A Beginner's Guide to the Anglican Church
This section is aimed at people who've never been inside an
Anglican church, or who are entirely new to Christianity. Perhaps you've walked
past a church and wondered what goes on inside, or perhaps you've heard a lot
about Christianity from the media and you're wondering if what you've heard is
representative of Christianity as a whole. (A lot of it isn't. The extremists
at both edges get most of the publicity, while the Anglican Church sits firmly
in the middle of the spectrum.)
This page isn't meant as a comprehensive guide to Christian belief. It's
intended to give you some background information so that - we hope - you'll feel
comfortable enough to come along to a church service and begin finding out more
about us. We welcome visitors; coming along for a look doesn't commit you to
anything.
This is part of the website of All Saints, Belmont, NSW, but most of the
information here is applicable to all Anglican churches, and much of it applies
to all mainstream Christian churches.
Please click on one of the section titles below if you want to go directly to
that section.
Introduction
1: What do
Christians Believe?
2: What
about the Anglican Church?
3: What Happens in
Church?
4: Where do I Go
from Here?
Glossary of Terms
Introduction
The Anglican Church is one of the most important Christian denominations
worldwide, with about 75 million members.
Much of Anglican worship, like that of other churches, is based on traditions
stretching back for centuries. The Anglican Church welcomes new members, but
faces a serious difficulty; to a newcomer, much of what we do in church looks
puzzling or entirely incomprehensible.
This web page attempts to explain the basics of Anglican Christian belief, and
to serve as an introduction to what we do, and why. There are sections on
general Christian beliefs, on the Anglican Church in particular, and on what
actually goes on in a church service. There is a glossary of terms at the
bottom of the page.
The most vocal Christians are often the minorities who hold extreme views, and
so the general public view of Christianity is not necessarily accurate. (Some
Anglicans are actually nice, sensible people.) Please read on - we hope you
might be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
What is the Church for? Why not be a Christian in private?
The Church fulfils three important functions. Worship is one of them. We
don't worship God because we have to, or because we're afraid of what God might
do to us if we don't. We worship God because we believe that God is a being who
fully deserves our respect and love. Worshipping God is simply the most
appropriate behaviour for the beings He has created, and a church service is an
effective and time-honoured way of carrying out this behaviour.
The second purpose of the Church is teaching. Partly this is something we do to
each other; passages from the Bible are read out in church, and sermons comment
and enlarge on them and other issues, and relate Christianity to real life. But
Christians also have a responsibility to make their own insights about God
available to the rest of the world, and an organised Church can attempt to do
this in ways that individual Christians cannot.
Our third purpose is fellowship; we are a community of people with a common
goal, supporting and strengthening each other as we work towards that goal. An
important part of Christian teaching is the need to have compassion for others,
and so this, too, is an external as well as an internal activity. The Church
provides material support for the needy, and it attempts to promote social
justice to the rest of society.
Who can come to an Anglican service?
Anyone! You don't need to be an Anglican or even a Christian to come
along. (Holy Communion, a ceremony which takes place during many of our
services, is technically restricted to baptised Christians; see section 3
below.) Attending a service doesn't commit you to anything. We will
(hopefully) try to be friendly, but that's all. You can become a Christian at
your own pace.
We don't charge membership fees. (We're always after donations, but how much
you contribute is up to you, and entirely private.) There's plenty of ceremony
in a typical Anglican church, but we don't have secret initiation rites or
anything else scary or sinister. We don't even have a dress code - people
normally dress tidily for church, but you don't have to wear a suit or a big
flowery hat.
Audience participation in an Anglican service isn't particularly strenuous. The
words of the service are provided, either in the A Prayer Book for Australia, or
an equivalent, or on a piece of paper. If you're not familiar with the service,
just sit near the back and do what everyone else does. You can stay in your
place when people go up to the altar for Communion, if you don't want to take
part in this section of the service.
1: What do Christians Believe?
