We are in the season of Lent

Beliefs & Tradition

Image: Arcabas

We believe that our postures 
are just as important as our positions

How we hold our beliefs matters just as much as what we believe.

We hold to positions that are central to historic Christian faith
And yet, we are also committed to loving postures towards people,
especially those who disagree in debatable matters

Creeds

We desire to receive the faith taught by Christ, revealed in the Scriptures, handed down from the first apostles, and embraced by the church for 2,000 years. With Christians everywhere, we affirm our belief in historic Christianity as summarized in the two historic creeds: the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. These creeds summarize the Biblical witness to who God is and what he is doing, and serve as our framework for interpreting the Scriptures.

Confessions

Scripture speaks clearly to more than just what’s contained in the Creeds.  As a church rooted in the Anglican tradition, we affirm the 39 Articles as the historical confession of our belief. To go deeper, we recommend the Jerusalem Declaration as an expression of the belief of our global Anglican family as well as a few key beliefs from the 39 Articles below.
Key Beliefs
The Trinity: The mystery of the Holy Trinity, namely, that the one God exists eternally in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and has so revealed Himself to us in the Gospel.

The Lord Jesus Christ: The full deity and full humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, the Word of the Father, who by reason of His birth of the Virgin Mary, sinless life, atoning death, bodily resurrection, glorious ascension, and triumphant reign, is the only Mediator between God and humanity.

The Holy Scriptures: The trustworthiness of the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments as “God’s Word written,” which contain all things necessary for salvation, teach God’s will for His world, and have supreme authority for faith, life and the continuous renewal and reform of the Church.

Justification & Sanctification: The justification of the repenting and believing sinner as God’s gracious act of declaring them righteous on the ground of the reconciling death of Christ, who suffered in our place and rose again for us: and sanctification as the gracious continuing activity of the Holy Spirit in the believer, bringing them to complete repentance, nurturing the new life implanted within them, transforming them into Christ’s image, and enabling them to do good works in the world.

The Christian Church: The Church as the Body of Christ, whose members belong to the new humanity, and are called to live in the world in the power of the Spirit, worshiping God, confessing His truth, proclaiming Christ, supporting one another in Love, and giving themselves in sacrificial service to those in need.

Spiritual Gifts and Ministry: The calling of all Christians to exercise their God-given gifts in ministry, and to work, witness and suffer for Christ; together with the particular calling of ordained ministers who, by preaching, teaching and pastoral care, are to equip God’s people for His Service, and to present them mature in Christ.

The Sacraments: The sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion as “visible words” which proclaim the Gospel, and as means of grace by which faith is strengthened. In particular, the significance of the Lord’s Supper as a communion in the Body and Blood of Christ, who offers Himself to us, so that by faith we may feed on Him in our hearts and offer ourselves to Him in gratitude for our salvation. Also, the openness of the Lord’s Table as the place where all baptized believers, being one in Christ, are free to celebrate their common salvation in the Lord, and to express their common devotion to His person and His service.

The Return of Christ: The personal return in glory of our Lord Jesus Christ at the end of this age for the resurrection of the dead, the glorification of His church, and the renewal of the whole creation.

Debatable Matters

Sometimes, Scripture does not speak clearly to something we care deeply about. Examples might include political affiliation, scientific understandings of origins, the particularities of baptismal practice, and more. At Trinity, we seek to be “simply Christian,” welcoming a diversity of opinion on unclear topics, and encouraging love and mutual understanding where secondary beliefs differ. We actively practice staying in the room with difference, seeking fruitful dialogue rooted in what God has clearly revealed in Scripture.

Anglicans & Tradition

Bad tradition is the dead faith of living men.
Good tradition is the living faith of dead men.
 
For 2000 years people have been living, reflecting, and walking out their Christian faith across the globe. Anglicans value that – we don’t throw it away just because it comes from a different century or culture. (In fact, we find this keeps us from being blinded by our own culture!) When it doesn’t go against Scripture, Anglicans are glad for the help from past brothers and sisters and the deep wisdom they have left us. After all, "Tradition is not the preservation of ashes but the preservation of fire.” (Gustav Mahler) So when we want to examine something, we don’t just look for a verse in the Bible. We also wonder “how did people in the 6th century interpret this? – is there something that they saw that I can’t see?” That’s called good tradition. It flows from that great cloud of witnesses who are cheering us on.

Anglicans & Liturgy

You’ll notice a few things about our church service: we follow a pattern of prayers and scripted words. This is called our ‘liturgy’ which literally means the work of the people. When we come to church, we believe we are privileged to be given something to do – not just sit there! We stand, we sit, we kneel, we offer our whole selves and our whole bodies to God. This is our ‘gospel aerobics’ and it doesn’t change much. Rest assured that no one is grading you on your participation. We are all students here – learning to live the liturgy takes a lifetime. At first, it might feel uncomfortable, like a new pair of shoes. C. S. Lewis says that good church services shouldn’t entertain us or change much – because then our focus becomes on the ‘change’ or on the novelty. Rather, a good church service, he says... 

Anglicans & Communion

Anglicans take communion every week. Yes, you heard me: every week. This is because we are a church that was founded during the Reformation, when traditional church practices were getting a scrubbing and some were even kicked out. But not communion. The high point of an Anglican church service is communion, when all that we have just heard and done climaxes in Jesus nourishing us for the week ahead. And although this is a sacred moment, it is also a joyful one in which we are thankful that God cares not just for our minds, but our hearts and bodies. (Remember – when Jesus left earth, he didn’t leave us with a book to read but with a meal). While many people associate frequent communion with Catholic churches, it was actually the Reformers who insisted that it be celebrated weekly. 

Anglicans & Church Calendar

For those of us who live by children’s academic calendar (or the football calendar), the “church calendar” seems strange. Why would we tell time differently? Is this in the Bible?
 
The Church Calendar beckons us to a new way of telling time that helps us live deeply into the Jesus story, year after year. It is not an “addition” to our salvation – it is walking out our salvation by participating in the events of Jesus’ life that now, mysteriously, are becoming part of our own. 
 
The Greeks had two words for time: chronos and kairos ...

Anglicans & Infant Baptism

An Anglican’s response to the question about infant baptism is the following: why wouldn’t you baptize your children? Baptizing babies is not superstition (or a disregard for Scripture) – it is a sacred way to celebrate God’s grace and faithfulness to families that originated in the very first centuries of the church – and takes its cues from God set up his covenant with Israel even before that. What we find in both the Old and New Testament is this same movement of grace: God chooses us – God pursues us – God entices us with his kindness – and we get to respond. Some churches believe that only cognitively-able adults can respond, but Anglicans have long sided with the early church (and Jesus) that children are part of the covenant, in the covenant, and have a deep capacity for Jesus.

Anglicans & (other) Anglicans

We are part of a local network of churches in a grouping called a “diocese” – like a cohort of churches. This is because (in our humble opinions) no one should attend a church where the pastor doesn’t have accountability or support! A “diocese” means that our pastor can be shepherded by another pastor, whose main job is to look after the pastors. (This shepherd’s title is called a “bishop” – ours is Bishop Ken Ross at Rocky Mountain Diocese). Now all these wonderful shepherds themselves need a shepherd. (This shepherd is called the archbishop – ours is Archbishop Foley Beach in the Anglican Church in North America). We’ve met the bishops and archbishop and they are fine ordinary fellows, who don’t have big heads, and who make it their mission to lead by serving our pastors and churches. Oh yes, and we have hundreds of thousands of Anglican brothers and sisters around the world – America is small by comparison!