Several years ago I wrote an article that turned out to be the single most read post on this blog (called FusionMusing at the time). The subject was Anglican Distinctive’s in Youth Ministry. It is currently the third listed result of a google search of “anglican youth ministry” with the first two being youth ministry pages of diocesan websites. There is a bit of mystery surrounding what exactly is Anglican youth ministry. With that come lots of opinions but none definitive. The most recent Young Anglicans podcast is on this subject.
The vision we have for student ministry in our diocese is this… “Making young biblical Anglicans: proclaiming the gospel, teaching the scriptures, forming partnerships, and training leaders”. This vision reflects the larger vision for our diocese which is “Making biblical Anglicans for a global age”. I am a firm believer that any youth ministry vision must reflect the larger church vision. Our student ministry vision also reflects part of our understanding of what it means to be Anglican.
What does it mean to be Anglican?
Perhaps a useful starting question is how do we define Anglicanism? Let’s look at the word definition first. Anglican means English. I capitalized that because it reflects the country of England rather than the language. The Anglican church is the Church of England and all it’s offspring. With British colonization around the globe came the planting of English churches. In my diocese, the earliest churches predate the founding of our nation. So, Anglican means coming from the Church of England.
Now, there has been some debate in recent years over who is in the Anglican communion and therefore authentically Anglican. Given the broken and impaired communion in various sectors of Anglicanism, it’s not worth entering that debate. For the sake of defining Anglican youth ministry, let’s keep our definition simple. Anglicanism is of the English church, meaning the Church of England and it’s offspring. Defining Anglican youth ministry is not dependent on the politics of who is in or out.
Is there one Anglicanism?
It can easily be shown that being Anglican looks different around the world and across the span of time. Just in America, the contrast between Anglican worship in say 1800 and 2000 is profound. The first would typically be morning prayer with a 45 minute expository sermon. The latter would typically be Holy Eucharist with a 15 minute homily. Or look around the world today and see that in some places Anglicanism is very reformed, other places broadly evangelical, other places more anglo-catholic. Compare the Anglican church in Scotland (Scottish Episcopal Church) which is very anglo-catholic to the Church of Ireland which is very protestant. Add to that the fact that there are more Anglicans in Africa than Europe and more Anglicans in the global south than the north. What we end up with is a diversity that makes it very difficult to define what it means to be Anglican.
Three streams Anglicanism
The Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) has decided to view their existence in three streams or expressions of Anglicanism. These are evangelical (which is protestant and in some places reformed), charismatic (which tends to be evangelical but not always) and anglo-catholic. My bishop finds himself comfortable in all three. Yet many bishops, clergy, and parishioners can only personally embrace one or two streams. Can we find or create one definition of Anglican youth ministry that fully embraces all three streams or expressions of Anglicanism?
One liturgy to guide them all
The unifying element in the ACNA is our liturgy. It is a work in progress which so far has brought unity in diversity. While we find common ground here, we would have a very limited definition of Anglican youth ministry if we decided to define it by some use of our liturgy. The variance from church to church would be huge.
What we need is an understanding that we can build vision around in our particular context (congregation or diocese). Yet it needs to be a definition others can embrace. Is embrace too strong a word here? I’d like to see an understanding that we all can get excited about. Further, I want a definition that biblically orthodox Anglicans around the globe can embrace.
The way forward
So while we don’t have a definition yet, the potential exists for creating an understanding that might be a blessing to many. I hope in the near future to post some examples of what might be uniquely Anglican youth ministry. If you have thoughts on what is Anglican youth ministry, I’d love for you to comment below or contact me directly.
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