(Back to Top of Page)
There are two important parts to Christian belief. Firstly, Christians
believe in a God who is an all-powerful intelligent being, existing
independently of the physical Universe, and responsible for its creation. We
also believe that God cares deeply about the Universe and all of its
inhabitants.
This belief is common to many major religions. Jews, Muslims and Christians all
worship the same God, in different ways.
Secondly, Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth (c. 6 BC to AD 27) was a
manifestation of God on Earth as a human, and that His teaching as recorded in
the Bible is therefore a direct insight into God's wishes for humanity.
Lots of people have claimed to be gods. Why do Christians believe Jesus
really was?
There are several good reasons. Firstly, He taught a path of self-denial
and caring for others, and followed these teachings Himself, and as a result He
was executed by the Romans. This is hardly the behaviour you'd expect from a
person claiming to be the Ruler of the Universe – unless He was telling the
truth.
Secondly, He was clearly not a construct of people's expectations. The Jewish
people of the time had prophecies concerning a Messiah, but they were expecting
an Earthly ruler - although with God's authority - who would kick out the Romans
and make Israel great again. Jesus was not at all what they had expected.
And yet - without once commanding an army or any material wealth - Jesus became
the most influential person in recorded history.
Finally, Jesus rose from the dead shortly after His execution, and appeared to
hundreds of his followers before returning to God. Whether you believe this or
not depends on how much weight you give to these eyewitness accounts, and to the
simple fact of Jesus’ continuing, dramatic influence on history through the
people who had known him.
So what did Jesus teach?
Jesus came not to form a new religion, but to reinforce and improve people's
existing relationships with God. His main commandments were to worship God, and
to care for other people. He said that God has very high standards - but that
God understands that we usually can't live up to them, and loves us
nonetheless. God is always willing to forgive, and let us make a clean start,
as long as we keep trying.
The very presence of Jesus shows that the God who created the universe, and who
probably knows the position and state of every subatomic particle, also cares
deeply about individual humans, and wants us to love Him and live fulfilling
lives in accordance with good moral principles.
Christians believe that when Jesus became a human, He opened the door for us to
become more closely connected with God.
Where does the Bible come in?
The Bible is the record of humanity's gradually increasing knowledge of God,
culminating in the Gospels - four accounts by different writers of the life of
Jesus.
Is every word of the Bible true? Do Christians believe that the Earth was
created in seven days?
Some do, but this is not a common view in mainstream churches. Christians
believe that the Bible was inspired by God. However, different parts of it were
written for different audiences and not all of it is intended as literal
history. Christians take the teachings of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospels,
very seriously indeed.
Is Christianity incompatible with science?
No. It can't be, because science is a self-correcting method of finding
truths about the Universe, and we believe that Christianity is one of these
truths. As a general principle, science tells us ‘what’ and ‘how’ and religion
tells us ‘why’.
What about life after death?
Christians believe that human consciousness doesn't cease when we die. We
don't know what Heaven is actually like; it's probably something well beyond our
current capacity for understanding. We believe that we will have a permanent
existence in the presence of God, in a form fuller and richer than our current
physical one.
What is the Trinity?
The short answer is; we don't know. Christians see God as having three
aspects; God the creator, Jesus of Nazareth, and the Holy Spirit, which is the
manifestation of God who we believe can still interact directly with human
beings. We do not believe that God is a sort of committee; the idea is more
that a single God appears in different forms for different purposes. In the
past, theologians have attempted to explain and codify the idea of the Trinity,
but in fact it's something which we don't fully understand.
2: What about the Anglican
Church?
(Back to Top of Page)
The Anglican Church is an organisation with branches in 164 countries and a
total of about 75 million members worldwide. The national Churches have a good
deal of autonomy, but all recognise the spiritual leadership of the Archbishop
of Canterbury (Canterbury in England, not Canterbury in Sydney), and they talk
to each other via a body called the Anglican Consultative Council. Also, all
Anglican bishops come together at the Lambeth Conference, held every ten years.
There are many differences between individual Anglican churches, but we hold
four things in common:
• The Bible as a basis of our faith;
• The Nicene and Apostles' Creeds, basic statements of Christian belief;
• Recognition of the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, and
• The historic episcopate; that is, the continuity of the line of bishops
since the time of Christ.
