Doctrine

At St. Stephen’s Anglican, we live and worship in the spirit of “Reformed Catholicism.” As catholics (not Roman), we embrace the teaching of the whole Church throughout time, interpreting the Scriptures in accordance with the consensus of the Church Fathers and Mothers and the Ecumenical Creeds. As reformed, we uphold the Scripture-centered legacy of the English Reformation encapsulated in our Book of Common Prayer.

As the 17th-century Anglican bishop Lancelot Andrewes declared, our belief and practice are regulated by one Bible, two testaments (Old and New), three creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian), four ecumenical councils, and the first five centuries of undivided Christian witness.

The Christian Story

  • God is Love, and out of His fullness of love created the world by His Word and Spirit. He created humans in His image, to be His priests and stewards of the earth, but through their rebellion, sin and death corrupted the world. So God set apart a people for Himself, a holy nation of faith.

  • The Son, the eternal image and Word of the Father, united Himself to human nature. In taking our nature upon Himself and bearing it to the righteous death of the cross, He healed us of our sin and vanquished the power of death over us. Jesus Christ, fully man and fully God, is enthroned in Heaven as our King and High Priest.

  • By the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is still with us. The Holy Spirit seals us in baptism as the Church, one with our Lord and Savior, and ministers to us and on our behalf in prayer. As we walk in the way of His cross, Jesus visits us and reaffirms His pledge to us in the sacrament of communion.

All things necessary for salvation are contained in the Holy Scriptures, Old and New Testaments. The Bible is the Church’s supreme authority, inspired by and interpreted under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit’s work did not end with the Apostles of Jesus Christ; they passed on their spiritual gifts and their ministry through the laying-on of hands, and their testimony to the truth in the New Testament.

The Apostles’ successors later met in a series of Ecumenical Councils and spoke in the authority of the Holy Spirit to address challenges to the Church and clearly set forth the faith delivered to them. These essential doctrines, which shape our interpretation of the Scripture, are summarized and celebrated in the creeds, especially the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds.