What Is Anglicanism?

Anglicanism is the Christian faith as it was recovered and reformed by the Church of England in the sixteenth century. It is Protestant and Reformed. It is also catholic in the historic sense of that word: it holds the faith of the universal Church, tested by Scripture, not the teachings of Rome. Above all, it is confessional: Anglicanism is not a mood, a style, or a spectrum of opinion, but a faith with written standards.

Those standards are known as the Anglican Formularies: the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, the Ordinal, and the Books of Homilies. In 2008 they were reaffirmed for the worldwide Anglican family in the Jerusalem Declaration. When we call ourselves confessional or conforming Anglicans, we are not naming a party or a stream. We simply mean that we hold, believe, and practice what the Anglican Church has always officially confessed.

Anglican Church of the Reformation is a traditional and confessional Anglican church committed to the evangelical faith. This page explains what that means and what we believe.

What Makes a Church Anglican?

A church is Anglican because of what it confesses, not because of its style or its history. Every Christian tradition has written standards. Lutherans have the Augsburg Confession and Presbyterians have the Westminster Standards. Anglicans have the Formularies:

• The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (1571): the Church’s confession of faith.
• The Book of Common Prayer (1662): the Church’s pattern of worship and prayer, and its doctrine prayed.
• The Ordinal: the Church’s teaching on the ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons.
• The Books of Homilies: authorized sermons that explain the Church’s doctrine, named in Article XXXV.

The Church of England still states this plainly in its Canons: “The doctrine of the Church of England is grounded in the Holy Scriptures, and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal” (Canon A5). For centuries, every Anglican minister was required to subscribe to the Articles and to use the Prayer Book.

The Jerusalem Declaration (2008)

In June 2008, Anglican leaders from around the world gathered in Jerusalem for the first Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON). They issued the Jerusalem Declaration, which calls the global Anglican family back to its own foundations:

“We uphold the Thirty-nine Articles as containing the true doctrine of the Church agreeing with God’s Word and as authoritative for Anglicans today.” (Clause 4)

“We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.” (Clause 6)

GAFCON’s own commentary on the Declaration, Being Faithful: The Shape of Historic Anglicanism Today, is explicit: accepting the authority of the Thirty-nine Articles “is constitutive of Anglican identity” (p. 35).

Our diocese, the Diocese of the Rocky Mountains, takes these standards seriously. Our clergy take an oath subscribing to the Thirty-nine Articles, upholding the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and Ordinal, and affirming the Jerusalem Declaration.

One stream, not three

Many North American churches now describe Anglicanism as a blend of “three streams”: Anglo-Catholic, Evangelical, and Charismatic. This model is a modern invention, not historic Anglicanism. Historian Gillis Harp shows that it takes a “descriptive model of the Western church during the middle part of the twentieth century and turns it into a prescriptive theological ideal,” and that it tends to “either denigrate or neglect both the Anglican Reformers and the Anglican Formularies.” It joins traditions that contradict one another on justification, the ministry, and the sacraments. As Robin Jordan observes, the product “may bear the Anglican label and have ‘evangelical’ and ‘charismatic’ listed on the package but the main ingredient is unreformed Catholicism” (Harp, 2009; Harp, 2012; Jordan, 2011).

Historic Anglicanism has one stream: the Reformed catholic faith of the Formularies. Movements whose doctrine, piety, and worship contradict the Articles and the Prayer Book are not other ways of being Anglican. They are departures from it, whatever name they use. So confessional Anglicans are not a faction. We are Anglicans who still believe and practice what the Anglican Church has always confessed.

Ancient Roots

The Anglican Church did not begin in the sixteenth century. It was reformed then. As Michael Jensen notes, “since the arrival of Christianity in Britain in the 3rd century, British Christianity has had a distinct flavor.” Much of Britain heard the gospel through Irish and Celtic missionary monks. Rome’s authority was accepted at the Synod of Whitby in 664, but tension between English Christianity and Rome continued for centuries (Jensen).

So the English Reformers did not see themselves as founding a new church. They saw themselves as restoring an old one to the teaching of Scripture and the apostolic Church.

We hold to the ancient ecumenical creeds of the Christian faith:

• The Apostles’ Creed
• The Nicene Creed
• The Athanasian Creed

The Articles say these creeds “ought thoroughly to be received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture” (Article VIII). With the Jerusalem Declaration, we also uphold the first four ecumenical councils as “expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church” (Clause 3).

Born of the English Reformation

The English break with Rome is often explained as nothing more than Henry VIII wanting a divorce. That was the political occasion, but it is not the whole story. The Church of England embraced the evangelical theology of the Reformation, not merely independence from the Pope (Jensen).

