About Us
As part of the world-wide Anglican Church, in the evangelical tradition, we believe that God has called us to be part of His people, the church, in our community.
We hope to share the good news of Jesus Christ with everyone.
Please be assured of a warm welcome. We’d love to see you. No previous experience is required, just come as you are.
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:9-10).
What Do We Believe?
At the heart of our faith we believe;
“God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3: 16
God in his love for the world gave his son to bring us to life! We need simply to believe in him! It sounds simple, it is simple! But there is a also great deal more depth and richness to what these words mean. This is our gospel, our good news!
The Gospel
The problem of sin
to understand why the Christian message is gospel (good news) we need to first understand the problem the gospel addresses, and that problem is sin.
Sin does of course involve doing those things which go against God’s commandments, but that’s more the outworking of sin as opposed to a definition of sin. Sin is a rejection of God and of his way. At times sin is intentional (deliberate rebellion, thinking we know best), sometimes it is accidental (our hearts and minds have latched onto other things, and we have gone away from God without even realising it), sometimes it is done in negligent ignorance (when we have failed to seek and learn from the God who has called us to himself resulting in us going against him). Sin is ultimately a rejection of God and of his good and perfect purposes.
That may not sound so bad, but Sin creates a breakdown of everything and disrupts the good and perfect order God has created. Sin has caused the entire world to fall and causes it “to groan as in labour pains” in its contorted, and distorted state. Sin also causes a breakdown of relationships, between people, as we selfishly look to our own interests, and do things our own way. Sin separates us from God, for if we have rejected God, and caused pain to others through our sinfulness, then we cannot draw near to him, because God is good and just, and he cannot for justice's sake ignore our sin. The penalty for sin is death. Death which again separates us from one another, but more importantly that separates us from God for eternity.
Sin is deadly serious. The Bible tells us that no amount of good deeds, or righteous living can ever undo our sin. God doesn’t weigh up all our deeds on a scale to see if the good outweighs the sin. Sin is a mark, a blemish which we cannot remove, a penalty must be paid, and that penalty is death.
God loves us too much to leave us in our sin!
We may sin, but God still loves us! God’s love for us is like a parent for their child (yet a more perfect form of love than any earthly parent could offer). Although we do wrong, and we often reject him and think we know best, God still loves us, and nothing we do could ever change how he feels about us. God loves us and he doesn’t want any of us to face separation or death. He created us for life and relationship with him. So God provides the solution for our sin, for all those willing to receive it because for him, no distance and no sacrifice would be too much if it meant bringing us back to himself.
The solution to our sin
So to fix the problem, to deal with our sin, God the father sends the Son into the world, who takes our human nature upon himself, setting aside his divine majesty to live among us, Why? So he himself could pay the penalty for our sin. See, unlike us, Jesus was spotless, without any trace of sin, he was truly innocent, and even though he was tempted in every way we are, he did not sin! And so he became the perfect sacrifice for us.
When Jesus willingly died on the cross he bore the burden of all our sin, past present and future, of those who had lived, who still lived, and who would ever live, so we could start again, free from our sin. And then on the third day after the crucifixion, on that first Easter, Jesus rose from the dead, having made payment for our sin. Death, the penalty for our sin was defeated!
The benefits of our redemption
Relationship: now we are not just free from sin, but we are free to draw near to the good, perfect God of love once again. To have a relationship with him. That relationship starts now in the present, it is intimate, and we can experience that relationship in our lives today. We can know God’s comforting presence with us, his ministry to us, his guidance, his healing, his speaking. But also that relationship will continue into eternity in an even greater way. For when we enter into God’s kingdom he will wipe away every tear from our eyes, he will be our God, and we will be his people.
Resurrection: through Jesus we now have better things to come! God has prepared a place for all his people in his kingdom. Where there is no more pain or suffering or sorrow any more, but perfect contentment and joy everlasting. Where all will be as it ought to be.
With death overcome, it no longer has the final word over us. Yes, we will die, but death has now become the gateway into a newer, fuller, better life. For Jesus will raise us from the dead just as he was raised.
Sanctification: having been set free from sin, and being free to draw near to God, God works in his people, transforming us into the people he made us to be, before sin distorted us and God’s image in us. This is a lifelong process of healing, and ultimately it is not until we have passed through death into our resurrected life that God’s work will be fully realised in us.
Life in its fullness: living as God’s people brings a new dimension and richness to our lives, as we grow to become the people we were made to be, with the God we are made to be with, we can begin to truly flourish. And as we follow where God leads us, we find he brings us to unexpected places, doing unexpected things, even things we never thought possible.
The call to believe
This gift of redemption is given freely by God. He has done all that was necessary, there is no work for us now to do. But God will not force himself, or his gift upon anyone. If we choose to remain in sin then that is our choice, but there is no benefit to us from Jesus if we choose to remain in that which he has set us free from. To use an analogy; it’s like we were locked in a cage, and Jesus has come along and opened the barred door and holds out his hand as he invites us out. We can refuse to take his hand and remain in the cage of sin, or we can take his outstretched hand and let him lead us out into freedom. Christians use the word faith here, because that is what we are called to have. To have faith in Jesus as he leads us away from sin into eternal life. He has taken the initiative, he has done the work, he holds his hand out to each of us, we simply need to trust him, taking his hand as he leads us into life.
What does it mean to be a Christian?
People often think that being a good Christian means doing lots of good deeds, following strict rules, not making mistakes, and going to church (all of which can make Christianity sound very boring!). Indeed, even some people who go to church can think that this is what it’s all about, but it is not!
Quite simply, being a Christian means that you are in Christ, that you have placed your trust in him and have chosen to follow him. It is about living a life in relationship to him. A life where we are growing day by day into the people God made us to be, seeking to live better each day than we did the day before, seeking to know and love God more, and to grow in the certainty of hope.
