The Anglican Church

The Church of England is part of the worldwide Anglican church which includes the church in Wales, the church in South Africa, the church of India and well as many other state or National churches. Each of the Anglican churches has an archbishop at its head but the figurehead of all the Anglican churches is the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Most Anglican churches were established by missionaries from England who went out to the colonies to spread the gospel between 1600 and 1900 though there are still many missionaries in the world. The Anglican church is mainly found in countries that were part of the British Empire in African , India, Canada, Australia , New Zealand, South Africa and parts of the far East.

Most Anglican churches are governed by a synod or committee which decide how the church should respond to events in the world. These consist of three groups the bishops, the clergy (priests and ministers) and the laity (ordinary churchgoers).

Key beliefs

• The Anglican church is a mixture of "Catholic" (High church - emphasis on the Eucharist and on ceremony) and "Protestant" (Low church - emphasis on the bible and preaching) beliefs,
• The authority comes equally from the bible, from God and from the leadership of the clergy,
• The central act of worship is the Eucharist or Lord's Supper. * Only priests can perform the Eucharist,
• Priests can be married and can be men or women,
• The church of England is part of the government of the UK with 24 bishops in the house of Lords,
• There are seven sacraments or holy acts these are the Eucharist, Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, Penance (confession of sins), Ordination, Anointing of the sick.