What is an Anglican?

An Anglican is any Christian who belongs to either the Church of England or one of its daughter churches. In the 1500s, the English Church separated from Rome due to perceived corruptions of the faith instigated by the papacy. A major point of contention was the belief that each national church should govern itself without foreign bishops' involvement, specifically the Pope. The Church of England became self-governing under the King of England's governorship.

After the separation of Great Britain and the American colonies in the 1700s, the Protestant Episcopal Church was formed with its own bishops and ecclesiastical structures, independent of the mother church. The Episcopal Church became one of these daughter churches, in communion with the Church of England but with autonomy as a national church.

In 1873, Bishop George David Cummins left the Episcopal Church and formed the Re-formed Episcopal Church due to concerns about the church's direction. In early 2000s, after deacades of apostasy in the Episcopal Church, the Reformed Episcopal Church, along with Orthodox factions of the Episcopal Church, joined to form the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). The ACNA is in full communion with Anglicans worldwide and enjoys recognition by over 85% of the Anglican Communion as the true successor of the Anglican tradition in North America.

While the Reformed Episcopal Church is a founding jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in North America, we do still maintain our own identity and structures. The REC is known as a subjurisdiction of the ACNA and we are happy to be partnering with the rest of the ACNA for the sake of Orthodox Anglicanism in North America.

Are we Catholic?

We are not Roman Catholic. In the 1500s, under the leadership of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the Anglican Church split with the Bishop of Rome (the pope) and was restored to a state of autocephaly (independence), which was how we had initially existed until the Norman conquest in 1066 AD.

We are commonly called Protestants, but we are distinctive from Protestants in many significant ways. Unlike most Protestants, we have maintained the historical episcopacy (Rule by Bishops), which can be traced back to Jesus and his apostles. We have also maintained certain elements of Catholic worship practices in our liturgy, such as the use of vestments, incense, images, and bells.

However, like all Protestants, we affirm the doctrine of justification by faith, reject papal supremacy, and affirm the doctrine of sola scriptura. Some have gone so far as to call us a middle way (the via media) between Protestantism and Rome. Others call us Reformed Catholics. At Good Shepherd, we are simply happy to be called Anglican.

Is the Reformed Episcopal Church Calvinistic?

No, we are Anglicans. Anglicanism is a distinctive tradition in its own right. While some Anglicans might claim that the English Church is Calvinistic, the great Anglican theologian Richard Hooker went to great pains to demonstrate that Anglicanism was a middle way between Luther and Calvin. Large portions of the 39 Articles of Religion were borrowed from the Augsburg (Lutheran) Confession.

The word 'Reformed' in our name does not denote Calvinistic theology. In fact, when we first separated from the Episcopal Church in 1873, our founders were more Wesleyan in their doctrine. The word 'reformed' in this context simply means reconstituted or reorganized.

In the 1990s, after a century of confusion related to the REC's identity, our former presiding bishop, Bishop Leonard Riches, led the REC into a period of Anglican renewal. The 39 Articles were reaffirmed, the traditional prayer book was replaced, and the REC was restored to its Anglican heritage.

Are Anglicans liberal?

We get asked this a lot. The terms liberal and conservative aren't really appropriate when discussing church matters. However, Anglicanism in both North America and the United Kingdom has gained a reputation for being very liberal, both theologically and politically. This is not representative of the majority of Anglicans worldwide, though.

The Anglican Church is growing fastest in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, where Anglicans are decidedly orthodox in their theology, which means they tend to be very conservative politically. The Reformed Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church in North America represent this form of Anglicanism.

Although we try diligently to avoid engaging in secular politics, we are orthodox and traditional in our theological commitments. This means we are unapologetically pro-life, believe firmly in the traditional understanding of marriage, and seek to be good citizens of our cities, states, and nation. While many churches are defined by their political engagement, Good Shepherd will engage only in the politics of King Jesus.

Wasn't the Anglican Church founded so Henry VIII could get a divorce?

No. The English Church, or ecclesia anglicana, predates King Henry by about 1400 years.

Christianity came to England early in the 2nd century. According to tradition, St. Joseph of Arimethia brought the gospel to the Britons immediately after our Lord's ascension, though that is frequently dismissed as legend. It is likely that Christianity came to England via traders and Roman soldiers stationed there when Britain was a Roman colony.

Regardless of its origins, though, Celtic Christianity was its own brand of spirituality, distinct from that of the Romans. It wasn't until the Norman Conquest in 1066 AD that the English Church finally came under the authority of the Bishop of Rome. Even then, though, the English Church maintained its independence from Rome.

