Are you a Bible-based church?
We believe that sacred Scripture is infallible, that it contains all things necessary for salvation. Some 70% to 80% of our liturgy is taken directly from the Bible. Part of the Liturgy of the Word during the Mass consists of reading significant passages of the Old Testament, the epistles, and the Gospels. The daily lectionary also offers similarly substantial readings from the Bible.
Sacred Scripture can be viewed as the kernel from which the fullest expression of the Faith springs. The story of the Church and the faithful did not end when St. John finished writing the book of Revelation. So, while we give great weight to the words found in Scripture due to the apostolic authority of the writers, we listen keenly to the mind of the Church throughout all times and places. The Fathers of the first five centuries give us a solid foundation of what it means to be a Christian; the great theologians and thinkers of the Church in later times provide us with a framework that shows us how to put the treasures of Christianity into practice. We do not ignore the significance of the practices and beliefs of the Church throughout all time. We refer to these things as Holy Tradition and consider them to be worthy of study and use in the life of the faithful.
Further, as Anglicans, we believe that Reason, a gift given to us by God and enlivened by the Holy Spirit at our Christian initiation, plays a valuable role in discerning the mind of God and his purposes for his people. We are not wise in ourselves to “be the Church;” empowered by Reason that is informed by the deposit of Tradition and the words of sacred Scripture, however, we are blessed by God to be true and faithful members of the Body of Christ.
Do you worship the dead, idols, etc.?
No, we do not worship the dead.
We believe that, even though the body dies, those who have departed this life marked with the sign of faith live on in the presence of God himself. We look to these people as exemplars of the Faith. We believe that they are still members of the Holy Church–that the life of the believer carries on after death as part of the communion of saints; therefore, we seek their intercessions to God on our behalf in this life. We believe that this holy men and holy women are and continue to be our living brothers and sisters in the mystical Body of Christ; we would no more choose to ignore them than we would ignore someone sitting next to us during Mass.
Likewise, we do not worship idols. God forbids the worship of idols or other, false gods. For a description of the purpose and use of icons, please see our Guide to Anglican Liturgy.