Here We Stand

A Press release from the Anglican Church in America

+ + + November, 2003 + + +

About the Anglican Church

The recent consecration of a self-declared and openly active homosexual as the next Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire has been widely reported. In most news reports, the term ‘Anglican’ has been used repeatedly in reference to both the new Bishop and the Episcopal Church (ECUSA).

As the Primate (or Archbishop) of many Anglicans who are not members of the Episcopal Church, I am concerned that the general public may associate all Anglicans with the Episcopal Church and its recent actions. This is most emphatically not the case.

The word ‘Anglican’ refers to a spiritual heritage and an ancestral connection to the Church of England. Even more importantly, to be ‘Anglican’ refers to the unique balance between Evangelical and Catholic, between Word and Sacrament, associated with this branch of Christianity.

The Episcopal Church was the first Anglican Church in the United States, but it is no longer the only one. Other Anglican Churches have also come into being – as long ago as the mid-1800’s and as recently as the late 1990’s.

Most of these newer Anglican bodies came into being because of the significant changes in doctrine, worship, and practice adopted by the modern Episcopal Church (especially since the 1950’s). That pattern of change has continued, as shown by ECUSA’s recent decisions condoning homosexual and other sexual activity outside the bond of marriage.

Meanwhile, the gulf continues to widen between the Episcopal Church and traditional Anglican Christianity. It has also strained to the breaking point the relations between the Episcopal Church and its sister Churches in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Such developments have driven many Episcopalians from their Church – and have caused untold heartbreak to others.

The Anglican Church in America (ACA) is part of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), a worldwide body (established in 1991) with member churches in 19 countries totaling over 250,000 souls. The TAC is an alternative to the Anglican (Canterbury) Communion, which struggles in other parts of the world with the same issues that have recently crippled not only the Episcopal Church USA, but also many of the other so-called ‘mainstream’ churches in the Western world.

Here We Stand

The following statements reflect the ACA’s position on some issues relevant to the current crisis:

· We believe that the Holy Scriptures are the revealed Word of God, containing all things necessary to salvation, and that salvation is found only by the Name of Jesus Christ.

· We believe the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds to be sufficient statements of personal faith.

· We recognize and support the sanctity of human life, beginning at conception.

· We believe that marriage – defined as the lifelong union of one man and one woman – is God’s loving provision for procreation and family life, and that sexual relations outside of such marriage are against God’s law.

· We believe that “same-sex attraction” is a temptation to sin. Those burdened by it deserve our love and our support in efforts to overcome such temptation. They also deserve to be informed of the relevant teachings of Holy Scripture, rather than encouraged to indulge such temptations – to their own peril both physically and spiritually.

· We share with the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches an ordained ministry of male Bishops, Priests, and Deacons in Apostolic Succession. According to Scriptural standards and ancient catholic practice, clergymen may be married.

· We worship using the traditional Book of Common Prayer and Hymnal, in use by the Episcopal Church until the 1970’s.

Our Goal

Our Goal in the Anglican Church in America is to provide a safe haven for faithful and conscientious Anglicans, and to keep and share the “faith of our fathers.” Those who still think the battle for sanity and sanctity can be fought from within ECUSA have our prayers and sympathy.

On the other hand, those who have decided they can no longer, in good conscience, remain in a denomination, which has blatantly trampled upon their beliefs, and upon the historic faith of the Church, should know that they don’t need to “wander in the wilderness.” There really is a faithful Anglican Church home for them.

There are ACA parishes and missions all over the United States, with new missions starting regularly. Locations and contact information are easily obtained from the ACA website, http://www.acahome.org.

Our Prayer

O Gracious Father, we humbly beseech thee for thy holy Catholic Church; that thou wouldest be pleased to fill it with all truth, in all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, establish it; where it is in want, provide for it; were it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of him who died and rose again, and ever liveth to make intercession for us, Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

From the 1928 Book of Common Prayer