“Its been a while. Going to the Christmas Eve service seems like the right thing to do. For the kids. For me. For God.” “Its been a while since I’ve been to church, and I’m not sure how I feel about going back. I’m not sure if I’ll feel good or guilty. Not sure if…
Classic resources from the founding team of Anglican Compass.
Thanksgiving Prayers (Not Just for Thanksgiving Day!)
Thanksgiving is one of the most important kinds of prayer. It’s natural to make petitions, asking God to give us something we lack. But in thanksgiving we thank God for the things we have, acknowledging him as the source of all our blessings. Here we share a number of wonderful Thanksgiving prayers from the Anglican…
Anglicans & Roman Catholics
Anglicans are sometimes said to be “a little bit Protestant and a little bit Roman Catholic.” That’s probably true to some extent as a description of what people see in a worship service. We Anglicans see ourselves as both fully catholic and as a church of the Reformation at the same time. Because we are…
Writing as Ministry
I personally got into new media when I built my first church website in 1997. Using HTML and a dial-up connection, I inserted a ton of hyperlinks and made tables to frame it all up. It had some killer clipart. When blogging came around I tried my hand at that in 2002 through a blog called “Bull…
Are You Called to Ordained Ministry?
My work involves assisting people in what we call the discernment process, which asks, “Am I called to Ordained Ministry?” People often want to know a good way to discern an answer to this question. I’ve adapted some material that I’ve written for use in our diocese. This may be helpful. This article doesn’t deal…
Be the Church: Facing Nominalism
Recently, we were told that the Christian church in America is “hemorrhaging members” and that the church is shrinking. It is true that the number of Americans who claim to be Christian is shrinking. However, as usual, Ed Stetzer provides some real clarity in his interpretation of statistics. Turns out that people are not so much “leaving church” as they…
Is Anglicanism Catholic or Protestant?
Roman Catholic? Reformed? Protestant? Most American evangelicals experience a church world that is either protestant and Reformed or Roman Catholic. You have to be one or the other. For many, ‘catholic’ means “Roman Catholic”; ‘Reformed’ means “Calvinist.” “Protestant” means “Non-Roman Catholic.” The Eastern Orthodox churches in these discussions are largely unconcerned. Anglicanism, however, had a unique, rich history…
Ascension Day & the Real Absence of Christ
Ascension Day is forty days after Easter. After Jesus rose again, he spent forty days with the disciples, then, “…he parted from them and was carried up into heaven” (Luke 24:51). His ascension marked the beginning of his absence. Imagine the roller coaster ride the disciples went through, from their disappointment at Jesus’s death to…
Why Bishops?
The Anglicans were one of the few reformational churches that retained Bishops as biblical and historical. Most of the other groups, in our humble opinion, threw the Bishops out with the bathwater. We feel like that was a mistake. Here’s why. First, because of history. In Paul’s Epistles we find that there were presbyters (elders)…
Why Resurrection?
Why is it so important to Christians that we profess faith in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ? Many aspects of that reality could be discussed, because the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are right there at the very heart of our faith. However, there is an aspect that most speaks to today’s world….
Maundy Thursday: A Rookie Anglican Guide
What’s “Maundy Thursday?” Has there ever been a child who didn’t think I was saying Monday Thursday during the Holy Week announcements? Growing up, I thought today was Monday Thursday until about age 14. No one could explain why it was called Maundy Thursday when I finally learned it was Maundy rather than Monday! Friends,…
The Blessed Virgin Mary: A Rookie Anglican Guide
March 25th is the feast day commemorating the Annunciation, the announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would bear the Son of God. See Luke 1:26-38 for the beautiful story. We observe this day because it is nine months before Christmas Day. Mary: The God-Bearer, or Mother of God Mary’s faith lives on, and many generations have…
