Christianity began as an offshoot of Judaism for those Jewish believers who accepted Jesus Christ as the Messiah and their Savior. God's promise of the Messiah was always meant to be a blessing for the entire world and not just the Jewish people. In the same promise God made to Abraham, the father of the Jews, about creating a Jewish nation through him, God also states that the Jewish lineage would bring a blessing to the whole world. Christians believe that Jesus is that blessing that was promised to Abraham and everyone else. Jesus commanded that the good news of His sacrificial death, resurrection and redemption should be shared with the whole world. The early Christian church leaders soon realized that Christianity was not just for Jews and began spreading the word to Gentiles (non-Jews) as well.
The Gospel Spreads Throughout the World
Over the last 2,000 years, the message of Christianity has been spread through three major branches of the Christian Church. The Roman Catholic branch of Christianity is the successor of the church established in Rome and shares a history going back to the early church with the Eastern Orthodox branch. In 1054, the Eastern Orthodox Church separated itself from the Roman Catholic Church. Orthodox churches are largely national, each associated with a particular country. Orthodoxy is common in Russia, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, the Ukraine, and Armenia. The Protestant branch split from the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation, a sixteenth and seventeenth century series of church reforms in doctrine and practice. Protestantism eventually developed into many denominations with slight subtleties of doctrine, theology, or religious practice. However, despite differences in practice and style, all Christian churches agree that the essential Christian doctrine is a life-changing and death-defying faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
We see Christian church history not as the history of various and specific institutions, but as a history of the message of the gospel (which means good news), that Christ commissioned his disciples to spread throughout the world. It is that connection to the original message of Jesus, which has been spread through various Christian groups throughout history, that we identify with. We desire to continue to pass on "HIS-Story" as we take part in God's history.
The Anglican Communion
As Anglicans, we are part of a global communion of churches established over the centuries by the Church of England. As British Anglicans took their faith around the world, churches were established on every continent that shared the faith and practices of the Church of England – a tradition which preserves the very best of ancient early church worship while incorporating the sound doctrines that emerged from the Protestant Reformation.
British pastoral leaders encouraged autonomy and collegiality with these daughter movements, and over time, 39 separate “provinces” of the Anglican Church were established around the world. Today these provinces function in a voluntary communion based around common beliefs and practices. The leaders of each province, called archbishops, gather periodically to discuss the work of the church and to resolve issues that may arise.
Anglicans have always sought to worship God faithfully with living forms of worship. Therefore, our services and liturgies mirror the worship of the ancient apostolic church while incorporating the common language and culture of the communities in which they are practiced. Furthermore, Anglicans incorporate both ancient sacramental practices as well as visual symbols to celebrate the certainty of our faith and the mysteries of God. Together, sacrament, symbol and word, enlivened by the Holy Spirit, connect our senses with our minds and hearts. As we are finding here at The Church of the Resurrection, Anglican worship is a unique milieu for capturing the imagination of a culture that has been immersed in the images of the media and internet.
In order to remain true to the teachings of Christ and the Apostles, Anglicans have historically upheld the Holy Scriptures as God’s Word, have held to the summary of evangelical beliefs known as the Thirty-Nine Articles of Faith and have accepted the three great Christian creeds, the Apostles’, the Nicene and the Athanasian, as the fundamental statements of the Christian faith. We celebrate the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as commanded by Jesus and we uphold the historic order of Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons in the administration of the church’s life and mission.
Today the worldwide Anglican Communion is experiencing both tremendous stress and tremendous renewal. The stress comes as some provinces depart from historic Anglican (and mainstream Christian) faith and practices, and from the orthodox understanding of the Holy Scriptures. On the other hand, the renewal comes from the explosive growth of the gospel through Anglican churches and missions in many locations, particularly the “2/3 world.” (For example, there are more than 15 million Anglicans in
