The Church of England
Nearly 2000 years ago Jesus rose from the dead after being crucified. He ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit upon a small band of his followers, who were prayng together in a room. This event totally transformed their lives and they rushed out to tell the whole world the Good News about Jesus and his Kingdom (see 'what we believe' on this web site.) As the Church grew, it was guided and cared for by leaders called Overseers, Elders and Deacons. As time went by these came to be called, Bishops, Priests and Deacons. Bishops looked after larger areas, such as Sussex, Priests looked after towns or villages and Deacons assisted in caring for Church members. In most Churches this is still the same. As the Church grew there became two main branches: the Catholic Church in the West and the Orthodox Church in the East, each with their own structure of bishops, priests and deacons. The Catholic Church was overseen, at the highest level by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope.
At the time of the Reformation, all our bishops had been ordained and consecrated in the Catholic Church. This meant that each one could still trace his ordination right back to Christ's own apostles. This is known as 'Apostolic Succession', and is something we value highly. So the Church of England - the Anglican Church - is Reformed but, in an important way it is catholic too. It is not just something started by man but can trace its origin to Christ himself. To find out more about the Church of England click HERE. An article called 'What it means to be an Anglican' can be found HERE. |
All Saints Wick is a parish within the Church of England, but what is the Church of England and how does it work?
During the 16th Century some Christians in europe started to feel that the Church had lost her way and campaigned for reform. The reform never came and parts of the Church started to split away from the authority of the Pope. The most famous figure in this story was Martin Luther (1483-1546). The split became called the 'Reformation'.
In England a similar process had been going on since John Wycliff in the 13th Century. In 1534 King Henry 8th proclaimed himself head of the Church of England. This was not a matter of theology but was due to the fact that the Pope would not allow Henry to divorce his wife Catherine. The following years saw a bloody struggle as the Church of England was drawn into the Reformation and as the 'divorce' from Rome became a reality.
Henry had been advised on the divorce by Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556). In 1532 Cranmer was appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury. Cranmer was largely responsible for what came to be called the 'Book of Common Prayer'. The final version was published in 1662, over 100 years after Cranmer's death, but still containing much of his writings. The Book of Common Prayer contains the 39 Articles of Faith, which are still an important part of Anglican (as the Church of England is also called) belief.
As the British Empire grew, so the Anglican Church spread around the world. Today the Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of a worldwide family of churches, the Anglican Communion, which has more than 70 million adherents in 38 Provinces spreading across 161 countries.