Our Faith

Our Anglican Tradition…

is rooted in the historic Christian faith. Our identity is often described using two foundational terms: Reformed and Catholic. However, what truly defines our life and worship is our adherence to the Apostolic Tradition.

Neither Confessional nor Catechetical, But Apostolic

Unlike traditions whose identity is defined by a single confession of faith (like the Augsburg Confession or Westminster Standards), or those whose primary focus is on rote catechetical instruction, Anglicanism grounds its life in the tangible continuity of the Church founded by Jesus Christ and the Apostles.

  • We are not merely Confessional: We do not subscribe to a single, extra-biblical document as the ultimate standard of belief. While we affirm the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion as a historical and theological anchor, our ultimate authority resides in the Holy Scriptures as interpreted through the lens of the ancient Creeds (Nicene, Athanasian and Apostles') and the practice of the historic Church.

  • We are not merely Catechetical: While we believe in the essential work of Christian education, our faith is not only a list of questions and answers. It is a lived reality expressed in worship, sacrament, service and communal life.

We are, above all, Apostolic. This means our faith is passed down, not just through words, but through concrete and visible signs of continuity:

  1. Apostolic Succession: Our bishops, priests, and deacons stand in an unbroken line of spiritual authority and commissioning that stretches back to the first Apostles.

  2. Apostolic Worship (Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi): We find our doctrine (Lex Credendi—the Law of Believing) primarily in our Prayer Book and patterns of worship (Lex Orandi—the Law of Praying). We believe that the way the Church prays is the surest guide to what the Church believes.

  3. Apostolic Scriptures and Creeds: We hold to the Bible as God's revealed word, and we proclaim the ancient, universal faith in the words of the Nicene, Athanasian, and Apostles' Creeds.

A Blended Inheritance: Reformed and Catholic

This Apostolic framework allows us to embrace the gifts of both the Catholic and Reformed traditions:

  • Our Catholic Heritage: We maintain the essential structures of the ancient Church: the sacramental life (especially Holy Eucharist), the three-fold order of ministry (Bishops, Priests, Deacons), the observance of the Church Year, and the beauty and dignity of traditional liturgy. Our parish exists within a diocese, under the authority of our Bishop Ordinary, the diocese exists within our province, which exists within a global communion of Christians.

  • Our Reformed Principles: We affirm the centrality of Holy Scripture as the ultimate rule and standard of faith, the necessity of salvation by grace through faith, and the importance of worship in the vernacular (common language) so that all may understand and participate.

At St. John the Baptist, we seek to be reformed in doctrine, catholic in spirit, and apostolic in life, offering a place where the deep roots of Christian tradition flourish in the light of God's Word.

  • I believe in one God,
        the Father Almighty,
        maker of heaven and earth,
        and of all things visible and invisible;

    And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
        the only-begotten Son of God,
        begotten of his Father before all worlds,
        God of God, Light of Light,
        very God of very God,
        begotten, not made,
        being of one substance with the Father;
        by whom all things were made;

     who for us men and for our salvation
            came down from heaven,
        and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary,
            and was made man;
        and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate;
        he suffered and was buried;
        and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures,
        and ascended into heaven,
        and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;
        and he shall come again, with glory,
            to judge both the quick and the dead;
        whose kingdom shall have no end.

    And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord, and Giver of Life,
        who proceedeth from the Father and the Son;
        who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped
            and glorified;
        who spake by the Prophets.
        And I believe one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church;
        I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins;
        and I look for the resurrection of the dead,
            and the life of the world to come. Amen.

  • I believe in God, the Father almighty,
        maker of heaven and earth;
    And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;
        who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
        born of the Virgin Mary,
        suffered under Pontius Pilate,
        was crucified, dead, and buried.
        He descended into hell.

        The third day he rose again from the dead.
        He ascended into heaven,
        and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty.
        From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
    I believe in the Holy Ghost,
        the holy catholic Church,
        the communion of saints,
        the forgiveness of sins,
        the resurrection of the body,
        and the life everlasting. Amen.

  • Whoever wills to be in a state of salvation, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic [apostolic/universal] faith, which except everyone shall have kept whole and undefiled without doubt he will perish eternally.

    Now the catholic faith is that we worship One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is One, the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.

    Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit; the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated; the father infinite, the Son infinite, and the Holy Spirit infinite; the Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet not three eternals but one eternal, as also not three infinites, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one infinite. So, likewise, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty; and yet not three almighties but one almighty.

    So the Father is God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God; and yet not three Gods but one God. So the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; and yet not three Lords but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be both God and Lord; so are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say, there be three Gods or three Lords.

    The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, nod made nor created but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and the Son, not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding. So there is one Father not three Fathers, one Son not three Sons, and Holy Spirit not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less, but the whole three Persons are coeternal together and coequal.

    So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity is to be worshipped. He therefore who wills to be in a state of salvation, let him think thus of the Trinity.

    But it is necessary to eternal salvation that he also believe faithfully the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. The right faith therefore is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man.

    He is God of the substance of the Father begotten before the worlds, and He is man of the substance of His mother born in the world; perfect God, perfect man subsisting of a reasoning soul and human flesh; equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood.

    Who although He be God and Man yet He is not two but one Christ; one however not by conversion of the GodHead in the flesh, but by taking of the Manhood in God; one altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of Person. For as the reasoning soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ.

    Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life eternal, and they who indeed have done evil into eternal fire.

    This is the catholic faith, which except a man shall have believed faithfully and firmly he cannot be in a state of salvation.

  • Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one
    and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance (homoousios) with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as
    regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer
    (Theotokos); one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the
    distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the Fathers has handed down to us.

  • Link to PDF of Articles