Anglican
What does it mean to be “Anglican”?
“Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi” which means:
“That which is prayed, is also believed, is how we live.”
Latin Axiom
What is Anglican
Doesn’t Anglican mean “Anglo”? While the name does come from “ENGLand”, (as the Anglican Church was formerly connected to the Church of England) and the Anglican Church certainly has a storied history of oppression, violence, and colonialism, by God’s amazing grace (the hymn writer of Amazing Grace was Anglican, by the way, as was his abolitionist friend William Wilberforce), the Anglican Church today is the 3rd largest communion of Christians in the world, with a membership of 80+ million people, mostly from South America, Africa, and Asia. We believe that Anglicanism is a beautiful expression on earth today of bringing together the best of what it refers to as the “3 Streams” (more below).
What does it mean to be Anglican?
History of Repentance
Former Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, Foley Beach, identified 4 marks of Modern Anglicanism:
In his address at GAFCON IV in Kigali, Archbishop Foley Beach identified “Four Marks of Modern Anglicanism”:
A Repenting Church
A Reconciling Church
A Reproducing Church
A Relentlessly Compassionate Church
The Anglican Church has a checkered history of sin, oppression and violence. By God’s grace, the Church has recognized those evils and repented. Like all of us, our stories are full of sin done to us and that we have done to others. But rather than “canceling” or “abandoning” the history, we look for God to redeem it in Christ. Today, the 80+ million members of the church are led primarily by leaders from Africa, South America and Asia. The Anglican Church in North America joined with those believers in 2008 to form the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON). Learn more about GAFCON here.
3 Streams
The Anglican Church seeks to bring together what are referred to as the “3 streams”. Those 3 streams are “Protestant” (or reformed), “Holiness” (or charismatic), and “Anglo-Catholic” (or sacramental).
We proclaim salvation by faith alone through Christ alone with our reformed brothers and sisters.
We celebrate the ongoing work and presence of the Holy Spirit with our charismatic brothers and sisters.
And we hold the traditions of the historic church in worship, devotion, and practice in the highest regard with our Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters.
“The Protestant movement recalled the 16th century Church to the primacy of the Word—written, read, preached, inwardly digested. The 18th century Holiness movement reminded the Church of God’s love for the poor. The Anglo-Catholic movement re-grounded the Church in the sacramental life of worship. All three strands are grounded in the Gospel. Each one extrapolates the Gospel in a specific direction. No strand is dispensable. Other Christian bodies have often taken one strand to an extreme. By God’s grace the Anglican tradition has held the streams in creative tension. This miracle of unity is a treasure worth keeping.”
— Dr. Les Fairfield, Church Historian