In 1215, the landed barons and clerics of the church got together to sign the Magna Carta, asserting the independence of the ecclesia anglicana from Rome. There are those who will argue that was not what was intended, but that's how the Pope saw it, because he elected to excommunicate every baron, bishop, and cleric who signed the document. Henry was simply returning the church to its independent state and asserting the truth that no foreign power has authority over the English or their church. As the 39 Articles state, "the Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this realm of England."

But what of divorce? That's not what Henry was looking for. He wanted an annulment, and he had a pretty good justification for requesting it, but due to the political climate of the time, the annulment was denied, and so he broke with Rome as a result. This was not the founding of a new church, however, but rather the reformation of an already existing church, the ecclesia anglicana.

What do Anglicans believe about salvation?

We believe that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus, not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9). From start to finish, our salvation is a work of God's grace towards us, mediated through means, specifically word and sacrament. When the word is preached, those whom God has called, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, believe and are saved.

But what does it mean to believe? For many modern Christians, belief is conflated with choice. In other words, to believe is to have made a decision. It means to give mental assent to a certain base-level list of facts. This excludes the possibility of young children and those in mental darkness from the possibility of believing, which is deeply problematic from a theological perspective.

Biblically, however, faith is more closely connected with allegiance and trust. The word faith itself, in the original language of the scriptures, is often rendered faithfulness. Its use in the first century denoted the following of a cause or a person. The reformer Martin Luther bases his argument for infant faith on this meaning.

It logically follows then that with this understanding of the word, children can be taught to give their allegiance to any number of things: their family, their dad's favorite sports team, or even our Lord Jesus Christ.

This also has implications for how we live out our salvation in everyday life. It is undeniable that salvation from start to finish is a gift of God's grace, but then we come to verse 10, which says, 'For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in...' Grace creates faith and faith begets works.

So while the reformers were right to argue that we are justified by faith alone, justifying faith is never alone. At the end of the day, though, even those works were prepared beforehand by God and flow from His grace.

Are Anglicans born again?

The term 'born again' means different things to different people. When a revivalist uses the term, they're asking if someone has had a conversion experience. However, classical reformed Christians, such as Anglicans and Lutherans, believe that the new birth is tied to baptism.

In John chapter 3, Jesus says that to enter the Kingdom of God, one must be born again of water and the Spirit. We take the reference to water in this context to clearly speak of baptism. So, yes, Anglicans are born again in their baptisms. The prayer book actually says that baptism accomplishes three things: it creates, sustains, and strengthens faith. The Reformer Martin Luther called baptism 'the word (gospel) mixed with water.' You could say that it is the gospel in liquid form.

Now, this does not mean that all who receive the sacrament are assured of Heaven. The Christian must live their baptism out in their daily lives by faith. This might be where experience comes into focus. A person who is baptized but lives a scandalous life or later commits apostasy can not have the assurance that the sacraments give.

Conversion of the heart is of great importance to Anglicans, but we do not connect Conversion of the heart with the new birth in the same way that modern American Evangelicals understand it. We believe, along with the ancient church, that God works through physical means (word and sacrament) to accomplish salvation in the Christian's life. Whereas the modern Evangelical church believes that God accomplishes this outside of the sacramental means. On some level this is simply a difference of emphasis. Regardless, though, both Anglicans and Evangelical Christians agree that it is ultimately our faith in Christ that makes us free.

So yes... while we understand these things in different ways from our revivalist brothers and sisters every faithful Anglican can gladly affirm that they are born again.

Why do Anglicans baptize infants?

We baptize infants for two reasons. Firstly, it has been the practice of the church since very early times to admit the infants of baptized Christians into the church through the rite of baptism. Secondly, we believe this to be wholly consistent with the testimony of Scripture.

Anglicans understand salvation in terms of a covenantal relationship between God and man. The model for this relationship is set for us in the Old Testament, where God covenants with Israel through the making of the promise and the giving of a covenantal sign of that promise, which is circumcision.

In Colossians 2:11-12, St. Paul makes the connection between circumcision and baptism. He writes, "In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead." We believe that this connection was intentional on the part of St. Paul and that the clear sign of the new covenant has to be baptism. The question, though, is whether the covenant sign belongs to children or not.

In Acts 2:39 after calling the people of Jerusalem to faith in Jesus St. Peter says, "The promise (the gospel) is for you and your children..." If the covenant promises are for us and for our children as well, should not pur children also be given the covenant sign? This was the practice in the old covenant so we believe that it should be the practice in the new as well.

