We are Anglicans

Members of the Trinity family come from a variety of backgrounds (Anglican churches, other church denominations, and from no church background at all!) and you don’t need to be an Anglican to join our church family. Still, it can be helpful to clear what being Anglican means to us, and perhaps clear away some common misunderstandings.

Belief

Being Anglican means we are Christians. We believe Jesus was the Son of God, as fully God and fully man, and that he died that we might, through believing in him, have eternal life.

It means we believe the Bible is God’s word, his revelation of who he is and of how we can be in a relationship with him.

It means we value the voices of the 80-odd generations of Christians who have come before us, and the lessons we can learn from them. We believe church structures are good, because they can hold our leaders to account, and model to us that we serve others, and ultimately God, rather than ourselves.

It means we follow the 16th century reformers, and centuries of believers before them, in believing that it is the Bible that judges our thoughts and traditions, not the other way round.

Theology

Our Statement of Theological Position is reflected in the 39 Articles, the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the Jerusalem Declaration. These in turn affirm the historic creeds (summaries of the faith) of the church. We declare what we believe using the words of the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed from time to time in our services.

For more check out our sermon series on the Nicene Creed:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ,
God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father;
from there he will come to judge
the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Church Service

We are low church Anglicans in the sense that our focus is more on building each other up through the word, written, spoken, prayed and seen in the sacraments than on visible ritual.

Our services do have a light liturgical element. For example, we confess our sins together by praying a prayer of confession together (from words on the screen). We don’t do this to wallow in our shame. Rather, the good news of Jesus encourages us to recognise our sin that we might leave it with God, and delight again in his assurance of our forgiveness, and a fresh start. In keeping with its slightly more traditional feel, the 9am service has a little more liturgy than the later service, but those from a non-liturgical background report they feel at home.

Following Jesus’ instruction, we celebrate the sacraments of baptism and communion (the Lord’s Supper). We have the Lord’s Supper on the third Sunday of the month at the 10:45 am service, twice a month at the 9am service (on the first and third Sundays).

Our ministers will sometimes wear clerical collars, but typically won’t on the average Sunday.

Wider Family

Being Anglicans also means we are part of something bigger than ourselves. We value being part of a wider family, being able to support others), and having others hold us to account.

Formally, we are part of the Diocese of the Church of Confessing Anglicans, Aotearoa NZ. Our bishop is Jay Behan, a gifted preacher, a winsome communicator. As a golfer he’s apparently in need of extra grace. The Diocese is governed by Synod, on which we are represented by James Baillinger, David Thompson, Kyla Horne, and Joy Penno. Our Canons, our rules of operation, can be found here.

For external input we also work with the Gospel Training Trust, the Multiply Group of Churches, and Reach Australia.

A number of events, including the annual Men’s and Women’s Conventions and Equip Conference, as well as Risen events for youth, help our members to connect with those of our sister churches.