A Group of Ordinary People

When we think of church many people instantly think of a building and the things that go on inside it.  We want to change that idea and turn it on it's head.  We want people, when they think of Saint Michael's, to think instantly of people - people like themselves - people making a difference.  We hope that Saint Michael's is different.  We love to get together to worship God and to encourage each othe as we attempt to follow Jesus' teachings but we don't want to be known primarily for our services.  We want to be known for other things - friendship, concern, authenticity, community, enthusiasm, joy, giving, life.  Having said all this, we know we're nothing special - just a group of ordinary people - like you.

Websites are great - they look good. . . but they are not the real thing.  Please do have a look around our site and find out what we're about and what we're up to, but the best way of getting to know what we're really like is to get in touch or turn up at one of things we're involved in.  We'd love to har from you . . .

 As a worshipping community, Saint Michael's is committed to fulfilling her "bounden duty and service to follow Christ, to worship God every Sunday in his Church; and to work and pray and give for the spread of his kingdom."

As the only Reformed Episcopal Church in our area, our services have been planned to meet the various needs and traditions of our parishioners.  The use of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, is a valuable aid in uniting us, in spite of the varying degrees of individual churchmanship and serves as a guardian of our orthodoxy.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

At Saint Michael’s the beginning and the center of our worship is the belief that Jesus Christ is Lord. To believe in and to confess Christ is the essence of our Faith.

We believe that at the Communion Table, we are ALL ONE IN CHRIST JESUS. We may be of different races and social positions, at times from different Christian denominations, but as guests of the same Host, as children of the same Father, as sharers in the one atoning sacrifice, as partakers of the same Spirit, as co-members of Christ. Happy is the fellowship at the same Holy Table.

We subscribe to the tenets of Classical Anglicanism: One Bible, Two Testaments, Three Creeds, Four Councils, over the first Five Centuries:

ONE BIBLE

In an age of unbelief, it is particularly important to make clear the Church ’s dependence on the Holy Scriptures as the rule of faith and life. The Reformed Episcopal Church confesses the continuity of the Scriptures around the themes of God grace and the redemption of mankind by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. We reject the “dumbing down” of the Bible, either through skeptical liberalism that would remove any sense of the supernatural, or from those who see the Bible as nothing but a collection of proof-texts.

The Bible is the story of God’s covenant with mankind, worked out by the death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Because Holy Scripture is the “breath of God” (II Tim. 3:16) we set it above both tradition and reason, without rejecting either. The ultimate tradition is that of the Apostles and Prophets. The Bible is the interpreter of tradition and practice.

TWO TESTAMENTS

Because there are those who set the Old Testament aside as either no longer applicable, or as too harsh in our “enlightened” society, it is also important for our Church to make clear the need for both testaments if we are to understand what God has done, and what he would have us do. The structure of the Bible is )a) the prophecy of God’s redemption in Christ, (b) the fact of Chrit’s incarnation, life, death, and resurrecton, and the interpretation of the fact by the chosen spokesmen of the Church, the Apostles.

We show our need of the Old Testament by rehearsing the Ten Commandments each time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. The Bible speaks of the Church built upon “the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone.” We cannot understand why Christ was born, or even appreciate what worship is without a clear appreciation of the Old Testament. We also reference the whole of the New Testament, and not simply the teachings of our Saviour. Christ authorized his Apostles to reveal him to the world as his official spokesmen. We need the whole Bible, both testaments.

But, what of the Apocrapha? The Articles of Religion make clear the palce of the Apocrypha as subservient Holy Scripture, and not a third testament (Article VI). It cannot be used for the establishment of doctrine, but has benefitted the Church at large and ought to be read. The Old and New Testaments offer the Church all htat is needed for life and godliness.

THREE CREEDS

The tree Creeds of the Church, the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed, have served the Church through the centuries as a simple, articulate, and time-tested summary of the belief of the Church. We believe that our creation makes us creedal. We must confess faith. Christians must confess the truth “as it is in Jesus.” These ancient Creeds afford us that opportunity.

FOUR COUNCILS

The first four ecumenical Councils of the Church, Nicaea, A.D. 325; Constantinople, A.D. 381; Ephesus, A.D. 431; Chalcedon, A.D. 451, stand as those which were truly representative of the whole Church, and which have always found recognition within Anglicanism. These Councils settled some of the fundamental questions of doctrine on the nature of the Trinity and the person and work of Jesus Christ. Other Councils are seen by other branches of Christ’s Church as authoritative, but our attention and appreciaton rests with these first four.

FIVE CENTURIES

By this we mean the first five centuries A.D. the life of the Church from the Apostles to Gregory the Great. In that time we go from Jesus and the Apostles to the settling of theological disputes, and the heretics scattered. We see the pattern for worship and polity established, and a prodigious missionary effort throughout all of the crumbling Roman empire, and beyond.

As we move into the Sixth Century, we see the beginnings of the medieval abuses that brought about the Reformation response in the 1500's. While not compelled to follow all aspects of life and thinking from those five centureis, we nevertheless see it as the forming ground for the way the Church would work and live in our world.

In addition to these things, we have the Book of Common Prayer, and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion. The former telling you something about the way we pray and worship; the latter giving expression to matters of doctrine in the settling of disagreements.