops, but Anglicans embrace the elements of the Reformation that focus on Biblical authority, have a firm commitment to the doctrine of justification by faith, and have a missionary zeal to bring others into life in Christ.

This idea of being the via media—the middle way—means, to quote a former Anglican Archbishop, we are “at the same time evangelical, apostolic, catholic, reformed, and Spirit-filled.”  I’ve found that to be the case.  Some Anglican worship services are hard to distinguish from a Catholic service.  Others feel almost Pentecostal—lots of spontaneous prayers or raised hands during worship.  At our church, there would be some things that felt really “high church”—we recite prayers together, we serve communion every week—but there’s plenty that feels like a typical evangelical service—announcements, sermons, contemporary worship songs.

Like other protestant churches, Anglicans have a heavy focus on scripture.  Like Catholics, Anglicans have a sacramental theology, which means that we believe that communion and baptism are holy moments instituted by Jesus that express God’s grace. 

Liturgy

Patterns of worship vary widely among churches (traditional, contemporary, etc.).  Anglican churches are liturgical, which translates to “the work of the people” and just means that Anglican worship is an act of the entire congregation.  Worship in the early church was liturgical—it was not a passive experience but a participatory action and event in which the assembled people of God actively worshipped together as a Church.  Incorporating the Psalms, creeds, hymns, and verses used by the earliest Christians reminds us that we do not worship God in a historical vacuum, but are connected to God’s people throughout time.

Liturgy expresses what we believe and bears witness to the story of our faith.  My personal favorite part of this is that in this model, the sermon isn’t the headlining event.  That comes toward the beginning of the service.  Instead, everything builds to communion, where we are reminded of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and we receive his grace and forgiveness together as a body.

Baptism

I wrote a bit about this topic already when Beckett was baptized (read here). But in the Anglican Church, a person may be baptized at any age.  We commonly baptize infants as an expression of obedience and accept the grace of God on their behalf.  This tradition has its origins in Colossians 2:11-12 when Paul identifies baptism as the “circumcision of Christ,” a practice that initiated eight-day-old infant males to the covenant made by Abraham.  Infant baptism is not a substitute for a child’s eventual individual expression of faith in God and decision to turn from sin and put their trust in Jesus Christ, but rather an important sign of God's pre-existent love and adoption of them.

Eucharist, aka Communion, aka the Lord’s Supper

Eucharist is the sacramental communion between Christ and his members (1 Corinthians 10: 16). We celebrate it every Sunday and it is the focal point of the worship service.

The first Christians were Jews, and in the Jewish faith, all liturgy (public worship) is ultimately about covenant renewal.  Israel’s very existence depended upon continual renewal of her covenant with God.  The early church viewed the Eucharist in the same light.  It was not a “ritual” but a covenant with God that was continually renewed upon entering into communion with the risen Lord.  In short, for the first Christians the Eucharist constituted the Church and so became the central act of worship.

During Eucharist, we engage in the Church’s central act of praise and thanksgiving (the word “Eucharist” simply comes from the Greek word for “thanksgiving”), renew our covenant with Christ as his Church, and receive from him the fruits of his death and resurrection offered in this sacrament.

Church governance, ordination

Basically, there are two forms of church government: congregational and episcopal.  A congregational church is independent—ruling itself, electing its own leaders, and ordaining its own clergy.  Baptist, Bible and several other denominations follow this model.  Episcopal (I’m not talking about the Episcopal denomination noted above, which I know is confusing!) is a church system governed by a hierarchy of bishops.  The title bishop comes from the Greek word episkopos, which translates as overseer.  Bishops have authority over a group of churches, called a diocese.  Decisions are made with the input and recommendation of the local congregation members, but ultimately, priests and bishops—having been ordained by God to shepherd the church—have the final say.

Episcopal governance is the predominant pattern in Catholic and Anglican churches and is also common in Methodist and Lutheran churches, among others.  These churches have three types of ministers, all based in scripture (I Timothy 3:1, 3:13, 5:17, 1 Peter 5:1-3): the diakoneo (translated "deacon"), presbyteros (translated "priest"), and episkopos (tranlated "bishop").  In the Anglican tradition, deacons, priests, and bishops are ordained to particular roles, but ministry is still considered to be a vocation of all Christians.  Ordination is also considered a sacrament because it is believed that God empowers the person, through the Holy Spirit, to fulfill their particular ministry and calling. Ordination is always conferred by the laying on of hands by one or more Bishops as an outward sign of the inward reality of God's call.  In a priestly ordination, all the priests of the diocese lay hands upon the ordinand following the example of Scripture: "Neglect not the gift that is in you, which was given you with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery" (1 Tim. 4:14, Acts 8:18).

OK-that's what I've got.  Please don't hesitate to ask questions or talk about any of this further sometime!