Anglican Christianity is unique in its expression of what it declares about what we believe. Unlike other reformation churches, it doesn’t have a literal, “Statement of Faith.” Instead, the Anglican Reformers operated under the principle of Lex orandi, lex credendi, which loosely translates as “the law of praying is the law of believing.” In other words, “we are what we pray.” Our mode of common worship and prayer, as authored in our Book of Common Prayer (next edition 2018), illustrates our beliefs.
In response to the request and pressures of critics to declare a Statement of Faith, the English Reformers created a list of 39 Articles of what it means to be an Anglican. These, coupled with the ancient documents of the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, form the essence of the Anglican belief system.
Anglican belief is orthodox, trinitarian, Christo and biblically centric, and challenges a lost world to repentence and conversion to Christ. It heralds the essence of the Reformation and stands in unity with God’s “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.”