Being an Anglican

Last Updated on Monday, 13 September 2010 14:51 Thursday, 18 March 2010 19:10

Being Anglican means we are part of a world-wide family of churches. Anglicans therefore can find a familiar spiritual home in Anglican churches anywhere in the world. In the USA Anglicans are known as Episcopalians.

Being part of a church wider than just our parish means we have access to a variety of cultures, programmes, training events and other resources.

As Anglicans, our origins are with the Church of England.  In the 16th century the Church of England broke its links with the Roman Catholic Church. The reasons for this with both political and religious. Political factors included problems of succession in the royal family and the independence of the national church.

There were also new ideas arising out of the Reformation which was taking place in the European church. These included worship in the language of the people, more involvement of lay people and use of the English translation of the Bible. Anglicans opted for a "middle way" between Rome and the more radical reformers like Calvin and Zwingli.

Every effort was made to include Christians of widely differing opinions within the one church. Even today there are varied expressions of Anglicanism.

The nineteenth century missionary expansion, coinciding with the development of the British Empire, spread Anglicanism throughout the world. The first New Zealand missionaries arrived in the Bay of Islands in 1817.

We are proud to be part of this tradition and to interpret it for our own time and context.

Adapted with thanks from Onslow Parish.