We’re a capital “J” Jesus community and a lowercase “a” Anglican community.
The authoritative scriptures of the Old and New Testaments point us toward and show us Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to whom the Holy Spirit bears witness. This is the heart of our faith “that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 1:3).
While that reflects our priority, Anglicanism is important to us as a tradition that provides many tools that help us become like Jesus. Anglicanism shapes the way we worship: our liturgy comes from the prayer book tradition, we engage with Word and Sacrament each week. It shapes the way we’re structured: we have a bishop and missional partnerships with other Anglican churches in our region and in various parts of the world.
Being Anglican means that we’re a part of the global and historic church. The Anglican Communion grew out of the missionary expansion of the Church of England over the past 500 years and it consists of 38 self-governing provinces around the world, in 164 countries, with tens of millions of members. More particularly, our roots are in the Rwandan Anglican church, whose witness to Jesus both in the East African Revival and in post-genocide Rwanda has played an integral role in the recovery of that nation. From the Rwandan church we have inherited a legacy of courageous witness and costly obedience.
We are part of the Diocese of Christ Our Hope in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). As a part of the ACNA, we subscribe to the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion and the Jerusalem Declaration. We are part of the larger Christian community in the Delaware Valley and are actively building partnerships with other local churches and ministries. We believe in the importance of maintaining the unity of the body of Christ across racial and denominational lines.