The most astonishing claim Christians make is that the infinite creator of the universe has spoken to us, his creatures. He has made himself known through his Holy Scriptures and ultimately in his Son, Jesus Christ. At Church of the Resurrection, we take doctrine seriously, because there can be nothing more glorious and life-giving than hearing and understanding God’s self-revelation to us. In the first section below, we give an overview of some basic beliefs. After that, we provide more resources if you are interested in a deeper discussion of Anglican beliefs.
Overview of our Beliefs
Church of the Resurrection is part of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), a young province that was born out of a desire to remain faithful to the historic, orthodox beliefs and practices of the Church. These beliefs are summarized in the 14 points of The Jerusalem Declaration. Of these, several are worth highlighting for our basic beliefs:
We rejoice in the gospel of God through which we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because God first loved us, we love him and as believers bring forth fruits of love, ongoing repentance, lively hope and thanksgiving to God in all things.
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.
We gladly proclaim and submit to the unique and universal Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humanity’s only Saviour from sin, judgement and hell, who lived the life we could not live and died the death that we deserve. By his atoning death and glorious resurrection, he secured the redemption of all who come to him in repentance and faith.
We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.
We are mindful of our responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation, to uphold and advocate justice in society, and to seek relief and empowerment of the poor and needy.
We celebrate the God-given diversity among us which enriches our global fellowship, and we acknowledge freedom in secondary matters. We pledge to work together to seek the mind of Christ on issues that divide us.
These points of belief hopefully give you a picture of who we are at Church of the Resurrection and what we hold to be important in our time. In addition to these doctrines, we rejoice in our Anglican heritage, which forms part of our DNA as a community. Like it is said in the Jerusalem Declaration, this doctrinal heritage is found in the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, the Books of Homilies, and the Book of Common Prayer (1662).
Recommended Resources
The list of resources below should provided below should provide you plenty of reading to begin your immersion in the Anglican Way. If there is a specific question you have, please feel free to reach out to us through our contact form on the website.
To Be A Christian: An Anglican Catechism - This is the approved Catechism for use in the Anglican Church in North America. It provides the most thorough account in one place of what we believe as a Church.
Anglican Compass - This site has hundreds of helpful posts introducing Anglicanism to brand new people. You can search by topic to find anything you might need..
Thirty Nine Articles Introduction Video Series - This video series from the American Anglican Council introduces what the 39 Articles of Religion teach.
Reformation Anglicanism - A book with several contributors who show the heart behind the Reformation faith in England as they explain different key doctrines of the time.
It Takes A Church To Baptize - This book is an overview of broadly Evangelical Anglican doctrine of Infant Baptism. It covers what the Bible says about Baptism, and explains our Baptism liturgy