Our MISSION
The Independent Anglican Church - Canada Synod (1934), is comprised of disciples sent forth by the Holy Spirit to live and proclaim Christ Jesus as Followers of the Way in the Tradition of the Book of Common Prayer. We strive to constantly grow in faith, vibrant worship, with love and a warm welcome to all. Our compassionate outreach is to be a vital witness of care and hope wherever the Lord calls us throughout the world.
Our Positions
First and foremost, obviously, we are people who believe in God, in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit.
We believe that God gave to all mankind the gift of salvation through Christ.
We believe that God gave laws to men for their help and protection.
And because we believe these things, we are not a "trendy" church.
We are traditionalists. We hold firmly to the belief that the Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary to salvation.
We believe that the Scriptures are Divinely inspired, but not that they were "written" by God Himself.
Our Prayer Book is traditional too. Our Book of Common Prayer Canada, 1991, upholds the form and order of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer, 1549 with a few minor changes. We use the 1938 Book of Common Praise and our diocese has also published a Canadian Music Psalter, 1991 which features a complete version of the Coverdale Psalter and the traditional Anglican Chant. Both of these publications have been acknowledged by prominent Anglican scholars such as Dr. Robert Crouse of King’s College, Halifax, to be worthy editions that accurately reflect the true Anglican tradition.
We are- as Anglicans have ever been, traditionally - ready and willing to accept wide variations in the style of worship. Our parishes span the full gamut of high, broad, and low church. Each parish will, while using the same Prayer Book, find the style best suited to its needs.
We are proud to be traditional Anglicans. We follow, "where the saints have trod", the old, familiar path; the path that leads, in order and dignity, to warmth and tolerance. We welcome all; all who come seeking such a way. That Way is Anglican. We are its soldiers, keeping watch and ward. We are the garrison, the guardians of the Way.
Morality:
It is the unalterable position of the Independent Anglican Church - Canada Synod (1934) that The Holy Sacrament of Marriage is the sanctified union of a man and a woman only, and that any other union is contrary to the divinely inspired Word of God. It is also the opinion of the Church that the definition of the word marriage cannot be changed by contemporary social mores and that all sexual relations outside of marriage are to be considered sinful. It is not in the Church’s domain to judge, but to love, teach and maintain the Faith as it has always been taught to the betterment of the Salvation of the souls of God’s people on earth.
Doctrinal Position:
As Anglicans we worship Almighty God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We uphold the Faith that was once delivered by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to the Apostles, the Martyrs and Saints, and practice that Faith at all times and in every place. We are Catholic because we have no new doctrines of our own, and are part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. We are Reformed, because we repudiate the Papal claim to infallibility and those particular dogmatic teachings that cannot be proved by Holy Writ.
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be authoritative Word of God, handed down to us by the Prophets, and above all, we believe in Jesus Christ the Messiah revealed in God’s self-disclosing and saving plan for mankind as recorded in those same Holy Scriptures.
We are a Bible-believing Church that accepts the unchanging truth and moral norms as expressed in the Word of God.
We maintain and practice that matters of faith, order, doctrine, morality and discipline, are not subject to changes wrought by contemporary social and secular mores.
We believe that the Decalogue was graven in stone, and the momentous Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds,de facto expose the sound judicial and ecclesial Doctrine of the Apostolic and Apologetic Church.
We are a devotional Church, whose adherents pray privately, each in his or her own way, or corporately in Divine Worship during which our "common prayers" are the liturgical, Opus Dei which requires active participation with all of our human senses. The focus and central act of our Divine Worship is the Holy Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, or the Mass, also known in the Eastern Churches as the Divine Liturgy.
We believe that the Apostolic and Sacred Ministries of male Bishops, Priests and Deacons were ordained by Jesus Christ and established by the Apostles.
We believe that "the Church" includes a ministry of Lay people in that "the priesthood of all believers" is indispensable in extending the Kingdom of God.
We believe that the Church’s Ministry is the unity of both Word and Sacrament. The elements are effectual signs which convey God’s grace, and that, at every Sacramental act we encounter God. The Sacraments of the Anglican Tradition are Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion, Holy Orders, Holy Matrimony, the Ministry of Absolution or Penance, and the Ministry of Healing, or Unction.
The essence and purpose of the Church was, and is, to proclaim the Gospel boldly, and to bring humanity to Christ, and to bring Christ to mankind, and reconcile the world to Him.
We recognize and respect the ecumenical dialogue with the Diocese of Niagara of the Anglican Church of Canada. We do not criticize or condemn its polity, but value that dialogue and mutual respect. The Independent Anglican Church - Canada Synod (1934) is open to Ecumenical dialogue and relationships with other like-minded Churches or Jurisdictions.
As Independent Anglicans, we are profoundly committed to the authentic Doctrine of the old Church of England and the principles of the Solemn Declaration, 1893 and the Anglican three-legged stool: Scripture, Reason and Tradition, and of course, Divine Worship exclusively from the Book of Common Prayer.