What Anglicans Believe

Anglicans believe in God. As Christians, Anglicans believe in Jesus Christ, through whom God can be known by anyone.

And Anglicans believe in the Holy Spirit of God, whom Jesus promised to give to all who ask.

So Anglicans believe in God the Trinity, named in baptism as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Believing like this is what every Christian tradition is concerned about. Anglicans summarise their basic beliefs in 'The Catechism' (an old word meaning 'what is to be taught'). A current Australian one can be found in A Prayer Book for Australia pages 814-818 - which the vast bulk of Christians would accept.

WHAT MAKES ANGLICANS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER CHRISTIANS?

Not much really! Like other Christians, Anglicans accept the Bible as embracing all that we need to know to be saved from sin, death and evil, and live Christian lives.

Anglicans believe that Christian life involves regular praise and prayer, both private and public, and that Christians must practise what they preach and pray - both on Sundays (the day when Anglicans normally gather for worship) and every day, as they seek to live out their worship.

Anglicans believe that people become members of God's Church through Baptism, and celebrate the Holy Communion as the meal in which they meet with Jesus.

Anglicans accept the major Creeds as expressing their Christian faith: the Apostle's Creed is the statement of faith used in Baptism, and in Morning and Evening Prayer, while the Nicene Creed is prayed in the service of Holy Communion. (You can find these in any Anglican prayer book.)

What then is distinctive about what Anglicans believe?

HISTORY

First, a strong sense of history pervades Anglican faith. Most Anglican services of worship use words and customs that blend together the old and the new. As well as reading a fair bit of the Bible in each service, many of the prayers used come from the Church of various times and places (including the present). Anglicans have a strong sense that through Christian worship the Holy Spirit joins past, future and present with eternity. Anglican priests are always ordained by bishops laying their hands on the new priest's head, as a sign of passing the responsibility of ministry from one generation to the next. Much of this history goes back to England, but today Anglicans live in many lands, and come from many cultures.

WORLD

Secondly, Anglicans believe in the world. While all too aware of wrong in the world, in people and in the churches, Anglicans believe that God continues to act in every aspect of the universe as we know it. So Anglicans characteristically expect God to be present in daily life as well as in the church. In England (but not elsewhere) the Anglican Church is deeply involved in the official life of the nation, as the 'established church'. Anglicans pray regularly for political and community leaders, about the issues of the day, and for all people in need. They believe that God is involved in every part of daily life. For example, Anglicans believe that Jesus blessed the state of marriage when he performed his first miracle as a wedding. So Anglicans believe that every family enjoys God's blessing, even if this is not acknowledged.

FREEDOM

Thirdly, Anglicans believe in freedom. With firm roots in the Bible, sacraments, creeds and ordained ministry, Anglicans are in a position to tolerate a good deal of variety about faith and lifestyle. Anglicans welcome anyone who is reaching out to God, and offer the good news of Jesus to all. Different Anglican churches have different ways of doing things, and this is respected. Though this sometimes brings tensions - for example, over the way services are conducted, or how the roles of women and men are understood - yet a recognisable ethos pervades them all.

Finally, Anglicans believe that they are part of the whole church - one, holy, catholic and apostolic. They do not see themselves as the only Christian tradition, but seek to hand on faithfully the apostolic (genuine) and catholic (inclusive) faith, always being open to reform, and longing to be one with all others who through the Spirit confess Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

By the Revd Dr Charles Sherlock

History

The Anglican Church of Australia is a member church of the Anglican Communion, that family of churches over which the Archbishop of Canterbury presides. It owes its origin to the activities of missionaries of and settlers from the Church of England and adheres to Anglican teaching and practice.

The formal establishment of the Church of England as a national church independent of the Pope, was the work of King Henry VIII in the third decade of the sixteenth Century. Its origins were political, but under Queen Elizabeth, Anglicanism as a doctrinal system distinguishable from that of other communions, both Catholic and Protestant, emerged. Its liturgical and doctrinal formularies - the Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty Nine Articles - in their settled form, date from Elizabeth's reign. Although it took a century of controversy and conflict culminating in the English Civil War, the final settlement which followed the Restoration of King Charles II remained true to its Elizabethan Settlement.

While elements of Church life in pre-reformation England anticipate some later, specifically Anglican, features, Anglicanism as such originates at the Reformation. At the same time it is a development out of, not a reaction against, historic English Christianity.

What made the English Reformation different and Anglicanism unusual was its conservatism. As a result, the post-Reformation Church of England took over a great heritage of material organisation, of custom, and tradition. In addition, it maintained its essential continuity in faith and doctrine with the Church of the early fathers as it developed from its New Testament roots and found expression in the Creeds of the Church. The centuries-old structuring of dioceses under bishops and parishes under parish priests continued to function. An ordered and uniform liturgy was prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer. The Articles of Religion are inclusive rather than exclusive with truth being sought in the joint testimony of Scripture and Tradition intelligently understood.

Attempts to impose an Anglican pattern on the Church of Scotland failed and in the Church of Ireland succeeded only to a limited extent. By the Eighteenth Century, religious passions had spent themselves, and while the challenges of Deism and rationalism were successfully met, the Church made little impact on intellectuals and the newly-emerging industrial communities. The Evangelical Revival went far to raise the levels of personal religion, but it remained for reforming bishops and supporting politicians and to the Oxford Movement to renew the institutional life of the Church of England.

ANGLICANISM IN AUSTRALIA

Members of the Church of England in the newly-independent United States organised themselves as the Protestant Episcopal Church. In the following years, the expansion of the British Empire saw bishops appointed for Canada, India and, in 1836, Australia. William Grant Broughton, the first bishop, worked hard to plant churches in new settlements beyond the early chaplaincies. The outcome of this was the creation of dioceses of the Church of England in each Australian colony.

However, this development took place in a setting of denominational pluralism. While occupying a prominent position in society, the Church of England in Australia had no formal links with the State. Hence, all the pioneer bishops had to evolve new forms of church government, typically a Synod of clergy and parish representatives. As well, lacking the endowment of its parent, Australian Anglicans had to accept responsibility for the support of their clergy, the buildings of their churches, and the development of educational and charitable institutions. This has meant that while basic parish and diocesan structures have been in place for over a century, the Anglican Church of Australia has remained a church of large responsibilities, but limited resources.

The various dioceses of the Australian Church, by and large, continue to reflect the theological emphasis of their first bishops. Apart from the largest diocese, Sydney, which remains staunchly Evangelical, Australian dioceses exhibit varying shades of Anglo-Catholicism relieved by Pentecostalism and Liberalism.

Their Anglicanism is usually defined by reference to the Lambeth Quadrilateral - that summary of essentials agreed to by the Anglican bishops in their world-wide assembly at the Lambeth Conference of 1888. This comprises four Articles:

1. "The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as 'containing all things necessary to salvation', and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith.
2. The Apostles' Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol; and the Nicene Creed, as the sufficient statement of the Christian Faith.
3. The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself - Baptism and the Supper of the Lord - ministered with unfailing use of Christ's Words of Institution, and of the elements ordained by Him.
4. The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the Unity of His Church."

By the Right Revd James Grant

Diocesan Registry 

453 Raymond Street

Sale Victoria 3850 ( P O Box 928)
Hours - 9am to 5pm - Mon. to Fri

Phone - 03 5144 2044 or 03 5144 2248
Facsimile - 03 5144 7183