What Anglicans believe, and how they worship

What Anglicans believe

Anglicans describe their church as both catholic and reformed: catholic because it keeps the creeds, the sacraments and the historic ministry of bishops, priests and deacons; reformed because at the Reformation the Church of England put the Bible and the liturgy into the language of the people and made Scripture the test of doctrine. The Anglican Church of Canada, in its Solemn Declaration of 1893, commits itself to the doctrine, sacraments and discipline of Christ as commanded in Scripture and received by the Church of England in the Book of Common Prayer.

The classic Anglican statement of belief is the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (1571), printed at the back of the Prayer Book. Article VI says that “Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation,” so that nothing may be required as an article of faith that cannot be proved from it. The Articles affirm the Trinity, original sin, justification by faith (“a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort”) and two sacraments ordained by Christ, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Anglicans baptize infants as well as adults. They believe Christ is truly present and received in Holy Communion “after an heavenly and spiritual manner,” without defining exactly how.

Anglicans often say their theology is shaped by Scripture, tradition and reason together, and that what they believe is best seen in how they pray. Anglicanism holds together a wide spectrum: evangelical parishes that stress preaching and personal conversion, Anglo-Catholic parishes that stress sacrament and ceremony, and a broad middle. The Anglican Church of Canada ordains women as priests and bishops and, in many dioceses, marries same-sex couples; some Canadian Anglicans who dissented from these developments now worship in the Anglican Network in Canada, part of the Anglican Church in North America.

Worship: what a service is like

Most Anglican parishes celebrate the Holy Eucharist as the main Sunday service. The order comes from one of two books: the Book of Common Prayer (the 1962 Canadian edition, in traditional “thee and thou” English) or the Book of Alternative Services (1985) in modern language. Either way the shape is the same week to week: a hymn and greeting, a collect (a short prayer for the day), readings from the Old Testament, a Psalm, an Epistle and the Gospel, following the Revised Common Lectionary, a sermon of about fifteen minutes, the Nicene Creed, prayers of the people, confession and absolution, the exchange of the peace, and then the Eucharistic prayer and communion. A blessing closes the service, which runs about an hour.

Anglican worship is congregational and bodily: people kneel or stand to pray, sit to listen, and say the responses. The clergy wear robes, and the altar hangings follow the colours of the church year. Music is often organ and choir with hymns from Common Praise, though many parishes also use contemporary songs. All baptized Christians who receive communion in their own church are welcome to receive; others may come forward for a blessing. Coffee hour afterward is very nearly a sacrament of its own.

How Anglican churches are organized

Anglicans are episcopal, meaning governed by bishops. A parish is led by a priest, called the rector or incumbent, alongside two churchwardens and an elected parish council; the annual “vestry” meeting of members approves the budget and elects leaders. Parishes belong to a diocese under a bishop; Anglican parishes across Wellington County belong to the Diocese of Niagara, based in Hamilton. Dioceses are grouped into four ecclesiastical provinces, and the national General Synod, led by the Primate of Canada, meets every three years. The Anglican Church of Canada is a self-governing member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, in which the Archbishop of Canterbury is first among equals but has no authority over the Canadian church. Since 2001 it has been in full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

Compared with Reformed churches

Anglicans and Reformed Christians are cousins from the same sixteenth-century Reformation. Both confess the ecumenical creeds, both baptize infants, both hold justification by faith, and both worship according to a set order with confession of sin, readings, sermon and blessing. The Thirty-Nine Articles and the Belgic Confession say strikingly similar things about Scripture, and an Anglican used to the Prayer Book Psalter will find a congregation that sings all 150 Psalms quite natural.

What would feel different in a Canadian Reformed service: there are two services each Sunday rather than one, the sermon is longer and carries more weight than the sacrament, and one sermon works through the Heidelberg Catechism. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated several times a year rather than weekly, after public profession of faith. There are no bishops or vestments; a council of elected elders and deacons leads the church with the minister, and the Three Forms of Unity (Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dort) function as a binding confession rather than historical formularies. Singing is almost entirely Psalms to Genevan tunes with organ. Anglicans are warmly invited to visit the local Canadian Reformed church.

Further reading

• Anglican Church of Canada
• The Book of Common Prayer (1962) — includes the Thirty-Nine Articles and the Solemn Declaration
• The Book of Alternative Services (1985)
• Diocese of Niagara — the diocese that includes Wellington County
• Prayer Book Society of Canada — background on the Prayer Book tradition