Reformers such as Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, and Hugh Latimer worked to reform the Church according to Scripture, building on the work of forerunners like John Wycliffe and William Tyndale. Many paid with their lives. As Latimer and Ridley were burned at Oxford in 1555, Latimer said: “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”

The theology they left us is Reformed. Jensen observes that the Homilies, the Prayer Book, and the Articles reflect the Reformed theology of the Swiss and South German Reformation. It resonates with Calvin more than with Luther, while remaining distinctly Anglican. This is why the historic Church of England has always described itself as a Protestant and Reformed church.

Because Anglicanism was born Reformed, being Reformed is not a faction within it. It is what historic Anglicanism is.

Reformed Foundations: What We Believe

Anglicanism is firmly rooted in Reformation principles, and those principles are written into the Formularies. We subscribe to the Reformational faith of the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, emphasizing:

Sola Scriptura: Scripture alone

God’s inerrant word written, our sole authority over faith and practice (Articles VI & XX). “Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith” (Article VI). The Church itself may not “ordain any thing that is contrary to God’s Word written” (Article XX).

You may have heard that Anglicans balance Scripture, tradition, and reason as three equal authorities. Michael Jensen calls this “a popular myth”: “There is a popular myth that Anglicanism views reason, tradition, and Scripture as a three-legged stool of authorities, but it is quite false” (Jensen). Reason and tradition are valued servants, but Scripture alone rules.

Solus Christus: Christ alone

Salvation through Christ alone (Articles XV & XVIII). Christ alone is without sin, “the Lamb without spot, who, by sacrifice of himself once made, should take away the sins of the world” (Article XV). “Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved” (Article XVIII).

Sola Gratia: grace alone

Salvation by grace alone (Article X). Left to ourselves, “we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us” (Article X), that is, going before us. Salvation begins with God’s initiative, not ours. The Articles also teach God’s gracious election in Christ, a doctrine “full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons” (Article XVII).

Sola Fide: faith alone

Justification by grace through faith (Article XI). “We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings: Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only, is a most wholesome Doctrine, and very full of comfort” (Article XI). We are justified by faith in Christ’s finished work, not by our own merit. Jensen notes that this conviction runs through Anglican theology, liturgy, and founding documents alike.

Soli Deo Gloria: worship to the glory of God alone

We worship reverently (Heb. 12:28–29) and liturgically, focusing on God (Soli Deo Gloria). We use the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and Christ-centered hymns and prayers.

The Prayer Book was a revolutionary shift to worship in English rather than Latin, so that ordinary people could understand and take part (Article XXIV). It is also saturated with Scripture. In Jensen’s words, the 1662 Book of Common Prayer “is designed to soak the congregation in the Scriptures,” and it keeps God’s grace at the center of both our theology and our devotion (Jensen).

Ministry of the Word

We reject sacerdotal views of ministry and affirm preaching, teaching, and pastoral oversight. A minister is not a mediator who offers a sacrifice for the people. “The Offering of Christ once made is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole world” (Article XXXI). The word priest in the Prayer Book comes from presbyter, meaning elder. Our clergy are shepherds who serve God’s people through Word and sacrament.

Two sacraments

We recognize only two sacraments ordained by Christ: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Articles XXV – XXXI). Rome counts seven, but the Articles teach that the other five “are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel” (Article XXV).

The sacraments are not empty symbols. They are “certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace, and God’s good will towards us” (Article XXV). As Jensen explains, they are effectual signs received by faith, not rituals that convey grace automatically. So in the Lord’s Supper, “the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith” (Article XXVIII), and the Articles reject transubstantiation as “repugnant to the plain words of Scripture.”

Reformed Catholicity: What We Kept

The English Reformers reformed the Church; they did not tear it down. While thoroughly Reformed, Anglicanism kept:

• Episcopal church order: bishops, priests, and deacons, which the Jerusalem Declaration recognizes as God’s gift “to equip all the people of God for their ministry in the world” (Clause 7).
• Liturgical worship: set prayers, the Christian year, and the regular reading of the whole of Scripture, all reformed by Scripture in the Book of Common Prayer.
• Respect for the early Church: the creeds, councils, and Fathers are honored where they agree with Scripture, but never placed beside it as a rival authority (Articles XX and XXI).

This is what “reformed catholicity” means. It is not a balance or blend of Protestant and Roman Catholic. The Reformers held that the Church of Rome had departed from the catholic faith, and that reforming the Church by Scripture restored it. Anglicanism is catholic because it is Reformed.

Our Life Together

We seek to model the love, fellowship, faith, and mission of the early church as described in the book of Acts and be united as a family in Christ Jesus. We are committed to:

• Placing Christ above ourselves and our culture.
• Shaping our engagement with one another and our culture by Biblical principles.
• Resisting what is incompatible to Christ in ourselves and our culture by Biblical principles (John 17:14–19).

