Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd
Common Cause Partners & Theological Statement
On March 21, representatives of 15 parishes in New England gathered at All Saints Anglican Church in Amesbury, MA to begin the process of creating an Anglican diocese in New England. the Rt. Rev. William Murdoch was called to serve as Bishop.
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On December 6, the Common Cause Partners signed the draft constitution and canons for the new Anglican Church in North America. To find the text, look here.
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In September 2007, Anglican Bishops from 10 North American jurisdictions representing 600 congregations pledged to take the first steps towards a "new ecclesiastical structure" in North America. The first meeting of the Common Cause College of Bishops was held in Pittsburgh, PA on September 25-28, 2007.
Leaders for the Common Cause Partnership at Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh, PA. Photo by Peter Frank, Diocese of Pittsburgh
COMMON CAUSE
PARTNERS IN NORTH AMERICA
The Anglican America Counsel (AAC)
The Anglican Coalition in Canada (ACC)
The Anglican Communion Network (ACN), of which The Anglican Church
of the Good Shepherd is a part.
The Anglican Essentials of Canada
The Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMIA)
The Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA)
The Anglican Network of Canada (ANC)
The Anglican Provence of America
Forward in Faith - North America
The Reformed Episcopal Church
In December 2007, The Common Cause Partners inaugurated their new website, elected The Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan as their moderator and published the Statement of Theology for the Common Cause Partners for North America. You're invited to visit their website at www.united-anglicans.org.
THEOLOGICAL STATEMENT
"We believe and confess Jesus Christ to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no one comes to the Father but by Him. Therefore, the Common Cause Partnership identifies the following seven elements as characteristic of the Anglican Way, and essential for membership:
1.We confess the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God, containing all things necessary for salvation, and to be the final authority and unchangeable standard for Christian faith and life.
2.We confess Baptism and the Supper of the Lord to be Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself in the Gospel, and thus to be ministered with unfailing use of His words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him.
3.We
confess the godly historic Episcopate as an inherent part of the
apostolic faith and practice, and therefore as integral to the fullness
and unity of the Body of Christ.
4.We confess as proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture the historic faith of the undivided church as declared in the three Catholic Creeds: the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian.
5.Concerning the seven Councils of the undivided Church, we affirm the teaching of the first four Councils and the Christological clarifications of the fifth, sixth and seventh Councils, in so far as they are agreeable to the Holy Scriptures.
6.We receive The Book of Common Prayer as set forth by the Church of England in 1662, together with the Ordinal attached to the same, as a standard for Anglican doctrine and discipline, and, with the Books which preceded it, as the standard for the Anglican tradition of worship.
7.We receive the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1562, taken in their literal and grammatical sense, as expressing the Anglican response to certain doctrinal issues controverted at that time, and as expressing the fundamental principles of authentic Anglican belief.
In all these things, the Common Cause Partnership is determined by the help of God to hold and maintain as the Anglican Way has received them the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ.
"The Anglican Communion," Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher wrote, "has no peculiar thought, practice, creed or confession of its own. It has only the Catholic Faith of the ancient Catholic Church, as preserved in the Catholic Creeds and maintained in the Catholic and Apostolic constitution of Christ's Church from the beginning." It may licitly teach as necessary for salvation nothing but what is read in the Holy Scriptures as God's Word written or may be proved thereby. It therefore embraces and affirms such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the Scriptures, and thus to be counted apostolic. The Church has no authority to innovate: it is obliged continually, and particularly in times of renewal or reformation, to return to "the faith once delivered to the saints."
To be an Anglican, then, is not to embrace a distinct version of Christianity, but a distinct way of being a "Mere Christian," at the same time evangelical, apostolic, catholic, reformed, and Spirit-filled."
Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd
Mailing Address: PO Box 936, Forestdale, MA 02644
Phone: 508-420-0800
Email: info@anglicangoodshepherd.org