Belief
As orthodox Anglican Evangelical Christians we have adopted the Jerusalem Declaration (2008) as the basis of our unity, we are thus committed to upholding the three historic creeds, the Thirty-Nine Articles and doctrines expressed in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
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.
Practice
As orthodox Anglican Evangelical Christians:
· We wish to respond to God’s love, by seeking to understand his Word and order our lives according to his ways.
· We wish to reflect God’s love, by providing a compassionate welcome to all; valuing them as those created by God and bearing His image, and therefore of innate dignity; and those for whom Christ died and are therefore of infinite value and worth.
· We commit ourselves to providing support and care to all, regardless of gender, ability, race or sexuality, along with their families.
· We recognise the inherent equality of all people; we are equally created, equally sinful, fallen and flawed and can be equally saved by Christ’s death and resurrection and sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit.
· We recognise that ‘male’ and ‘female’ are not societal constructs but realties that are immutable and therefore intrinsic to our created being and the divine image in us. To be human is to share humanity with the opposite sex and as complementary creatures we must look to God’s Word for what true masculinity and femininity look like.
· We believe men and women are called to use their God-given gifts and gendered distinctiveness to serve God together in the domestic family and in the family of the church.
· We believe men have a particular responsibility to pass on God’s word faithfully and live in accordance with it, both in their domestic families and the family of the church.
o Such leadership is exercised both under the headship of Christ and in the Spirit of Christ; it is modelled on the example of Christ and is marked by sacrificial love and service which seeks to enable all those under their care to develop their God-given potential.
o Such leadership, must never, therefore, be domineering, manipulative or abusive (whether financially, emotionally or physically).
· We believe that submission to such leadership, whether by wives to their husbands or by church Partners, whether male or female, to the godly leadership of our Minister or Bishop, cannot be demanded, for that would be subjugation. Instead freely given submission, modelled on the Son’s submission to the Father, is a beautiful illustration of the gospel.
· We seek to protect and advance the right to life of the most vulnerable, the unborn, the infirm and the elderly.
· We are mindful of our responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation, and to seek a society in which all act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God. We will therefore seek to uphold and advocate justice in society and to seek relief and empowerment of the poor and needy.
· We expect all those who are given responsibility within our church family to seek to order their lives according to biblical patterns; living in repentance and faith, manifesting the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives: Leaders will therefore
o Show evidence of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control
o Be above reproach, not self-pleasing but self-controlled, upright, holy, disciplined, temperate, hospitable, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, not a recent convert, one who loves what is good and one who has a good reputation with outsiders.
o Seek to live contentedly; recognising their God-given biological sex and present marital status.
§ Those who are married should love, cherish and honour one another, and forsaking all others, be faithful.
§ Those who are single should honour the Lord and avoid sexual immorality.
§ Those blessed with children should manage their own dependent children well.
o The presbyter must be able to preach and teach, holding firmly to the Gospel and Holy Scripture as it has been taught, in order to encourage others by sound doctrine and to refute those who oppose it.
Wellfield Church 