Reformed, Evangelical and Anglican?

                       My Journey towards Conservative Anglicanism

                                                             

 

"St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church exists

to worship God in the beauty of holiness, in Spirit and in Truth

to win the lost to Jesus Christ and disciple every believer

to equip and empower every member for ministry

to spread God’s kingdom through charitable, righteous works locally and globally."

 At St. Andrew’s, the central focus of our life together as a body of believers in Christ’s Church is supporting every person’s growth toward Christ-likeness, toward becoming like Him. We seek to bring glory and honor to His name by our life and doctrine (“worshipping God in the beauty of holiness, in Spirit and in truth”). We seek to lead those who do not yet know Christ personally to new life in Him.

 

From the St. Andrew's Episcopal (Fort Worth, Texas) website                   

 

In recent months I have made some major changes in my life. The most significant one was moving across the country to Princeton, New Jersey, where I am a graduate student. It was a very bold move on my part, since I left the comforts of conservative Texas for the liberal east coast. I am now a fish out of water whereas in Texas, I was just another conservative amongst millions of other conservatives.

While I was not sure what to expect back here in New Jersey, I think I am adjusting to my new environment well. I got a full time job at a progressive grocery store and love the wild people with whom I work. It is actually a breath of fresh air to work with so many people from such different and diverse backgrounds from my conservative and Evangelical heritage.

I love the graduate school that I attend. The professors and students here are very erudite and will have to work harder than I did my first semester at my classwork and papers. I am calling my first semester a wash and moving on to a more disciplined approach to my academics. I can no longer cram and churn out “A” level papers like I did as an undergraduate. I love this new challenging environment because the people and cultural ethos is so diametrically different than anything I encountered deep down in the heart of Texas.

That is not to say I don’t miss aspects of life in Texas and my Evangelical Christian upbringing. In fact, I am dedicated more now than ever before to honoring Christ in all that I do. I am most definitely Reformed in my soteriological understanding of salvation, Evangelical in my views on the inerrancy, infallibility, inspiration and authority of Scripture.

The only difference for me now is that I feel more at home in a conservative Anglican ecclesial context than I do a non-denominational or Southern Baptist church.

My journey towards high church Anglicanism is a story in itself, but it actually started a few years ago. When I had time away from work, I would often visit a conservative and Evangelical Anglican church in down town Forth Worth, and loved the atmosphere and the liturgy there. The Anglican Church I did attend in Fort Worth is called, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and they emphasize Traditional Anglican worship, Biblically-centered preaching and Evangelical commitment. That sounds like a good fit for me. St. Andrew’s website can be found at: http://www.st-andrew.com/

I am not sure if I will end up calling conservative Anglicanism my church home, but I love the somber and reflective atmosphere of the Anglican and Episcopal churches. We shall see.