But what of faith? Doesn't a child need to believe? It depends on what you mean by the word. Modern American Evangelicalism conflates the word believe with knowledge, but belief and knowledge are two distinct concepts in the Scriptures. To believe is a question of allegiance. Who do we trust in? Can an infant trust? Absolutely! As the Reformer Martin Luther points out all an infant can do is trust. They trust their fathers to protect them, their mothers to provide for them. Why could the child not also trust in their savior to save them?

If you were to ask many Anglicans when they became Christians they would tell you that they've always been Christians. That they were raised from day one believing in Jesus. That's why we baptize infants!

What is the gospel?

The word gospel comes from the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, from which we get the words evangelical, evangelism, and evangelist. It literally means "the good news." But what is this good news?

In the first century, when the New Testament was written, the word εὐαγγέλιον (gospel) had a close relationship with royal decrees, specifically ascension proclamations. When a new emperor ascended to the throne, the εὐαγγέλιον was proclaimed to all the people.

Why did Jesus use this word to describe his message? It's because Jesus was proclaiming exactly that about himself. The Christian gospel is the good news that Jesus is King and that he has come to redeem all his people. That's just as bold a statement in the year 2025 as it was in 33 A.D.

Now of course that has implications for how we live our lives and what happens to us when we die, but it is the proclamation of Jesus' Kingship through which all of those things flow. Our justification, our sanctification, and our future glorification all hinge on this central truth of Christianity.

Can children receive the Eucharist at Good Shepherd?

Any Christian baptized in the triune name of God and in good standing with their local church can receive the Eucharist at Good Shepherd. This includes children of any age, as long as their parents are in agreement with the practice.

The communion of children is a controversial topic in many traditions. While not all Reformed Episcopal Churches practice it, Good Shepherd's policy has always been to leave this up to the conscience of the parents.

The communion of children was the practice of the early Church and has continued in the Eastern Church up to the present day. While most modern American Protestants follow the practice of the late medieval Roman Catholic Church by waiting for the child to reach some ill-defined 'age of accountability,' we have elected to err on the side of the Church Fathers by encouraging the children of the parish to be full participants in every aspect of parish life.

Why does the REC believe in a male-only priesthood?

There are three reasons we believe in a male-only priesthood: Scripture, reason, and tradition.

Scripture clearly states that a priest should be the husband of one wife (1 Timothy 3:1-7). St. Paul, the author of 1 Timothy, takes for granted that a priest would be a man. Additionally, Numbers 3:10 says, "And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office…" If the Christian priesthood is a continuation of the Aaronic priesthood, then it would logically follow that only men would be admitted to Holy Orders.

Then there is the testimony of tradition. Until very recent times, the church has only ordained men with the understanding that the priest acts in persona Christi, or "in the person of Christ." In other words, when the priest acts, it is Christ, not the priest himself, who ministers to the congregation.

This brings us to reason. If Christ, the God-man and bridegroom of the church, is a man, then it follows that the priest acting as His representative to the church (the bride of Christ) must also be a man. A woman acting in that role confuses the natural marital relationship between Christ and His bride.

This does not mean that women are inferior to men or that women cannot minister in their own ways. However, the priest, having a uniquely Christlike relationship to the Church, must be a man.

None of this has anything to do with secular views of masculine and feminine relationships. Feminism does not factor into the equation. This is simply the way in which our God has decided to order the church, and it is incumbent upon all of us to submit to the received will of God.

At Good Shepherd, and in the wider REC, women play a vital role in the church. From teaching Sunday School to hospitality and the ministry of mercy, our women play a distinctive and crucial role. The priesthood, however, is not one of those roles.

Why do we burn incense?

Because the Bible tells us to. In Exodus 30, God instructs Aaron, the first high priest, to offer sweet-smelling incense every morning when he tends the lamps. In Revelation 5:8, we are given a glimpse into heavenly worship, and we see the elders with gold bowls filled with incense. In Revelation 8:3-4, an angel is given a censer with incense to offer. As Anglicans, we believe worship should be modeled after these visions of heavenly worship. Therefore, we cense the altar, the people, and the priest in accordance with what the Scriptures reveal to us.

What is a feast day and why do Anglicans keep them?

Liturgical feasts are a tradition of the church with a basis in the Old Testament. The people of Israel kept feasts throughout the year to commemorate important events in the communal life of God's people. Likewise, the Christian Church keeps feasts to commemorate the events of the gospel, the birth of biblical figures (natal feasts), and the death of saints.

While most Protestants have dismissed the liturgical year, with maybe the exception of Christmas and Easter, Anglicans have always had a robust liturgical calendar. In addition to biblical feasts (such as Christmas, Easter, and the Epiphany, etc.) we also commemorate Saints both in the wider church and within our reformed catholic heritage (including Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, and others).