From English Church to Global Family

As Jensen puts it, “Anglicanism is a missionary faith, and has sponsored global missions since the 18th century” (Jensen). What began as the Church of England grew into a worldwide family of churches:

• Colonial expansion: chaplains, missionaries, and settlers planted churches across North America, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific.
• The missionary movement: in the 18th and 19th centuries, evangelical societies such as the Church Missionary Society (CMS) carried the gospel across the world.
• Local leadership: as churches matured, leadership passed to local bishops and clergy, who adapted Anglican worship to their cultures while keeping its Reformed convictions.

Today, some 85 million people in more than 165 countries call themselves Anglicans. “Global Anglicanism is more African and Asian than it is English and American,” Jensen writes. The largest and fastest-growing Anglican churches are in Africa, especially Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya, and in parts of Asia. These churches often hold to biblical authority and Reformed theology more firmly than their Western counterparts. Meanwhile, where liberal theology has taken hold in the developed world, Anglicanism is in decline (Jensen).

The lesson is plain. Anglican churches flourish where they keep faith with Scripture and their own Formularies. That is the Anglicanism we belong to.

Want to Know More?

If you would like to know more about Anglicanism, join us for worship and conversation. For further reading, we recommend these books and articles.

Where to begin

• Ben Fischer, Confessional Anglicanism (Anglican House, 2026)
• Gerald Bray, Anglicanism: A Reformed Catholic Tradition
• Ashley Null and John W. Yates III, eds., Reformation Anglicanism: A Vision for Today’s Global Communion (Crossway)
• J. I. Packer, The Heritage of Anglican Theology (Crossway)
• W. H. Griffith Thomas, The Catholic Faith: A Manual of Instruction for Members of the Church of England, a recently republished classic that answers many common questions
• Michael Jensen, “9 Things You Should Really Know About Anglicanism”, The Gospel Coalition
• Gerald Bray, “The Anglican Way”, Ligonier Ministries
• Adam Charles Young, “The Five Points of Classical Anglicanism”

The Thirty-nine Articles

• Gerald Bray, The Faith We Confess: An Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles
• J. I. Packer and R. T. Beckwith, The Thirty-Nine Articles: Their Place and Use Today
• Lee Gatiss, ed., Foundations of Faith: Reflections on the 39 Articles
• Martin Davie, Our Inheritance of Faith: A Commentary on the Thirty Nine Articles
• Thomas Rogers, The Catholic Doctrine of the Church of England: An Exposition of the Thirty Nine Articles (Anglican Reformers Collection)
• Alexander Nowell, Nowell’s Middle Catechism: An Anglican Catechism
• The Jerusalem Declaration (2008), full text

The Prayer Book, the Homilies, and worship

• Michael Jensen, Reformation Anglican Worship: Experiencing Grace, Expressing Gratitude (Crossway)
• Mark Burkill, Dearly Beloved: Building God’s People Through Morning and Evening Prayer (Latimer Trust)
• Lee Gatiss, ed., The First Book of Homilies: The Church of England’s Official Sermons in Modern English
• Gerald Bray, A Fruitful Exhortation: A Guide to the Homilies (Latimer Trust)

The English Reformers in their own words

• Thomas Cranmer, A Defence of the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Our Savior Christ
• Nicholas Ridley, A Brief Declaration of the Lord’s Supper, or A Treatise Against the Error of Transubstantiation
• John Jewel, An Apology of the Church of England (Davenant Press)
• Richard Hooker, A Learned Discourse of Justification, in modern English (Davenant Press)
• Richard Hooker, In Defense of Reformed Catholic Worship: Book IV of Hooker’s Laws, a Modernization (Davenant Press)
• Gerald Bray, ed., Documents of the English Reformation

The history and theology of the English Reformation

• Lee Gatiss, Light after Darkness: How the Reformers Regained, Retold and Relied on the Gospel of Grace
• Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, The Theology of the English Reformers, revised and expanded edition
• Mark Earngey and Stephen Tong, eds., Reformation Anglicanism: Essays on Edwardian Evangelicalism (Latimer Trust)
• Stephen Tong, Building the Church of England: The Book of Common Prayer and the Edwardian Reformation (Brill)
• Martin Davie, The Gospel and the Anglican Tradition
• Gerald Bray, The History of Christianity in Britain and Ireland: From the First Century to the Twenty-First

On the “three streams” model

• Gillis Harp, “Navigating the ‘Three Streams’: Some Second Thoughts about a Popular Typology”, first published in Mandate (2009)
• Gillis Harp, “Revisiting the Three Streams”, first published in Anglican Way (2012)
• Robin G. Jordan, “The Misuse of the Three-Streams Model in the North American Church” (2011)
• Mark Earngey, “The Myth of the Via Media, and Other Canterbury Tales”, Australian Church Record (2022)
• The Hackney Hub, “Anglican Myths 3: Three Streams — One Muddy River” (2012)

Sources

This page draws on and adapts material from St. Peter’s Anglican Church, “New to Anglicanism”, and from Michael Jensen, “9 Things You Should Really Know About Anglicanism”, The Gospel Coalition. Quotations from the Articles of Religion follow the 1571 text as printed in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.