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Anglican Essentials Canada is a Christian group of Anglicans who share a common commitment to "faithful biblical orthodoxy," often broadly meaning an opposition to progressive norms embraced in the late 20th and early 21st century (especially the issue of marriage equality and acceptance of LGBT people), but also reflecting a general trend toward conservatism and orthodoxy in thought and practice. [1]
Conservative Anglicans formed the group in 1994 to represent their interests within the Anglican Church of Canada. [2] It was previously named "the Essentials movement"' and then, in 2005, launched as the Essentials Federation and the Anglican Network in Canada before 750 delegates, most of them Canadian Anglicans, during a gathering dubbed the "Open Door Conference". There were also visitors from the United States and other countries. [3]
Anglican Essentials Canada states they "offer support to Canadian Anglicans who wish to remain true to biblically-faithful, historically-authentic Anglicanism." [4] Anglican Essentials Canada stands for the supremacy of the complete Canon of Holy Scripture, the Book of Common Prayer as the standard of doctrine and worship, the Ordinal, and the Articles of Religion affirmed by the Lambeth Conference of 1968. [5]
Although one of the constituent groups is the Prayer Book Society, Anglican Essentials Canada states that the Book of Alternative Services meets a widely felt need for contemporary liturgy, and brings life and joy to many Anglican worshippers". [2] They are neutral on the matter of the ordination of women and include women priests among their ranks. They are opposed to the blessing of same-sex unions.
Within Anglican Essentials Canada there are two sub-groups: The Essentials Federation and the Anglican Network in Canada.
In October 2009, Anglican Essentials' leadership reacted to the Roman Catholic Church's proposed creation of personal ordinariates for disaffected traditionalist Anglicans by saying that this provision would probably not have a great impact on the majority of its affiliated laity and clergy, who are already pastorally satisfied with the current Anglican realignment movement. [6]
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Formally founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The traditional origins of Anglican doctrine are summarised in the Thirty-nine Articles (1571) and The Books of Homilies. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, recognised as primus inter pares, but does not exercise authority in Anglican provinces outside of the Church of England. Most, but not all, member churches of the communion are the historic national or regional Anglican churches.
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the largest branches of Christianity, with around 110 million adherents worldwide as of 2001.
Ecumenism – also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalism – is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjective ecumenical is thus applied to any non-denominational or inter-denominational initiative which encourages greater cooperation and union among Christian denominations and churches. Ecumenical dialogue is a central feature of contemporary ecumenism.
The Confessing Movement is a largely lay-led theologically conservative Christian movement that opposes the influence of theological liberalism and theological progressivism currently within several mainline Protestant denominations and seeks to return those denominations to its view of orthodox doctrine or to form new denominations and disfellowship (excommunicate) them if the situation becomes untenable. Those who eventually deem dealing with theological liberalism and theological progressivism within their churches and denominations as not being tenable anymore would later join or start Confessional Churches and/or Evangelical Churches that continue with the traditions of their respective denominations and maintaining orthodox doctrine while being ecclesiastically separate from the Mainline Protestant denominations.
Making the sign of the cross, also known as blessing oneself or crossing oneself, is a ritual blessing made by members of some branches of Christianity. This blessing is made by the tracing of an upright cross or Greek cross across the body with the right hand, often accompanied by spoken or mental recitation of the Trinitarian formula: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
The communion of saints, when referred to persons, is the spiritual union of the members of the Christian Church, living and the dead, but excluding the damned. They are all part of a single "mystical body", with Christ as the head, in which each member contributes to the good of all and shares in the welfare of all.
The Anglican Church of Canada is the province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is l'Église anglicane du Canada. In 2022, the Anglican Church counted 294,931 members on parish rolls in 1,978 congregations, organized into 1,498 parishes. The 2021 Canadian census counted 1,134,315 self-identified Anglicans, making the Anglican Church the third-largest Canadian church after the Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada.
Christian liturgy is a pattern for worship used by a Christian congregation or denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public work". Within Christianity, liturgies descending from the same region, denomination, or culture are described as ritual families.
The Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) is an Anglican Church. It was founded in 1873 in New York City by George David Cummins, a former bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
The Prayer Book Society of Canada (PBSC), founded in 1986, is an organization of Canadian Anglicans encompassing members who are affiliated with both the Anglican Church of Canada and other jurisdictions such as the Anglican Diocese of Canada and the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada. The Society promotes “the understanding and use of the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) as a spiritual system of nurture for life in Christ” and upholds it as the standard of doctrine and worship for Canadian Anglicans. It primarily supports the use of the 1962 Canadian edition of the BCP, and aims to encourage greater awareness and wider use of it through the publication of liturgical resources in print and online, advocacy to and collaboration with like-minded organizations and the broader church, and the provision of financial aid to theological students and parishes.