It has been said that the Anglican Church rests on the three pillars of Faith,
Reason and Tradition. The unique strength of Anglicanism lies in
our balance of these three aspects of our religion.
Wasn't the Anglican Church formed by Henry VIII so that he could annul his
marriage?
Ouch. Yes, it was, but leaders in the Church of England took the
opportunity to make a number of reforms which the central authorities of the
Roman Catholic Church opposed. Something like the Anglican Church would
probably have happened without Henry VIII’s political interference, but it might
have taken longer. King Henry's main concern was simply independence from Rome.
So what else changed?
At the time, there were a number of doctrinal concerns, such as the exact
nature of the Eucharist. The main practical difference between the Anglican and
Roman Catholic Churches nowadays is that the Anglicans, while maintaining a
hierarchy of priests and bishops, give much more autonomy to individual
churches. This means that, while the basics of our belief are fixed, there are
wide differences in our style of worship from parish to parish.
Is the Anglican Church male-dominated?
It's trying not to be. The Diocese of Newcastle has many female priests.
Most services and modern hymns use inclusive language. Some traditional hymns
and forms of service do unfortunately contain male-specific language which can't
be removed without damage to their poetic quality. We still often (but not
always) refer to God as ‘He’ and ‘Father’, because sadly the English language
has no suitable neutral terms other than the horribly impersonal ‘it’.
3: What Happens in Church?
(Back to Top of Page)
The core of many Anglican services is Holy Communion, also known as
Eucharist. This is a ceremony derived from the supper which Jesus held
with his followers on the night before his arrest and execution. Christians
believe that this ceremony creates a special sort of contact with God, which
helps to strengthen us as Christians.
What actually happens?
Holy Communion involves the giving out of bread and wine which has been
consecrated, or made holy, with special prayers. In some parishes real bread is
used; othersuse unleavened bread made into wafers. Normally the congregation
walk up to the front of the church and kneel at the altar rail, receiving the
bread from the priest in cupped hands. The chalice, the ceremonial goblet
containing the wine, is usually taken round by an assistant.
Won't I catch horrible diseases from sharing a cup?
Probably not, as alcohol is a disinfectant and the rim of the chalice is
wiped between uses. If you are concerned, you can hang on to the wafer and dip
this into the wine instead of drinking directly from the chalice.
Does anything weird happen when you receive Communion?
Mostly, no. People do have mystical experiences, but they are not a normal
part of Communion in most churches. (Some branches of Christianity actively
encourage them; the Anglican Church tends to be suspicious of this sort of
thing.) In general, Communion strengthens your relationship with God in the
same way as you can get to know people well by spending a lot of time with them
over many years.
Can anyone take part in this ceremony?
Officially, you have to be baptised in order to receive Communion. It
doesn't have to be an Anglican baptism; any branch of the Christian Church will
do.
The ceremony of Confirmation (a deliberate reaffirmation of the vows of baptism,
made when we're old enough to know what we're doing) still exists in the
Anglican Church, but it's no longer necessary to go through this process before
you can receive Communion.
Will I go to Hell if I don't receive Communion regularly?
We sincerely hope not! Holy Communion, like most of the Church's
activities, is a means to an end rather than an end in itself. However, the
Anglican Church believes that Communion is a valuable component of our
relationship with God.
What else happens in a church service?
Anglican services are extremely varied and flexible. Set forms of words are
available, in the New Zealand Prayer Book as well as several older equivalents,
but the use of these is optional. There is much variation in style between
individual parishes, and some parishes use different services on different
Sundays.
There are specific words to accompany Communion, and the Lord's Prayer will
normally find its way into a service. There will often be a Creed, a formal
statement of basic Christian beliefs. Most services include hymns, which may be
either traditional or modern. There will be prayers; some of these will be in
set words, but we also pray about current issues. Services also include
readings from the Bible.
And a sermon?
