St George's Anglican Church
A Traditional Episcopal 1928 Prayer Book Parish

What We Believe

• We accept as the Rule of Faith, the historic Creeds: The Apostles’ Creed, The Nicene Creed, and The Athanasian Creed.
• We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the inspired word of God, and to contain all doctrine required as necessary for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, and we teach nothing as necessary to eternal salvation that cannot be proved or reasonably concluded from the Scriptures.
• Given the difficulties of even the most scholarly and faithful of translations, Holy Scriptures and the teachings of Jesus must be interpreted. We believe the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the undivided Church to have received the original deposit of Apostolic Faith and Practice, and we reject any interpretation not in accord with the tradition and teaching of the early Church.
• We accept the time-tested decisions of the first seven General or Ecumenical councils of the Church Catholic as truly and faithfully stating the mind of the whole of Christ’s Body; as being in accord with Holy Scripture and Apostolic Tradition; and therefore as being of sound authority.
• Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, the Word of God Incarnate, was the full and complete revelation of God to mankind. Through Him were revealed once and for all time the Nature of God and His Commandments for his people. These revelations are not to be altered, set aside, or added to by any so-called “revelation” through any mortal being. Therefore nothing is to be accepted as being true to the Faith that has not been believed always and everywhere by the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
• All things are possible with God, and it has always been so. Therefore we must know that God’s choice of two distinct and different sexes as the basis for mankind was intentional, and in fulfillment of His plan. He created them male and female, and joined them together in Holy Matrimony. They form the perfect whole, each bringing different, but complementary strengths to the Christian family and home.
• We accept Jesus as the archetype and model for manhood, and we accept Mary, the Holy Virgin Mother, as the archetype and model for womanhood, revering her as the obedient and faithful human of the Incarnation.
• We believe that faithful and godly Bishops are called to be successors to the office and work of the Apostles, and that they are therefore to be accepted as Chief Shepherds and Spiritual Guides of their clergy and people. They are called upon to exert this leadership in accordance with the teachings of Scripture (especially as set forth in the Pastoral Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy and Titus), and to exert such authority as is consistent with faithful acceptance of their pastoral responsibility. We look upon the whole of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church as the Body of which Christ is the Head, and we believe that wherever the faithful people of God are gathered around a true Bishop, there is a part of that Body.
• We see the Priests of the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church as assistants to the Bishop in the exercise of his Apostolic office, with limited sacramental and ecclesiastical powers and authority derived through their ordination and the laying on of hands by a Bishop who is himself in full and rightful exercise of the Apostolic Office. A Priest is responsible to God, and to the Bishop within whose jurisdiction he is serving, for faithfully carrying out the vows taken by him at his ordination, and for the spiritual care of the congregation he is serving.
• We believe the mission of the Church is to be the living community of the People of God, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Head; to proclaim the Gospel and call the world and the worldly to repentance; and never to be moved by the changing patterns of human preference, or the pressures of the errant and the ungodly.
• Christians are to truly follow Christ as faithful members of His Body, the Church, and as integral and participating parts of the Community of the People of God.
• The mission of a true disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ is to be obedient to the Will of God, as revealed in the teachings and commandments of Jesus the Divine Son, always and everywhere bearing witness to the Faith by the evidence of the Fruits of the Spirit in life and conversation.
• We accept the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist specifically directed by our Lord, and also the five additional Sacraments of Confirmation, Holy Matrimony, Penance, Unction and Holy Orders accepted by the undivided Church from early times. The Sacraments are the principal paths through which God’s Grace is mediated to the followers of Jesus Christ. Of these Sacraments, we believe that the Eucharist, or Holy Communion, is central and essential to the spiritual life and witness of a follower of Christ. The Eucharist is the only complete service of worship in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, and without the frequent and devout reception of the sacramental Body and Blood of Christ there can be no true life in His mature disciples. (St. John 6:33)
• The Daily Offices, such as Morning and Evening Prayer, are the Church’s answer to our Lord’s direction to “pray without ceasing,” and they form a regular part of the life of every Catholic Christian.
• The Sacrament of Unction (holy anointing with oil consecrated for use in healing) should be a natural part of the life of every Christian. We believe that, in addition to taking advantage of the knowledge given by God to physicians, the Sacrament of Unction should be requested on any occasion of illness of body, mind or spirit.
• It has never been denied that in response to repentance and contrition, the confession of sin directly to God through Jesus Christ as our intermediary will bring His forgiveness and reconciliation. The history of human weaknesses n God’s people has sown that periodic resort to the Sacrament of Penance (Confession to a Priest or Bishop) is a great privilege, and beneficial in assuring the strengthening a life in compete reconciliation with God, We encourage our people to resort to that Sacrament whenever they are burdened by a grave sense of guilt, and in any case once a year, preferably at the beginning of Lent.
• The Biblical Standard of the “Tithe of the Increase” is the minimum prescription for “rendering unto God, that which is God’s,” and, insofar as the inescapable requirements of human living permit, God’s gifts of Time and Talent should likewise be shared.
• Normal human beings live much of their lives through the use and acceptance of symbols. It is right and good to make use of Holy symbols, music, color, candles, incense, and symbolic liturgical vestments, and processions to help bring God’s people in worship to the feeling of being close to God, and of giving themselves to Him. Such is the historic and proper custom in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
• God has never promised that the human desires of his people would always be fulfilled, or that the road of the disciple would be easy! But He did promise that commitment to Him and trust in His Love would bring the greatest of all gifts, peace of mind, inner tranquility, and the Peace of God, that carries with it the strength, through God’s Grace, to stand against and above human and natural tragedy. This is our belief, and we endeavor to walk in this path.

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