Who We Are
Anglicans are followers of Jesus Christ who seek to proclaim in word and deed the good news of God’s kingdom in and for the world.
Inspired by the witness of the scriptures and the early Church, and informed by our God-given reason, we seek to shape our lives, as individuals and as a church, according to the example of Jesus Christ.
Anglican Christians form part of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, organized into 38 self-governing national and regional churches that make up the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Church of Canada is a full and active member of this worldwide family of churches.
We Believe…
Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi
The way we pray is the way we believe.
Through baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a person is made one with Christ and received into the fellowship of the Church. In the Anglican tradition this sacrament of Christian initiation is open to children and adults.
Central to worship for Anglicans is the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper or the Mass. In this offering of prayer and praise, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are recalled through the proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the Sacrament. Thus nourished, we are sent into the world to serve God and others.
Worship is at the very heart of Anglicanism. Its styles vary from simple to elaborate, or even a combination. Until the late twentieth century, the great uniting text was the Book of Common Prayer, in its various revisions throughout the Anglican Communion. Today, modern-language liturgies, such as the Canadian church’s Book of Alternative Services, now exist alongside the traditional language liturgies.
The Anglican Church of Canada proclaims the three Creeds of the early Church. You can find them here:
In Jesus Christ, God became human and shared in our everyday existence. God must value human nature very highly if God is willing, in Jesus Christ, to "take our nature upon him" as our prayers say. And if God also raises that same human nature to new life after Jesus endured suffering and death, we must work to bring all of humanity to its full potential as God intended. And I rejoice that we do this by loving God and by being involved in our society to work for change.
— Patricia Bays, Meet the Family: Welcome to the Anglican Church of Canada (1966)