At Church of the Holy Spirit, we believe:
- In the Holy Trinity of God: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. That is, God is three persons in one deity, as expressed by the Creeds of Nicea and Chalcedon.
- In the incarnation of God as a human being in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and performed miracles. We believe in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His personal return to power and glory. This is the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ.
- That the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are the only infallible and authoritative Word of God. The Bible is a necessary and determinative standard for both faith and practice, our final judge of all human tradition.
- We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful human beings, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary. Regeneration is the new birth that comes to those who repent and believe the gospel.
- We believe that the Holy Spirit permanently indwells every true believer and gives the believer power to live a holy life. The Father sovereignly imparts the same spiritual gifts to today's church that were manifest in the early church.
- We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost: those who are saved to the resurrection of eternal life with the Holy Trinity, and those who are lost to eternal damnation and separation from God.
- We believe that the church of Jesus Christ, which is made up of true believers from every denomination, is to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) by bringing the gospel to all the world.
What We Believe
A Statement From Our AMiA Bishops
We desire to live out the faith that has been received and carried on by the historic Christian church throughout the centuries in ways that engage people today. This includes a commitment to the Bible as the Word of God--that it is the truth by which we order our lives.
We also hold to the central place of Jesus Christ as the unique Son of God--that salvation is found in His sacrificial death and resurrection alone. Our belief is summed up in the historic statements such as the Nicene Creed and the Anglican 39 Articles.
We are unified in these essentials even though we are diversified in their expression. Churches in the AMiA draw from evangelical, anglo-catholic and charismatic influences, like three streams flowing together as one river in Jesus Christ.
What drives us is a focus on mission, reaching from coast to coast to make effective Christian disciples.
The Anglican Mission in America exists to glorify God by building an alliance of congregations committed to gathering, planting and serving dynamic churches in the Anglican tradition.
What It Means to be Anglican
As Anglicans, we're part of the global relationship of churches established over the centuries by the Church of England, a church that is experiencing tremendous growth and renewal in many locations, particularly the "2/3 world".
Our worship is both ancient and modern. Anglicans have always upheld the Holy Scriptures as God's Word and we stand on the two great creeds, the Apostles' and Nicene, as the fundamental statements of Christian belief.
We celebrate the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper as commanded by Jesus and we uphold the historic order of Bishops in the administration of the church's life and mission.
Our approach to worship, based in ancient practice, engages the senses--connecting with people's hearts and minds. This means that Anglican churches are in a unique place to capture the imagination of a society immersed in the images of the media and internet.
The Anglican Mission in America is poised to usher in a new movement of God's Spirit in this nation, as we follow Him and seek to build His Kingdom.
(The essential marks that shape our identity and guide our actions):
Commitment to Jesus Christ: The AMiA believes that salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone Who is the only begotten Son of the Living God. Through Him, all who come to Him by faith and repent of their sins, receive forgiveness through Christ's death on the Cross and live in newness of life through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. This new life of faith is to be marked by a joyful obedience to Jesus Christ, to God's Word and to the leading of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 16:15-16; Ephesians 2:4-10; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 5:22-25).
Authority of Scripture: The AMiA believes that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in their entirety is God's Word, and is the standard by which we are to order our lives, express our faith and function as a community (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Evangelism: The AMiA believes that we are to live our lives, to make disciples and to grow our churches in a manner that expresses the loving and longing heart of God for those who are separated from Jesus Christ and His Church (Matthew 9:12-13; Luke 15; I Timothy 4:1-5).
Relational Ministry: The AMiA is committed to ministry being accomplished in relationships which express the love, intimacy, and unity of God as revealed in the relationship of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The AMiA is committed to holding ourselves accountable before God and to one another within our Anglican polity. (John 13:34; 1 John 4:11-21).
Worship: The AMiA is committed to worship in Word and Sacrament, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Our worship -- in glorifying God -- is to be authentic and relevant to our cultural setting while remaining within the breadth of our Anglican Tradition (John 4:23-24; I Corinthians 11:23-26; Acts 17:22-24).
Servant Ministry: The AMiA believes that every Christian is created for ministry, gifted for ministry and needed for ministry. We are, therefore, committed to equip, empower and release the faithful to use their spiritual gifts to glorify God and to build up the Body of Christ (Romans 12; I Corinthians 12-13).
Sacrificial Giving: The AMiA believes that we are to be generous with our time, talents and money as we share with those in need, support the work of God among us, and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ (I John 3:17-18; Ezra 2:68-69; Acts 2:44-47).
Biblical Leadership: The AMiA is committed to identifying and training emerging leaders who are committed to Christ and to reaching their generation with the Gospel. This will require of those seeking leadership in the AMiA an authentic faith, Godly character, and a servant's heart (Luke 22:27; Romans 12; I Corinthians 12-13).
Expectant Prayer: The AMiA believes that nothing of significance happens in God's Kingdom in the absence of prayer. Therefore, we seek to make prayer a priority -- inviting God to lead, restore, heal and transform our lives, our churches, our communities and the world (John 14:15-31; Luke 11:1-13).
