ANGLICANISM

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Anglicanism is best understood as embodying seven distinctives. 

None of these are exclusive to the Anglican Church, but together, they express the heart and practice of our tradition.

We are part of the multi-ethnic, multi-national, multi-cultural Anglican Communion that is historically rooted in the English Reformation. Specifically, we are a mission of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic in the Anglican Church in North America. As Anglicans, we want to express the liturgy of The Book of Common Prayer in a way that beautifully engages us, our children, and our neighbors.

We receive the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the Living and abiding Word of God (1 Peter 1:23). We joyfully submit to the Bible as the highest authority in all things.

A Sacrament is an encounter with God through something material. We believe that all of creation is sacramental, in that it is intended to communicate God’s love and presence. The Sacraments are the worship practices commanded by Jesus for the building up of the Church through communion with God. We celebrate the sacraments of Baptism and The Eucharist (also called Holy Communion).

We root our identity in the historical ministry of Jesus and his Apostles who first received the Holy Spirit. We acknowledge both the good and bad of Church History as our heritage and draw on the vast reservoirs of time-test spiritual and worship pratices. We are not doing something new. We are doing something ancient in this time and place and seeking to apply the great tradition as we love God and love our neighbors.

Liturgy is embodied worship: a series of Biblically based and historically rooted movements which gather our worship together. These movements invite us to respond to God together through prayer, confession, Scripture, and sacrament. Our weekly Worship Service uses the Liturgy from the 2019 ACNA Book of Common Prayer. 

We receive the historic creeds of the Church, which proclaim the central tenents of Biblical Christianity. In regards to the fundamentals of the faith, as expressed in the Holy Scriptures, we believe what the Church has always believed. We hold to the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasius Creed.

We are part of the multi-ethnic, multi-national, multi-cultural Anglican Communion around the world. The ACNA is a member province in the Global Anglican Futures Conference (GAFCON), a global movment of Anglicans committed to the centrality of the Bible and to the Spirit-empowered mission of the church. 

We acknowledge the presence, activity, and power of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, in the Chruch throughout history, and in the lives of believers. Our worship and theology cultivates an openness to the mystery of the Holy Spirit. Some Anglicans practice the ‘Gifts of the Spirit’ as descibed in places like 1 Corinthians 12, while others do not.