Identity

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Matthew 16:15-20

The identity of a local church is found in Christ’s universal church which he is building. Jesus declares that the church will be built on Peter’s confession that Jesus is ‘the Messiah and, the Son of the living God.’ In establishing a new church, we are not establishing a new enterprise but a local expression of Christ’s universal project to build his church.  As such it is important that we understand the confessional position of the new church, which beginning with Peter’s declaration that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God and how it relates to the wider church. While recognizing the breadth and depth of Christ’s universal church, we will seek to establish a church within the reformed evangelical Anglican tradition, as what we believe this to be the best expression of Biblical Christianity. As such this will define our identity in terms of belief, practice and connection to the wider church.

1

Belief

The church plant will be part of the global Anglican church and our beliefs are aligned with historic Anglicanism.

As a historically rooted Anglican Church we assent to the Jerusalem Declaration of 2008. We hold to the Biblical doctrines contained in the 39 Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal.

2

Practice

The aim would be to establish a church which is not only doctrinally Anglican but also it is practice. This means recognising the value and insight of the Book of Common for public worship. While this does not mean using the BCP in all worship services, the fact that the BCP itself is written in the language of the day would suggest that it would not be appropriate language for today, however, this means worship rooted in liturgical principles which include the active involvement of the whole congregation. We seek to establish a historically Anglican church within a modern context.

3

Connection and Oversight

As an Anglican church, we are under the oversight of Bishop Andy Lines, and the connection to GAFCON and global Anglicans through the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE).

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