Quite often. We're fully aware that sermons have a reputation for inducing
sleep. This doesn't have to be the case. Some preachers are very good
speakers, adept at making Christianity relevant to everyday life.
And . . . ?
Yes, we admit it. There will normally be a collection. We need to meet
running costs and pay salaries, and the Anglican Church is also a major social
service organisation. No one will pay attention to how much you're dropping in
the basket, and you don't have to make a contribution at all. If you see any
value in what we're doing, you'll probably want to help if you can.
Why do priests wear funny clothes?
Like many of the details of our worship, this is a historical accident. A
priest's robes are based roughly on the garments worn by Roman officials in the
early days of the Church. We've added Christian symbols to them, but (being
Anglicans) we haven't actually changed anything much.
4: Where do I Go from Here?
(Back to Top of Page)
Newcomers are always welcome at any Anglican church. There are no
membership fees and you don't have to fill in any forms. Anyone can attend any
Anglican service and see what happens.
Where and when?
There is a link to the Diocese of Newcastle’s website at the bottom of this
page. It contains a lot of background information and contact details for local
parishes. There is also a long list of contact telephone numbers under
‘Anglican Church’ in the White Pages of the phone book.
Most churches have a noticeboard outside listing service times and contact
numbers.
What if I like what I see?
There are two ceremonies relevant to becoming a fully functional Anglican.
The first is Baptism, and the second is Confirmation.
Baptism is a ceremony representative of spiritual cleansing, ‘renewing’ a
person upon entry into the Church. Originally the recipient was fully immersed
in water; a modern baptism in the Anglican Church involves a ceremonial pouring
of water on the head, and special prayers.
Some people are baptised as babies. This is an indication that the parents have
decided to bring up their child as a Christian. In this case, people can be
Confirmed when they are old enough to make their own decision to be part of
the Church.
You can take part in most of the activities of the Church without going through
either of these procedures, and there are no rules about how soon, or how late,
you should make a formal commitment. Talk to your friendly parish priest about
it some time.
What can the Church do for you?
The Church can bring you closer to God. We believe this is more important
than anything in ‘ordinary’ physical existence. It can also help teach you to
become a better person by living in a more ‘God-like’ way. The Church answers
the human need for something greater than themselves in which to believe, and
gives our lives a sense of meaning.
The Church also provides community with fellow humans, all working towards a
common goal.
What can you do for the Church?
Many Christians become involved in the life of their Church in ways other
than simple attendance. Many functions in a church service, such as reading
lessons from the Bible, can be undertaken by any member of the congregation.
Many churches have choirs and music groups.
Parishes also run groups which operate outside the confines of Sunday services.
These include youth groups, studies and courses, and of course our monthly
mid-week Senior’s Service at All Saints. Many parishioners also help with Meals
on Wheels.
Christians can also become qualified as ministers. Becoming a priest requires
several years of study, and a deep commitment to Christianity. However, all
Christians have a part to play, using their own individual talents in their
everyday lives to further the work of the Church and bring the world a little
closer to the way God wants it to be.
Glossary of Terms
(Back to Top of Page)
Baptism: the ceremony of cleansing used when a person becomes a member of
the Christian Church.
Confirmation: a conscious reaffirmation of baptismal vows, for those
baptised as babies.
Congregation: the group of people who attend a church.
Creed: a formal statement of Christian belief.
Diocese: a regional grouping of parishes under the direction of a bishop.
Eucharist: another term for Holy Communion, or the service containing it.
Gospel: one of the four accounts of the life of Jesus in the New
Testament.
New Testament: the part of the Bible dealing specifically with
Christianity, and containing the Gospels.
Old Testament: the part of the Bible predating Jesus, and containing
Jewish religious laws and traditions.
Parish: an individual church, and the area for which it has
responsibility.
Sacrament: one of the core ceremonies of the Church, defined as 'outward
and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace'.
Theologian: a scholar who studies questions of God and religion.
Trinity: the combination of the three recognised aspects of God, known as
Father, Son (Jesus of Nazareth) and Holy Spirit.