Historic Christianity for the Church today
You may have heard the word Anglican and wondered what it means.
Anglicanism is a way of being Christian that seeks to hold together the riches of the historic Church with the authority of Scripture and the good news of Jesus Christ.
At Gathering, we believe the Anglican tradition gives us a beautiful and faithful way to follow Jesus today.
Scripture
God’s Word is our foundation.
We believe the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God and the final authority for Christian faith and life.
That means Scripture isn’t simply something we read on Sunday.
It shapes what we believe, how we worship, how we live, and how we follow Jesus.
The Gospel
Jesus is at the center.
We believe that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Anglicanism isn’t about preserving an interesting religious tradition. It is about proclaiming the same gospel that the Church has proclaimed from the beginning:
Jesus Christ died for our sins, rose from the dead, reigns as Lord, and invites us to follow Him.
The Historic Church
Christianity didn’t begin with us.
We are grateful for the Christians who came before us.
Anglican worship is shaped by the historic faith of the Church expressed through the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds.
We don’t believe Christians need to reinvent the faith or its practices in every generation.
We receive a faith that has been handed down to us—and we seek to faithfully pass it on.
Worship
We worship with our whole selves.
Anglican worship brings together Scripture, prayer, preaching, confession, praise, and the sacraments in a Spirit-filled setting.
There is something powerful about worshiping with words and practices that have connected generations of Christians across centuries.
At the same time, our worship is expressed in the language and context of our own time.
Historic doesn’t mean dry and irrelevant.
The Sacraments
Jesus gave His Church visible signs of His grace.
We call these visible signs sacraments. They are simply the practices Jesus instructed His followers to do in their lives together.
We believe Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are sacraments instituted by Christ.
In Baptism, we are incorporated into Christ’s Family.
In the Lord’s Supper, we gather around Christ’s table and receive His gift grace and life.
The sacraments remind us that Christianity isn’t merely an idea to understand.
God meets us in tangible ways as we live the Christian life together.
Evangelical
We believe the gospel still changes lives.
Being Anglican does not mean being less evangelical.
We believe the good news of Jesus must be proclaimed clearly and faithfully.
We want people to know Christ, trust Him, follow Him, and become disciples who help others follow Him too.
Catholic
We belong to the whole Church.
The word catholic means universal.
We believe we are part of something much larger than Gathering Anglican Church or even the Anglican Church in North America.
We belong to the one Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world and throughout history.
Reformed
We are shaped by the English Reformation.
The Anglican tradition was profoundly shaped by the Reformation and its renewed emphasis on the authority of Scripture and the gospel of grace.
We are grateful for that inheritance while remaining deeply connected to the historic Church.
So what does this mean on Sunday?
It means you can expect:
Biblical preaching.
We open God’s Word and seek to hear what He is saying to us.
Historic Christian worship.
We use the rich patterns of Anglican worship to help us pray, confess, praise, listen, and respond.
Congregational participation.
Worship isn’t a performance you watch. We worship God together.
The sacraments.
Baptism and Holy Communion are central gifts of Christ to His Church.
A modern expression of an ancient faith.
We don’t worship like we’re pretending to live in another century. We bring the historic Christian faith into the life and language of Spartanburg today.
Anglican, but not for Anglicanism’s sake
Ultimately, we don’t gather because Anglicanism is the point.
Jesus is the point.
We are Anglican because we believe this tradition helps us faithfully worship Jesus, hear His Word, receive His grace, live in communion with His Church, and proclaim His gospel.
If you’re curious about Anglicanism, come worship with us.