The American Anglican Council began as an organization of theologically conservative Anglicans from both the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and The Episcopal Church in the United States. According to its membership brochure, it was founded "as a response to unbiblical teachings that crept into The Episcopal Church and the larger Anglican Communion." The organization believes that "the Episcopal Church faces an extreme crisis of belief centered on the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as Savior and the authority of Scripture. This crisis has resulted in conflicts over specific behavior and practices that are informed by Scripture, including issues concerning human sexuality and marriage, though these issues are in reality symptoms of the deeper issues."
Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, is a large family of liturgical rites and uses of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church sui iuris of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once dominated. Its language is now known as Ecclesiastical Latin. The most used rite is the Roman Rite.
The Anglican Diocese of Canada is the Canadian diocese of the Anglican Church in North America. Established in 2005, prior to becoming a founding diocese of the ACNA, it originated as a group of congregations and clergy that had left the Anglican Church of Canada to affiliate temporarily with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, a province of the Anglican Communion. In 2024, the diocese formally adopted its current name.
Anglican doctrine is the body of Christian teachings used to guide the religious and moral practices of Anglicanism.
The September 14–16, 1977 Congress of St. Louis was an international gathering of nearly 2,000 Anglicans in St. Louis, Missouri, united in their rejection of theological changes introduced by the Anglican Church of Canada and by the Episcopal Church in the United States of America in its General Convention of 1976. Anglicans who attended this congress felt that these changes amounted to foundational alterations in the American and Canadian provinces of the Anglican Communion and meant that they had "departed from Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church." Theological liberalism, financial support for political action groups, participation in the Consultation on Church Union (COCU), revisions to the Book of Common Prayer, and the ordination of women priests were not the only reasons for the split, but they were seen by these churches as evidence of the mainline church's departure from Anglican orthodoxy. The idea for a congress originated with the Reverend Canon Albert J. duBois in 1973 in preparation for the Louisville General Convention of the Episcopal Church. Canon duBois and the group called "Anglicans United" toured parishes in advance of the Congress to garner support. In 1976, the Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen, an organization founded in 1973 as a coordinating agent for laypeople and clergy concerned about the breakdown of faith and order within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, met to organize a Church Congress in St. Louis the following year.
The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada. Two of the major events that contributed to the movement were the 2002 decision of the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada to authorise a rite of blessing for same-sex unions, and the nomination of two openly gay priests in 2003 to become bishops. Jeffrey John, an openly gay priest with a long-time partner, was appointed to be the next Bishop of Reading in the Church of England and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church ratified the election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay non-celibate man, as Bishop of New Hampshire. Jeffrey John ultimately declined the appointment due to pressure.
Anglican interest in ecumenical dialogue can be traced back to the time of the Reformation and dialogues with both Orthodox and Lutheran churches in the sixteenth century. In the nineteenth century, with the rise of the Oxford Movement, there arose greater concern for reunion of the churches of "Catholic confession". This desire to work towards full communion with other denominations led to the development of the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, approved by the Third Lambeth Conference of 1888. The four points were stipulated as the basis for church unity, "a basis on which approach may be by God's blessing made towards Home Reunion":
The Orthodox Anglican Communion (OAC) is a communion of churches established in the United States, in 1964 or 1967, by James Parker Dees. It was formed outside of the See of Canterbury and is not part of the Anglican Communion. The OAC adheres to the doctrine, discipline and worship contained in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the 1562 Articles of Religion.
The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) is a series of conferences of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders, the first of which was held in Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in the Anglican Communion, the rise of secularism, as well as concerns with HIV/AIDS and poverty. As a result of the conference, the Jerusalem Declaration was issued and the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans was created. The conference participants also called for the creation of the Anglican Church in North America as an alternative to both the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada, and declared that recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury is not necessary to Anglican identity.
Protestant liturgy or Evangelical liturgy is a pattern for worship used by a Protestant congregation or denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public work". Liturgy is especially important in the Historical Protestant churches, both mainline and evangelical, while Baptist, Pentecostal, and nondenominational churches tend to be very flexible and in some cases have no liturgy at all. It often but not exclusively occurs on Sunday.
