Anglican Order: The ties which bind

Things that might be considered beliefs within the Anglican Communion are actually conflated discussions, thankfully certain central values unite us. Our official measure is the Book of Common Prayer with its 39 Articles, as both outline our formal creeds and manner of worship, thereby identifying what is distinctive to Anglican churches.

The Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888 affirms and summarizes these core beliefs, defining them as:

• The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as 'containing all things necessary to salvation, and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith'.
  
• The Apostles’ Creed as the Baptismal Symbol, and the Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith.
  
• The two sacraments ordained by Christ himself – Baptism and Holy Communion – ministered with unfailing use of Christ’s words of institution and of the elements ordained by him.
  
• The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the Unity of his Church.

The Anglican Communion steadfastly remains a worldwide fellowship of churches made up of millions of Christians that owe their origin to the historic See of Canterbury. Praise be to God we remain in fellowship with the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.