Our understanding of the mystery of life and the nature of reality, is determined and influence by an ancient tradition of faith and belief, philosophy and theology that has as its major focus, the teaching that we have received from Jesus Christ and his Apostles.
As Anglicans, we believe that the foundations of this tradition are found in the canonical Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments and in the life, faith, teachings and practices of the early church fathers.
The Anglican Church gives primacy to Scripture, without rejecting the importance of the tradition of the church, that is the story of the response of Christians throughout the ages to God’s revelation of himself in Jesus Christ.
The Anglican Church is primarily a communion of believers, that is people that share life in communion with one another in Christ. This is a cosmic, universal, Catholic communion which includes people of faith living today and those that have gone before us.
Our life in communion with God and with one another has various summaries of faith that we would all agree to, ( the Apostles, Nicaean and Athanasian Creed) or at least accept as formative of our faith. Some Anglicans give greater emphasis to the primacy of Scripture than others.
The heart of seeking to be in communion with God in Christ, is to nurture our own relationship with God, both personally and in community, and to recognise and experience, God in each other – to love God and our neighbours as ourselves. Our communion with God in Christ includes experiencing the various ways that God communicates with us and we communicate with God. Hence, many within the Anglican tradition seek to recognise God’s purpose, how God communicates, through the unfolding cultures of the world and their diversity. In the past it has been said that we base our faith on Scripture, tradition and reason. Some of us would say that reason includes various forms of knowing developed in a particular culture and or civilisation.
Various expressions of what Anglicans believe can be found by following some of the links on this website.
Each group of believers gathered together in one place, often in a parish such as ours, within the diocese, develops its particular understanding of the faith. This is both communal and personal. As a Parish, we shre in our Diocesan Vision, expecially as expressed in our Diocesan Strategic Plan `Jesus Christ Here and Now for Gippsland’
http://www.gippsanglican.org.au/?page_id=244
In this parish, the parish of Moe, we sum up our faith in the parish mission statement ‘celebrating God’s love for all people’ . You can find out more about how we understand this mission statement by following our unfolding journey, either by joining us, or following it on this website, and especially by listening to or reading the sermons. ( The process of publishing them in MP3 and written text is being finalised at the moment.)