What Anglicans Believe

The Jerusalem Declaration (2008)

In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit:

We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, have met in the land of Jesus’ birth. We express our loyalty as disciples to the King of kings, the Lord Jesus. We joyfully embrace his command to proclaim the reality of his kingdom which he first announced in this land. The gospel of the kingdom is the good news of salvation, liberation and transformation for all. In light of the above, we agree to chart a way forward together that promotes and protects the biblical gospel and mission to the world, solemnly declaring the following tenets of orthodoxy which underpin our Anglican identity.

We rejoice in the gospel of God through which we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because God first loved us, we love him and as believers bring forth fruits of love, ongoing repentance, lively hope and thanksgiving to God in all things.
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.
We uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
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.
We gladly proclaim and submit to the unique and universal Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humanity’s only Saviour from sin, judgement and hell, who lived the life we could not live and died the death that we deserve. By his atoning death and glorious resurrection, he secured the redemption of all who come to him in repentance and faith.
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.
We recognise that God has called and gifted bishops, priests and deacons in historic succession to equip all the people of God for their ministry in the world. We uphold the classic Anglican Ordinal as an authoritative standard of clerical orders.
We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.
We gladly accept the Great Commission of the risen Lord to make disciples of all nations, to seek those who do not know Christ and to baptise, teach and bring new believers to maturity.
We are mindful of our responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation, to uphold and advocate justice in society, and to seek relief and empowerment of the poor and needy.
We are committed to the unity of all those who know and love Christ and to building authentic ecumenical relationships. We recognise the orders and jurisdiction of those Anglicans who uphold orthodox faith and practice, and we encourage them to join us in this declaration.
We celebrate the God-given diversity among us which enriches our global fellowship, and we acknowledge freedom in secondary matters. We pledge to work together to seek the mind of Christ on issues that divide us.
We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.
We rejoice at the prospect of Jesus’ coming again in glory, and while we await this final event of history, we praise him for the way he builds up his church through his Spirit by miraculously changing lives.

The Augustine Appeal on Holy Orders (2024)

As the College of Bishops prepares to elect a new Archbishop, we celebrate with gratitude the 15th anniversary of the Anglican Church in North America, recognizing the Province’s steadfast commitment to orthodox Anglicanism and gospel mission.

While we are hopeful for the continued fruitfulness of orthodox Anglicanism in North America, we believe that the unresolved issue of women’s ordination to the priesthood imperils the mission of our Province. As ACNA clergy, we wish to restate the biblical and consensus position of the Great Tradition. We hope that this statement will unify clergy seeking to articulate the Faith once for all delivered, and chart the direction we pray our next Archbishop will lead us.

We affirm the College of Bishops’ 2017 Vancouver Statement that the ordination of women to the priesthood is a “recent innovation to Apostolic Tradition and Catholic Order,” and we affirm the theological conclusion that the practice has “insufficient scriptural warrant.”
We believe the teaching of Holy Scripture, as interpreted by the consensus of the Great Tradition, that only men may be ordained to the priesthood. With humility and filial affection, we pray that our Bishops will conform to this teaching and practice.
We receive from our own Church the method by which this conclusion is reached: The Bible must be obeyed “in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading” (Jerusalem Declaration, Art. 2). That is, Scripture should be interpreted according to the “Church’s historic interpretation” (To Be A Christian, Q. 33). This hermeneutical principle rightly prevented our Church from allowing same-sex marriage. This same principle likewise makes no allowance for the ordination of women to the priesthood.
We affirm the inherent dignity and equality of women, made in the image of God, and reject any ideology that devalues God’s good creation of both male and female. Any conception of ministry that renders sexual difference meaningless, or that values women only insofar as they conform to male norms, opposes God’s created order.
We advocate for the further development of a robust biblical anthropology, underwritten by the Great Tradition, that elucidates the significance of sexual difference, especially as it pertains to both Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders.
We assert that a flourishing Church welcomes and values the spiritual gifts of her daughters as well as her sons, as evidenced by the men and women honored in our Calendar of Commemorations (BCP 2019). We reject clericalism which holds forth ordained ministry as a superior form of serving Christ. We desire to see a renewal of lay ministries of men and women equipped for the work of ministry and building up of the body of Christ.
We pray for the unity of Christ’s one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We long for the reunion of a divided Christendom. We believe, however, that such unity never comes at the expense of Apostolic Tradition, Catholic Order, and scriptural warrant; rather, it is through these that the Church will realize the full and fruitful unity for which our Lord prayed.
We interpret the legal stipulations of our provincial constitution to be non-constraining of our Bishops in their stewardship and teaching of the Catholic Faith (ACNA Constitution, Art. X.1). Therefore, we are hopeful that the College of Bishops, led by the Holy Spirit and exercising their God-given authority, can find a creative solution to restore orthodoxy to Holy Orders prior to any constitutional amendment.

Gracious Father, we pray for your holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Savior. Amen.

The Feast of St. Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, 2024.

Note: the Augustine Appeal was co-signed by more than 340 Anglican clergy, not including sympathetic bishops.

Anglican Formularies

Though not encompassing the totality of English reformed catholicity, the following documents help to define the Anglican canonical boundaries of the historic biblical faith.

39 Articles of Religion

We receive the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1571, taken in their literal and grammatical sense, as expressing the Anglican response to certain doctrinal issues controverted at the time of the English Reformation, and as expressing the fundamental principles of authentic Anglican belief.

The Book of Common Prayer of 1662

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.

The Ordinal of 1662

We uphold the classic Anglican Ordinal as an authoritative standard of clerical orders.

The Book of Homilies

Though regarded by some as a "lesser formulary," we believe the first and second Book of Homilies contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, and are still necessary for these times.

Provincial and Global Statements

The Global Anglican Communion is currently undergoing a reformation. No longer recognizing the U.S. Episcopal Church, Anglican Church of Canada, or the Church of England as valid expressions of the Anglican way, the Global Communion is working to refocus on the Lord Jesus, his Word written, and the rich tradition of his body, the Church. The ACNA has been deeply involved in this reforming and resetting of the Global Anglican Communion, putting forward the following statements:

From the Beginning: God's Design for Marriage (2015)

The Archbishop and Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America have received the recent ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States of America and are deeply grieved by the stark departure from God’s revealed order. We are concerned for the inevitable results from this action to change the legal understanding of marriage and family life.... Read More.

Victoria Statement (2017)

In an act of mutual submission at the foundation of the Anglican Church in North America, it was agreed that each Diocese and Jurisdiction has the freedom, responsibility, and authority to study Holy Scripture and the Apostolic Tradition of the Church... Read More.

Sexuality and Identity Statement (2021)

The Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) offer this pastoral statement to the Church after prayer, study, careful listening to disparate voices, and a collaborative process involving contributions from across the Province... Read More.

Ash Wednesday Statement (2023)

As the Church of England has departed from the historic faith passed down from the Apostles by this innovation in the liturgies of the Church and her pastoral practice (contravening her own Canon A5), she has disqualified herself from leading the Communion as the historic “Mother” Church... Read More.

Kigali Commitment (2023)

The current divisions in the Anglican Communion have been caused by radical departures from the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some within the Communion have been taken captive by hollow and deceptive philosophies of this world (Colossians 2:8). Such a failure to hear and heed God's Word undermines the mission of the church as a whole... Read More.

What Do Anglicans Actually Believe?