An Anglican feast day consists of Church attendance, quiet contemplation, and time spent in celebration with family and friends. We do not worship or pray to the saint in question, but rather we give thanks for their earthly witness and ask God to use the lives of Holy individuals to teach us how to live the Christian life.

The feasts and fasts of the church cake are important to Anglicans because it is the gospel articulated in time. While the majority of the world marks their days by the secular calendar with Mattress sales and bank holidays, the Anglican Christian is marking time in commemoration of the life of Jesus and the Church.

Do we pray to the saints?

Some Anglicans, specifically those identifying as "Anglican Catholic", do offer prayers to the saints, but the authoritative position of the Anglican Church is that the invocation of saints (prayers to the saints) "is a vain thing based upon no warrant of Holy Scripture." In other words, we see no biblical reasons to do so in the context of our public worship.

However, we do believe that the saints intercede for us in a general way, in accordance with St. John's Revelation (Revelation 5:8). So, instead of praying to the saints, we believe that we are praying with the saints. As St. Paul says, "we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses..." (Hebrews 12:1). We believe that when we come in prayer and worship we are united with this cloud of witnesses in our general prayers and supplications to God the Father.

This is a great comfort for those who mourn, because it acknowledges the fact that for the Christian death is not the end and that despite our physical separation from those that have passed on before us we are still very much united spiritually in our common cause of gospel proclamation and service to Jesus Christ.

What do the terms "high church" and "low church" mean?

Historically, there were three kinds of Churchmen within the English Church, categorized as high church, low church, and latitudinarian. Other distinctive forms of Churchmanship have developed since, such as charismatic, Anglo-Catholic, and Evangelical, but these three categories remain the basis for classical Anglican belief and liturgical practice.

Latitudinarians were the early precursors to the liberal Anglicans of the 20th century, not emphasizing subscription to the 39 Articles and beginning to question the authority of scripture.

Low Churchmen tended to be more Calvinistic in their doctrinal commitments, espousing a lower view of the sacraments, believing that episcopacy was merely beneficial and not essential to the Church's validity. Many, but not all, of these low churchmen gathered to write the Westminster Confession, which became the basis for Presbyterianism. Liturgically speaking, low churchmen would only celebrate the Eucharist five times a year or monthly at the most, vesting in cassock, surplice, hood, and tippet, opposed to albs, copes, or chasubles.

High Churchmen are much closer to the Lutheran end of the reformational spectrum. They held to a high view of the sacraments, episcopacy, and monarchy. High Churchmen believed that churches without episcopacy were true churches, but that they lacked the fullness of the church due to the absence of apostolic succession. High Church worship would be much more formal and the cope would have been seen in cathedrals and on festival days.

High Churchmen are often confused with Anglo-Catholics, but there are some distinctions. It has been said that all Anglo-Catholics are high Churchmen, but not all high Churchmen are Anglo-Catholics. Anglo-Catholics tend to reject subscription to the 39 Articles of religion, whereas high Churchmen do not. High Church Anglicans believe in the doctrine of justification by grace through faith and a historical view of sola scriptura.

While these various types of Churchmen have existed together in harmony for generations, the thing that unites them all is the Book of Common Prayer. Good Shepherd Anglican Church is a parish that is firmly rooted in the tradition of the high church movement, but it is also a place where all orthodox Anglicans, regardless of Churchmanship, are welcomed to worship.

What does worship look like in an Anglican Church?

It depends on the church and their churchmanship. Some Anglicans are what we call "low church" (this is not meant to be an insult), and others are "high church." There are reformed Anglicans, charismatic Anglicans, Catholic Anglicans, and even some Eastern-rite Anglicans.

Charismatic Anglicans would be more contemporary in their worship style; the priest may or may not wear vestments, there would be a modern praise team, and the liturgy would be much less formal. Charismatic Anglicans might speak in tongues and have more exuberant sermons.

Reformed Anglicans tend to prefer hymns over praise songs; their liturgy might be formal but much plainer than a high church or Anglo-Catholic service. Reformed Anglicans emphasize preaching, so they may or may not practice weekly communion, and the sermon could take anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes, just like in a Presbyterian Church.

High Church Anglicans and Anglo-Catholics would be the most formal in terms of liturgical practice; they would sing hymns, chant portions of the liturgy, and have weekly communion. The priest would either be vested in cassock and surplice or alb and chasuble.

Good Shepherd is a high Church parish, so our worship is formal; we sing hymns and chant portions of the liturgy. Communion is practiced weekly, and the sermon (or homily) is around 15 minutes long. Don't let that fool you, though - Fr. Ricky takes both doctrine and the word of God seriously. Our sermons are rooted in the church calendar and are designed to be both deep and thought-provoking.