What we believe
The Fundamental Declarations
The fundamental declarations, sections 1, 2 and 3 of the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia, set out the basis of Anglican Belief and practice.
- The Anglican Church of Australia, being a part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, holds the Christian Faith as professed by the Church of Christ from primitive times and in particular, as set forth in the creeds known as the Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed.
- This Church receives all the canonical scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as being the ultimate rule and standard of faith given by inspiration of God and contacting all things necessary for salvation.
- This Church will ever obey the commands of Christ, teach His doctrine, administer His sacraments of the Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, follow and uphold His discipline and preserve the three orders of bishops, priests and deacons in the sacred ministry.
the Christian Faith
Anglicans hold the Christian faith that finds its origins in the person and teaching of Jesus Christ, as mediated by the Scriptures (the Bible) and summarised in the Creeds of the early and undivided church. In this, Anglicans are on common ground with most other Christian traditions – including that of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. With Christians everywhere, Anglican’s believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; that God the Son entered the world in a decisive way and lived among us as Jesus of Nazareth; and that the dying and rising again of Jesus of Nazareth is the means by which all persons might be reconciled to God, having been separated from God by sin.
the Holy Scriptures
The most important source of belief, for all Christians, is the self-revelation of God, contained in the Holy Scriptures as the authoritative story of God’s interaction with the world and with human beings. This story begins in the 39 books of the Hebrew Bible (or ‘Old Testament) and continues in the 27 books of the New Testament, making up a library of 66 ‘books’. Within this library of books, Anglicans believe, are “all things necessary for salvation”.
Excerpts are taken from Anglican Diocese of Melbourne