I wrote in my previous post that defining Anglican youth ministry is difficult because there are so many perspectives on what Anglicanism is. Then I recalled I had posted something a few years back that was written by J.I. Packer on Anglicanism. Admittedly his is the evangelical and protestant perspective. Yet it’s the understanding of Anglican that I entered with in the Church of England.
Packer defines Anglicanism with 6 points. I’ll come back to these as a possible guide for defining Anglican youth ministry in the near future. For now, let’s let these soak in and then I hope to share with you some of the youth ministry practices that are uniquely Anglican here in South Carolina.
First, Anglicanism is biblical. Anglicanism says to the world: “Show us anything in Scripture that should be taught and that we are not teaching, and we will teach it. Show us anything we are teaching that is contrary to Scripture, and we will stop teaching it.” The Bible, straightforwardly interpreted as revelation from God through human writers, is the Anglican rule of faith.
Second, Anglicanism is creedal, embracing and building on the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, which highlight the Trinity, the incarnation, Christ’s saving ministry and the reality of salvation itself. The 39 Articles dot i’s and cross t’s and fill gaps in the Creeds, clarifying in particular the doctrines of faith, of grace, of justification and of the sacraments.
Third, Anglicanism is liturgical, in continuity with the church of patristic and pre- Reformation days. Through Archbishop Cranmer we inherited a superlative Reformed Prayer Book, in which the thematic sequence, sin – grace – faith runs through the set services, so that it is a truly evangelical book, and should be appreciated as such.
Read the rest here
Leave a Reply