Simply Anglican.

This Church is "Simply Anglican". But what does it mean to be simply Anglican?

There are so many flavors of Anglicanism these days that people hardly know what it means to be Anglican.  The Episcopal Church is considered Anglican, but the vast majority of Anglicans around the world question weather the denomination can even be considered Christian any longer.  The Church of England has been considered the birthplace of Anglicanism and the center of world-wide Anglicanism.  There are Anglican churches in other part of Europe, there are Anglican churches in South America, Africa and Asia.  Anglicanism is a worldwide body of churches all holding in common a particular way of worship and faith that is at once catholic and reformed.

Anglicanism is also in a state of change.  But in order to understand the changes going on you would have to know a little of the History of Anglicanism.  Anglicanism is the historic Christian faith of the British Isles.  Christianity came to Great Britain, probably by slaves and soldiers, as early as 108 AD. At this time there was only one Catholic and Apostolic Church - there were no denominations.  In the 16th century the churches of Western Europe entered a period of reform that we call "The Reformation".  While the Reformation gave birth to "Protestantism" the Church in England took a posture of reform to correct errors that had accrued over the centuries and restore the Christian Faith as practiced by the early church.  These English reformers thought it best to take a "Middle Way" of reform rather than falling into the error of being too extreme.  They retained the forms of worship and faith passed down for over a thousand years but abandoned certain extremes and errors that the medieval Roman church had taken up and which seemed to be contrary to Scripture.  The expression of Christian faith that emerged from this period was grounded in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, retained the forms of worship that Christians used since the very beginning of the Christian Church, and retained the Apostolic order of governance by Bishops, with priests and deacons.

Anglicanism today is in a period of reform again, as is much of Christianity. Over the last 40 years some branches of Anglicanism (as well as other mainline denominations) have abandoned a historic and scriptural understanding of the Christian faith and substituted these with some modern ideas. But not all modern ideas make for a good and healthy society.  Abortion, the wide spread acceptance of divorce, gender confusion, moral confusion, and doctrinal confusion - these modern problems have found their way into parts of the Anglican Church.  For the past 40 years and more, as these ideas have found their way into the church, there have been faithful Anglicans who have wanted to preserve historic Anglicanism.  At various times they have broken with the Episcopal Church in the United states (and elsewhere) in an effort to continue to be "Simply Anglican" - faithful to the early Christian Church, Faithful to the English Reformers, and Faithful to Jesus.

Our Church is Simply Anglican.  It is historic in it's worship and government (catholic). It falls within the tradition of the Reformation and stands on the Apostolic understanding of Holy Scripture and seeks to be faithful to the same. And we seek to be faithful to Jesus in our time by sharing our faith with a broken world, reconciling people to God, and protecting the Church and Her Faith.