Anglican Communion AMA 2017
About the Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is a global cooperative of [38 member churches] (http://www.anglicancommunion.org/structures/member-churches.aspx) and an estimated 85 million members, making it the third largest Christian Communion in the world. These churches are separate, but in communion with one another (though recent conflicts have complicated that somewhat). Though beliefs and practices throughout the communion vary widely, member churches uphold the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds and maintain Apostolic Succession. The Communion began when the Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th Century, and spread largely through colonialism. The Communion as it exists now was formed at the first Lambeth Conference in 1869. [The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral] (http://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/109011/Chicago-Lambeth-Quadrilateral.pdf), a document which is often cited as a basic outline of Anglican identity and used as a reference for Ecumenical talks, is the closest thing to a unified statement of belief we have.
Anglicanism is a "big tent" and contains a wide variety of beliefs and practices, including everything from the Pre-Vatican II Roman Rite, to strict Calvinism, to charismatic Evangelicalism. The Communion has no central authority, even though the Archbishop of Canterbury is a first-among-equals of sorts. However, member churches are largely unified in their use of some sort of Book of Common Prayer (based on the [1662 Book of Common Prayer] (http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1662/baskerville.htm) used in England), some sort of belief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, belief that they are part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and Episcopal Polity with Apostolic Succession.
There are also a great many church bodies which consider themselves Anglican but are not members of the Anglican Communion.
The Panelists
Doctoral candidate studying gender and sexuality in medieval Europe.
I'm a 25 year old bioinformatician. I've been Episcopalian for three-ish years unofficially, and I was confirmed two years ago. I'm currently a PhD student in computer science as well.
I was raised culturally Christian, though my family started attending a southern Baptist church around my senior year of high school. I was baptized there and served as their youth minister for two years, which was an incredibly meaningful part of my life. I officially declared there that I wanted to and felt a call from God to go into ministry, and I'm still working out what that means in my current tradition.
Hi, I'm Music, a 24-year-old medical student. I was raised in a Southern Baptist (later independent Baptist) church, and left as soon as I turned 18. I read some Church Fathers and C.S. Lewis, and wandered semi-accidentally into my campus Episcopalian ministry when I was 21. And the rest, they say, is history. I'm at the Anglo-Catholic end of the spectrum. I'm getting married in 6 months even though I'm terribly behind on wedding planning. I have one pet cat and am trying to convince my fiancé to get another one. I love sci-fi, fantasy, Oscar-bait movies, and debating theology on reddit.
I'm a 28 year old postulant for the priesthood in the Episcopal Church and have recently finished my first year of a Masters of Divinity degree. My undergraduate degree was in Philosophy with a minor in Geology. I've been Episcopalian for just over a decade now but was raised non-denominational and spent a few years of high school in Roman Catholicism.
I would probably describe myself as a "Prayer Book Catholic" and am a provisional member of [The Society of Catholic Priests] (http://www.thescp.org/). I also work fairly closely with an Anglican religious order. Theologically, I've been most heavily influenced by Post-Liberal movements that have called for Protestants to return to pre-modern theology, particularly Patristic and Medieval theology as well as calls for the Church to become more critical in its engagement with our modern, secular culture.
I'm a member of the Anglican Church of Canada, a 26 year old Ph.D student in a religious studies department. I was born in South Carolina, and have moved many times during my childhood. Religiously, my childhood was spent in evangelical contexts due to my mother and my maternal family - mostly Presbyterian but some Baptist - until I was baptized as a Catholic and attended Catholic schools. During my teenage years I left Christianity entirely, though I was intensely interested and curious about Christian theology. It was only after I left the Church that my theological studies began in earnest, ironically enough, and doubly so given that it was reading Nietzsche that fuelled this for the first few years.
Many years later, after a protracted struggle, I returned to Christianity and my mentor gently brought me to the local church he attended - an Anglican church. I have been a parishioner at this church ever since, and I currently serve as an acolyte. I am the first and currently only Anglican in my extended family. I certainly fall on the "high church" end of things, particularly when it comes to doctrine and ecclesiology, but I'm also pretty loyal to the Prayer Book and tend to be fairly critical of a lot of contemporary "Anglo-Catholic" practices. Though I am constantly critical of the Anglican Church, I have a deep love for her as well. That I am a Christian today fills me with wonder at times, and that my return to Christianity took place through an Anglican parish is not something I take for granted.
I'm a 28 year old member of The Episcopal Church and a professional church musician who works for an Episcopal Parish. I was raised and confirmed in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (and my grandfather is a Pastor in ELCA, though he also attends an Episcopal Church now) and began attending a nearby Episcopal chaplaincy while in college. I've been attending Episcopal Churches for about 10 years now, and have worked for a wide range of Anglican churches (from a country club Low Church parish to a traditionalist Anglo-Catholic parish which separated from TEC over ordination of women). Personally, I'm very much on the Anglo-Catholic end of the spectrum, though perhaps not as conservative socially as some other traditionalist Anglo-Catholics (I find it hard to get worked up about LGBT inclusion and ordination of women).
I am a 21 year old, confirmed (by ++Curry!) Episcopalian from the Southern US. I recently graduated with a BA in Religious Studies from my state's largest public university and will be starting work on a Master of Divinity at Union Presbyterian Seminary this fall after I get married and move. I will also be starting a part-time job overseeing the children, youth, and family ministries at an Episcopal church after the move.
I was raised Southern Baptist, and attended Christian schools from 7th grade through 12th grade. During my sophomore year of high school I rejected Christianity and became an atheist, which I remained until I was called back to faith in my sophomore year of undergrad. I now hope to serve The Episcopal Church vocationally as a priest, but that is a long road that I have just barely started moving down (despite going to seminary I'm not actually in the ordination process at all yet).
I am 26 years old and was confirmed in the Episcopal Church at the age of 16. After studying Military History and National Security in undergrad, I had a crisis of vocation my senior year. After some consternation I joined the Episcopal Service Corps to try and intentionally explore vocation within the church. In the ESC I served as an assistant youth minister in Houston Texas, after which I ultimately felt called to continue showing the gospel to kids and young adults. I became a full-time youth minister two years ago and have been serving in the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas ever since. I hope to explore a call to ordained ministry ministry sometime soon, but for now I am fortunate to be kept busy in Youth and Young Adult ministry.
I'm Rob, a student from the UK. I was raised (arguably only culturally) in the CoE, but did the usual wobble into edgy atheism during my teens. I decided to return to being a regular, practising member of the church when I started university and was confirmed in 2011. I'm definitely at the Anglo-Catholic/high church end of the Anglican spectrum.
I'm 24 and a recent college graduate who majored in religion. I'm currently looking for work and aspiring to become a seminarian in the near future. I wasn't raised in a churchgoing family and didn't care much about faith until high school after about a year of hanging out with a local Young Life group. I went to an evangelical church for my formative years of faith and joined the Episcopal Church in college as I learned about the liturgy, became exposed to the wider history of Christianity, and became more socially progressive. My theological interests are wide but I still consider myself fairly Protestant and evangelical in my ethos. The Anglican way roots me in the catholicity of the Christian faith that both humbles and empowers me to live a life of faith, hope, and love, to the glory of God. I'm often still shocked that I am Christian now, and I try not to take it for granted. Soli Deo Gloria y'all.
Posted Jun 26, 2017, 5:31 AM UTC