Saint Michael's is a traditional Anglican church seeking both to embrace the "faith once delivered to the saints," and to advance the Kingdom of God in the way Jesus taught His disciples. We are a "catholic" Church in the sense that we believe that in Christ all believers are united. Further we embrace all that Christ has passed on to the Apostles, all things germane to the Apostolic and Early Church. We are a "reformed" Church in that we are identified with the English Reformation.
In the 1500’s, the original jurisdiction of the Anglican Church was re-established under the Archbishop of Canterbury. Therefore, as a "Reformed Catholic" church, traditional Anglicanism is defined by two foundational formularies: the pre-1979 Book of Common Prayer (to include the Ordinal, or ordination services) and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion. These formularies are bound together in the American 1928 Book of Common Prayer. What these Formularies present to us - as summarized for the laity in the late 16th century - is a simple "1, 2, 3, 4 & 5".
The traditional Anglican Way is based upon ONE Canon of Scripture with TWO Testaments, whose doctrinal message is summarized in THREE Creeds (Apostles', Nicene and Athanasian); and is found in more detail in the decrees and canons of FOUR ecumenical councils [Nicea (325 A.D.), Constantinople (381 A.D.), Ephesus (431 A.D.) and Chalcedon (451 A.D.)] and by the general developments (e.g., Liturgy, threefold Ministry, Church Year, Canon Law, etc.) of the first FIVE centuries.
In summary, we believe that Christ, the incarnate Son of God, came into the world first to reveal to mankind who God is, and to redeem mankind out of his fallen condition due to sin. We believe the Bible to be true in all that it speaks, and the final authority to which we may appeal respecting doctrine and life. We further believe that the Holy Scriptures apply to all areas of life. The Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, and the Thirty-nine Articles continue as our formularies, our expression of what we believe the Bible to teach concerning the basic faith of the Church. For a more detailed discussion on the history of the Anglican Church, please follow this link.
So, if you are looking for a church in the classic Anglican Tradition, we invite you to consider making Saint Michael's your church home.
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| Warden Dave Mahar and Minister-in-Charge Robert Hawkins |
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| A few of us at Low Sunday before the altar.... a growing community of 1928 Prayer Book Anglicans! |
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