This certainty of hope enables us to know that when we fall down, and we sin, it is okay because Jesus has already paid the price. We simply need to get up and carry on determined to do better next time. To know that no matter what the world throws at us, what mistakes we make, or where we end up, nothing will ever separate us from God again. As the apostle Paul puts it;
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:35,38,39
So why do Christians go to church, try to do good, and avoid activities considered sinful?
Because we want to! Because as we walk with Jesus, we want to honour God and his gift to us, and we want to show his love and goodness to others because we ourselves have experienced his love and goodness.
As to going to church: well, we do that because;
· it’s an opportunity to give God the praise he rightly deserves as we worship together,
· it’s an opportunity for us to come together as brothers and sisters to support and encourage one another,
· it is an opportunity for us to sit and learn together so we may grow in our knowledge and love of God,
· it’s an opportunity to be ministered to,
· to wait on God,
· and to pray together.
And this brings us to another important aspect of what it means to be a Christian. We do not exist alone. Not only is God there with us always, but we have been made into a new family that is the church. We are meant to be brothers and sisters to one another, and so;
· going to church is an opportunity for us as brothers and sisters to come together. If we are doing church properly then it should be a highlight of our week!
What is distinctive about our belief from other types of churches?
We are a group of Anglican churches which are a part of the church in Wales. The Anglican Church does not claim to be the only legitimate church out there, we are simply an expression of church.
Like most churches, we sing songs, we have sermons, and we believe the Bible is God’s Holy Word.
Unhelpfully, The Anglican church doesn’t have a singular doctrinal statement, instead we have a collection of foundational documents which together describe our theology and teaching. These documents are:
· the Creeds (Nicaean and the Athanasian)
· the 1662 book of common prayer
These documents set out the supremacy of Scripture in the shaping of our theology, they describe an understanding of who God is, the way to salvation as being through justification by faith through Jesus, the power and limitations of the church and councils, the nature of the sacraments, and a pattern of life, worship, and prayer. These documents are all intended to be held together in their presentation of an Anglican theology. Given the dispersed nature of this theological presentation, and having a long history there is practically a huge spectrum of theological beliefs held withing the church, some conforming more than others to these documents.
There are perhaps three key ways the Anglican churches are distinct from other forms of church;
We are Liturgical.
If you have ever sat through a service in an Anglican church you will have probably encountered liturgy. Most people think of liturgy as being the words which are spoken out together by the congregation perhaps from a booklet or projected on a screen. Although this does form a part of the liturgy, the liturgy is far more than just these words. Being liturgical means that we have a sort of formula directing our services which are intended to take us on a sort of spiritual journey through the story of redemption each week which is then echoed throughout the church’s calendar.
The pre-written prayers woven throughout the formulated structure which are intended to give life to this movement. Some parts spoken out by the leader so that the congregation can receive, and with other parts are spoken out together, because our worship and service to God is for all his people to participate in together.
Traditionally all Anglican churches would use the same liturgy and even the same prescribed sermons. However, things have moved on significantly since then. With many different forms of liturgy now available, with a greater variety of pre-written prayers which can be woven throughout, and more license given to clergy to change things to make them more relevant to their local context. This is a good thing! Because the liturgy is intended to enhance and enable our worship, and not to limit it. Some churches will stick very rigidly to the liturgy while others will have a far more flexible approach to it. Some churches will keep the structure, but abandon the pre-written prayers. Others will mix up the structure but still use many of the prayers. But even when we appear to deviate completely from the liturgy, the rhythm of the liturgy will still be directing our thinking to some degree.
We are a sacramental church.
This means we place an emphasis on those activities considered to be sacraments. A sacrament is a fancy way of describing specific activities which we were instructed to do by Jesus intended to be a;
They are activities which communicate in some way God’s goodness and favour towards his people and of their redemption freely given by him. Activities which God uses to minister to us, so that our faith might be strengthened, encouraged, and driven onwards through participating in these activities.
Prior to the reformation the church held that there were 7 sacraments, but the Anglican church affirms only two, that of the Lord’s Super, and baptism. However because of the diversity within the church, many would affirm other activities such as Confirmation, Penance, Ordination, Marriage, and extreme Unction as sacraments.
We are an episcopal church.
This is a fancy way of saying we operate in a hierarchical structure with clergy serving with in offices of deacons (servants), priests (presbyters), and bishops (overseers). Those serving in these capacities will have been through an intensive discernment process where both they, their local church, and representatives from around the Church in Wales, will have sought to discern their call before sending them off for initial training, followed by ordination, to the office of deacon, then eventually to the office of priest.
Of course, at the top of this hierarchy is Jesus himself! But in the human structure, we have the bishop, who is responsible for the spiritual well-being of everyone within the geographical area that makes up their diocese and is essentially the boss (humanly speaking) over all the CIW churches and clergy within their diocese.
The bishop then invites priests to share in their responsibility in a delegated capacity. Most vicars you encounter will be priests, who, on the bishop’s behalf exercise pastoral care, teaching, and leadership ministries within the churches entrusted to them. Now we should note for clarities sake; the Anglican church officially affirms the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, so when we speak about priests we should in theory be referring to those appointed to the office of priest deriving from the NT idea of presbyter. However, there are many people in the Anglican church who do not hold to this doctrine and hold to a more Catholic/ OT understanding of a priest.
Then the deacon is someone who takes on more of a servant role within the church as opposed to leadership. They are there to assist the local priest in their ministry but with limits to what they can do. Historically, there were many clergy who held the office of deacon within the church, with some choosing to remain a deacon for their entire ministry. However, in modern times very few clergy have the option to remain a deacon beyond their first year of ordination.