Statement from the Missional Anglican Conference held in Cardiff on 15 and 16 March 2019.

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Anglican Essentials Wales is a network of lay and ordained Anglican Christians from across Wales who hold to the Faith revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the Catholic Creeds, to which the Thirty-nine Articles and the Book of Common Prayer as published in 1662 bear witness. This is the orthodox faith and practice of the universal tradition of the Church, which is passed on from generation to generation.

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Recent decades have witnessed a serious decline in our Church.  We are concerned that recent decisions concerning policy and practice exacerbate that decline.  For this reason, we have met together to reaffirm our missional calling to a distinctive witness in the face of secular culture.

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Mission and Authority

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We believe: At the heart of the church’s mission is God's call to men and women to return to the supreme authority that belongs to God, to name Jesus as the one true Lord.  The message of Jesus was summed up by the gospel writers as “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand”, so that people can repent and believe.  That must be the core of our message too.   Only in submission to God's self-revelation in Jesus the Living Word and in the Bible, his Written Word, will human beings find life and freedom.  It is by this faith that we are able to enjoy the love of God both in this life and in the coming age.  When the Church promotes human ideas over revealed truth, it loses its God-given authority, the hope of the gospel, and thus its ability to call people out of spiritual lawlessness and death into everlasting life.

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Mission and Sacraments

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We believe: The sacraments instituted by Jesus are a means of God’s grace to believers.  They mark entry into his Church and sustain our walk with him. True sacramental ministry is about bringing people into relationship with Jesus Christ and thus into the Church which is His body. Our mission is to announce by word and deed that the Kingdom of God has drawn near so that people may repent and believe the good news of Jesus.

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Mission and the Uniqueness of Christ

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We believe:  Mission is not about us making God acceptable to people, but people being made acceptable to God by grace through faith in Christ alone.  This can only happen through Jesus Christ the incarnate Son of God.  Only in him can fallen human beings be reconciled to God. By means of his death on the cross, he alone can remove our sin which separates us from God. By means of his resurrection he alone brings to us the life of the coming age.   Before him alone will every knee bow when he returns as King and Judge.

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Mission and a Counter Cultural Church

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We believe: The Church is God’s New Society, expressing on earth our citizenship in heaven through our submission to the rule of God in obedience to his Word and holy will.  By the enabling power of the Spirit we obey and conform to his truth, and we show to the world the glory of God's holiness in our restored humanity. By our witness we draw people into that true human life, with its joy and freedom, that God wills for all. 

 

CARDIFF 16 March 2019.