WHAT IS ANGLICANISM?

First and foremost, Anglicans are Christians.  Globally, Anglicans form the third largest body of Christians in the world (around 80 million members) behind the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Anglican churches exist in more than 165 different countries.

Anglicanism is simply — to borrow a phrase from CS Lewis, who is perhaps the best representative of the Anglican church — “Mere Christianity.”

Resurrection is a member of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and the Anglican Diocese of the South (ADOTS). The ACNA is a denomination that is gospel-centered, historically-rooted, and culturally-engaged. What we believe is expressed in the ancient creeds of the undivided, universal Church (Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian) and by our theological confessions, the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion  and the Jerusalem Declaration.

But, to summarize who we are at Resurrection, we define Anglicanism simply as being:

THREE STREAMS

1. FULLY SCRIPTURAL

We are a gospel-centered church. We believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God; it is without error in its original manuscripts; and it is sufficient for salvation (2 Tim 3:15-16; 1 Pet 1:20-21). Holy Scripture is not just the Word of God, but the words of God, bearing the stamp of God’s authorship not only in its overarching story, but also in its individual parts (Matt. 5:17-18). As such, Holy Scripture is not merely an artifact of history, a library of ancient but conflicting stories written by creative but ultimately flawed human authors; the Bible is instead the “living and active Word of God” (Heb 4:12), a single, coherent and consistent story of redemption, written by God himself, meant to lead us to faith in Christ and to grow our faith in him (Luke 24:25-27; 1 Pet. 2:2).

2. FULLY SACRAMENTAL

We are a historically-rooted church. We believe that worship is first and foremost about God (Ps. 95:1-11). When the Scriptures describe the church as the “body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:27), that image is not just a metaphor but a reality. Jesus is present in a unique way when God’s people come together to worship Him (Matt. 18:20), and God deserves worship that is at once reverent and personal (Exod. 25:8-9; Heb. 12:18-29). The ancient practices of the universal church (e.g., the liturgical calendar, the lectionary, corporate confession) enable us to slow down, to connect with Christians throughout the centuries and across the world, and to re-live the story of Jesus and the Church. While sermons speak the gospel, the sacraments show the gospel.

3. FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

We are a culturally-engaged church. We believe that after Jesus saves us, Jesus sends us. Gospel-centered worship leads us out into the world in gospel-centered witness (Matt. 28:16-20; Acts 1:8). Disciples are not made in a classroom, but on a playing field. Church is not the playing field, but merely the training ground (Matt. 9:35-38). For the Spirit-filled Christian, there is no such thing as being “too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good.” The more we think about the next world, the bigger difference we will actually make in this world.