How I see the Anglican Church now and my hope for the Anglican Church in 2019..
I have been an Anglican all my life. The Anglican Church has been the vehicle by which I have been privileged to express my Christian faith. I love the richness and dignity of all it has to offer, the worship, which involves ones whole being, high regard for scripture, as the recorded word of God, the sacraments, the emphasis on tradition and reason. It allows me to express my faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in fullness and reasonableness.
But I am saddened that there are things happening that have greatly disappointed and grieved me in its leadership over the past years.
The church is in a terrible crisis – people are hurt, people have left the church. Relationships have been strained or broken. People felt so strongly that they were not being listened to – totally ignored and that there was no alternative but to form their own branch.
Many in the pews are wondering what is happening and don’t know the truth of the matter.
One of the most frequent questions asked in any group within the church is “Why are young families and young people not coming into the church”?
Congregations are getting smaller and funds are getting scarce.
When over the last number of years we have made all sorts of changes to make the services and everything relevant to their needs –new liturgies, new prayer book and hymn book, new hymns etc – but they haven’t come!
If the church isn’t offering anything different than the society in which we live is there any good reason for people to attend? They want the church to stand for something and not be just another organization for entertainment.
The Bible is being interpreted to make it say what we want it to say as if those great Anglican Christians of the past had got it all wrong and we in our enlightened age have been given some great new revelation of God.
In 2019 I would hope to see the Anglican Church turn again to the truth and richness of the faith of Jesus Christ and teach all who come through its doors that faith thus enabling it to rise above the culture of the day as St. Paul did in the many places that he ministered.
Yes we can be very good at caring for those in need which is very important but the faith is far deeper than that. We must teach why we are who we are!
Jesus said “If you love me you will keep my commandments”. To love is to live and to edify God’s ways through an informed faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. Human nature has not changed no matter how sophisticated we may think we have become we all need the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!
The church is to make a difference in the world, not the world making a difference in the church.
I believe God is alive in the Anglican Church throughout the world and will continue to be in 2019 but we must get our priorities straight.
Lord hear our prayer!
I’d like to see preachers frequently refer to the saving grace of Christ, beginning with references that note that not everybody that attends worship is a Christian. Some are lost and need to be saved. They attend worship services. They need to repent and trust in Jesus CHrist as Lord and Saviour. That is evangelism, the first of the five marks of mission.
Cathy H. You have expressed sentiments quitely held by Anglicans during these times of unrest and challenges to the faith held,my thanks for this articulation.
Keep your faith before you Cathy. In the past two years our Sunday school initiative has brought many young families into our church. The energy of those who lead this ministry is God given and the fruits of the ministry are wonderful. Because something is as it is does not mean that it cannot change. In our case, one heart was touched and called into service and more followed. Although we are a small congregation, it seems that every couple of weeks a new mom or dad or couple shows up with little ones.
I agree with you that getting the basics of our faith in order is important, but fear that what many believe are the basics are not. As wonderful as the creeds are, they were written hundreds of years after our Lord was crucified and do not seem to speak to the saving grace of his words or actions in the world.
Liturgies and hymns and orders of service are the ways that each generation seeks to express that which no man or woman can adequately express. The beauty of our calling is that we do not cease from continualy trying to find new and more meaningful ways to express to others what the Spirit has seeded in our hearts.