Anglicanism
What Is Anglicanism?
“The Anglican Communion is the third largest body of Christians in the world, and earth’s largest Protestant denomination. It’s one of the most active, growing, and fruitful fellowships of churches on the planet. In North America, new Anglican congregations are popping up on a weekly basis. Many thousands of people are joining these churches. In the mid-twentieth century, the American version of the Anglican Church was a sleepy country club. Today, it’s part of an unexpected and amazing worldwide movement of God.” — Thomas McKenzie, The Anglican Way: A Guidebook
Anglicanism formalized during the time of the English Reformation, but its roots stretch back to the ancient church. Today 70% of the Anglican Communion resides in the Global South (Africa, parts of Asia, and the Southern Cone of South America). The Anglican Communion includes over 85 million people on six continents comprising over 165 countries. Anglicans continue to grow and plant churches, starting new congregations all over the world. Sociologist Philip Jenkins estimates that there will be upwards of 150 million Anglicans by 2050.
C.S. Lewis on The Anglican Heritage
C.S. Lewis described Mere Christianity not as the lowest common denominator of faith — a watered-down version everyone can agree on — but as "something positive, self-consistent, and inexhaustible." It names the deep, shared core of Christian belief that has endured across centuries and across the many tragic divisions of the Church.
At Good Shepherd, we are a conservative-minded church that is firmly planted in that ancient faith — holding to the things the Church has always and everywhere taught, believed, and practiced (mere Christianity). We think of this as a "small-c catholicity": a generous confidence in the essentials of the faith, and an openness toward fellow Christians who, as Lewis put it, simply occupy different rooms in the same great house.
This is the kind of Christianity we're trying to live — a faith rooted in the God who made us, the Christ who saved us, and the Spirit who is even now making us new.
“To be Anglican is not to embrace a distinct version of Christianity, but a distinct way of being a ‘Mere Christian,’ at the same time evangelical, apostolic, catholic, reformed, and Spirit-filled.”
Why Anglicanism?
We don’t believe the Anglican tradition is perfect, nor do we believe any Christian tradition is. We are an Anglican church, because we believe that Anglicanism rightly balances truth with grace & tradition with reformation.
Anglicanism is grounded in Jesus Christ and the Gospel
The church is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ — his incarnation, atonement, bodily resurrection, ascension, present reign, and forthcoming return. Christ is the head and cornerstone of the church.
Anglicanism is grounded in God’s Word
Within Anglicanism, there’s a unique emphasis on the reading and studying of the Bible. We believe the Bible is truly God’s inspired Word, and that it should shape our worship, values, practices, imaginations, and our common life.
Anglicanism is grounded in the Great Tradition
Anglicanism is often referred to as the via media—the middle way between Protestantism and the ancient church. This posture demonstrates a desire to grow and reform *without* discarding the wisdom of the past. Anglicans believe that the saints of old have much to teach us still today.
Anglicanism is grounded in community—local and global
In every season of life, through celebrations and sorrows, from birth to death, from praying the Daily Office to the rhythms of the liturgical year, we aim to live our faith together, not as isolated believers, but as a community of faith.