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Roots of Anglican Streams: Part 2 (Reformed)

As you might know, my family (Husband and Child) has been in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) for about two years. This sort of Anglicanism has three "streams" that intertwine like a braid to form a unique experience and theological "tent." A few weeks ago, I wrote a post exploring the Anglo-Catholic stream. This week, I'd like to explore the Reformed or Protestant stream. Recall that all 3 streams of Anglicanism are present in each congregation in more or less unity, though in different amounts.

Review of Anglicanism

In terms of denominational lineage, the ACNA is split from the Episcopal Church-USA and the Anglican Church-Canada, breaking off due to its desire to take a conservative stance on performing non-heterosexual marriages and allowing non-heterosexual ordinations. Episcopalians are descendants from the Church of England (CoE)--denominations that have formed as a result of splitting from the CoE include Congregationalists, Baptists, and Methodists.

Thirty-Nine Articles and Episcopacy

These are the statement of faith boundaries for Anglicans. In current form, they express various positions on God, Scripture, the ecumenical Creeds, original and actual sin, justification, the Church, and the Sacraments. On the structure of the Church in particular, the Articles express that Anglican churches are modeled on an episcopal governance structure.

What does "episcopal" mean? It is one of three major models of church governance. Here they are:

  • Episcopal (e.g., Church of England, Eastern Orthodox, Methodist, Roman Catholic). Here, authority is vested in archbishops, who are over bishops, who are over individual priests or pastors/rectors in individual congregations. Priests may not teach contrary to what the bishop permits, although they may privately hold other beliefs.
  • Presbyterian (e.g., Reformed, Presbyterian). Here, authority is vested in groups of elders in individual congregations. Elders may be democratically elected or chosen by lot, and participate in denominational/synodical leadership as well.
  • Congregational (e.g., Congregational, most Lutheran). Here, authority is vested in individual congregations, which may organize themselves into synods or conventions but retain independent governance.
    • A smaller sub-model is single-pastor-led, which may have a board of elders under the pastor.


Book of Common Prayer

All Anglicans use the Book of Common Prayer, periodically revised to reflect local languages predominant for use in worship (one of the Articles specifies that worship must be held in the common language of the congregants). The ACNA uses the 2019 update. Throughout the Church year, our congregation uses the Renewed Ancient Text for the Eucharist service; this Lent, we used the Anglican Standard Text which has a few wording differences.

At the back are the lectionaries (3-year) and the readings set for Daily Prayer. I have gone through the Bible in its entirety every year or so since 7th grade; this year, I am using the order for Daily Prayer for a change of pace.

The Reformed Stream

When you hear "Reformed," you might think "non-Catholic because of the Reformation." While that is technically correct, not all traditions/denominations that came about subsequent to the Protestant Reformation are technically termed Reformed today, due to variations in key doctrines that are outside the scope of this post. Suffice it to say, denominations that are Reformed include the Presbyterian Church in America (British Reformed) and Christian Reformed Church in North America (Dutch Reformed), and denominations that are not include Lutheran (Missouri Synod, ELCA, WELS, etc.).

It is also important to note that there are two large groups of Protestants: magisterial (mainly Lutheran) and radical (mainly Evangelical). This is scholarly consensus so should not be taken as a slur.

Scholarly sources for this section are here (chapter by Graham Cole) and here (essay by Les Fairfield).

Brief History

Following the Protestant Reformation, one focus of non-Roman-Catholic theologians was sola Scriptura, better phrased as prima Scriptura (Scripture as highest authority, not the only authority). Another distinction was between beliefs necessary for salvation and adiaphora (anything else, "neither commanded nor forbidden").

Reformation in general was facilitated and driven by translations of the Bible placed into common language, which allowed more people to read for themselves. The Reformed stream, therefore, can be seen throughout and after the Reformation and is difficult for me to distinguish based on the sources accessible to me.

What Reformed-Focused ACNA Congregations Look Like

The tendency of Reformed aspects of the Articles is toward a moderate type of Calvinism. (Husband has strong objections to hard-line Calvinist positions taken by some today.) Foci in congregations include:

  • Prayer, springing from the liturgies in the BCP, because the triune God answers prayer.
  • Scripture reading from a wide base of the lectionary, so each Sunday's worship includes a preset selection from the Old Testament, Psalm, New Testament, and Gospel.
  • Preaching that is based on one of the Scripture readings set for the day.
  • Remembrance that the object of belief is at least as important as the existence of that belief.
  • Centralizing of the Gospel message (story of Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension)
  • Sequencing of the worship service into confession, absolution, and acts of thanks
  • Service outside the worship service as Christ's hands to the community
One could summarize a Reformed-focused congregation as Scriptural, prayerful, and liturgical.



Again, here's what I've written over at The Renaissance Biologist about the Reformed stream: summary of roots of the streams, update on Surprised by Hope class discussion. What has been your experience and perception of this type of worship? Feel free to share in the comments section!

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