Finding a good fit

LumenDei said:

Hello everyone. It's great to meet you all.

I'm looking for my fit in terms of congregation and being based in the UK I'm finding it difficult. Here in postmodern Europe where political correctness runs rife, finding a place where His word flows out in love is getting harder and harder.

So where do I fit? Where is my church? Having spent time in other parts of the world namely the USA and Australia, thriving Christian communities which adhere to God's will exist however over here in the UK it's getting harder and harder to find places which are passionate and popular without some kind of selling out to modern culture.

I believe in a church which upholds the sanctity of marriage, the word of God and marriage between a man and a woman. I wish to find a church which believes in patriarchy, isn't concerned with the homosexual agenda and isn't Left-Wing in ethos. Does such a place exist? If so, which churches do you feel would be a good fit?

God Bless.

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I can't speak with much knowledge when it comes to churches in the UK. Here in the USA, the answer is as simple as suggesting that you find (as I have) an Anglican church that's independent, not part of the Anglican Communion. That does raise the question in my mind as to whether or not there is such a parish available to you in England or Wales? Some of the parishes of the Free Church of England or the various affiliates of the Continuing Anglican churches in the USA might be nearby, for all I know. This page lists some (although most of the entries are not about churches in the UK and some of those shown really shouldn't qualify to be listed IMHO): http://anglicansonline.org/communion/nic.html

Hello again, Lumen Dei. You have given me several different issues there, so let me take them in order. First, I'm sure there are more than four Continuing or Independent Anglican congregations in the UK, plus the Free Church of England and its cousin, the Evangelical Connexion of the FCE. You'll have to poke around online to know if any are near you though. And even then, I know that they are not all identical to each other.

Second, I said what I did completely unsure of your theological perspective other than just what you mentioned. If a Baptist or Evangelical orientation works better for you, then by all means go for it. Presbyterian, maybe also. I do not know anything about these churches in the UK, however, and these denominations do usually tend towards more casual dress and worship style, etc.

Third, you certainly can use Christian Forums, and we do often find what we think is the church that the inquirer was looking for. That normally requires us to know where you live, however, and many people would just as soon not divulge that information. I'm sure you'll be 'hearing' from other people here.

LumenDei said:

Hello again Albion.



Nope. There are only 4 in the whole of the UK because I have looked into this line of thinking previously. Please check out this link:-

http://www.cofec.org/congregations.htm

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I see the problem now. I was speaking of "Continuing" church parishes and you translated that as parishes of the one church body that incorporated the word "Continuing" into its name. My reference was to any of the traditionalist, conservative church bodies that left one or another of the Anglican Communion provinces (CofE, Episcopal Church in the USA, Anglican Ch of Canada, etc.) because of opposition to the liberal drift. And then there are the two branches of the Free Church of England as possibilities.

As for Continuing Churches in general, there are English affiliates of a number of the American/Canadian/Australian jurisdictions, and they can usually be located by poking around on that (Canadian) website I linked you to. Some, I think, you'd find to be too "Catholic" but it's worth a look IMHO.

Here are some leads:
http://www.anglicancatholic.org.uk/parishes-missions-house-groups/

and

https://anglicanmissioninengland.org/links

Note: the Anglican Mission isn't technically a "Continuing church" but the difference may not matter to you.

What I would like is to see a more robust Anglican tradition in this country which has become a church which is increasingly more vague, watered down in terms of doctrine and is subservient to political and social trends. I have been a member of the Church of England (Anglican tradition) for my entire time on this earth but they have become so left wing in ethos it's ridiculous.

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I understand. It will be more difficult for you to find an independent Anglican parish or jurisdiction in England, as compared to the USA, but I hope you don't overlook anyone in the process of seeking an alternative.

Thank you for your responses. I look forward to hearing from yourself and others on here. God Bless.

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Anytime!

It is never a good thing to seek "a good fit" for church truth. One needs to find a Bible-only fellowship and thus the mind of God; and then be "conformed" to Him.

1watchman said:

It is never a good thing to seek "a good fit" for church truth. One needs to find a Bible-only fellowship and thus the mind of God; and then be "conformed" to Him.

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Our inquirer is not saying that he has no idea what to believe and wants to pick something blindly just to have the matter settled. Far from it.

LumenDei said:

Hello everyone. It's great to meet you all.

I'm looking for my fit in terms of congregation and being based in the UK I'm finding it difficult. Here in postmodern Europe where political correctness runs rife, finding a place where His word flows out in love is getting harder and harder.

So where do I fit? Where is my church? Having spent time in other parts of the world namely the USA and Australia, thriving Christian communities which adhere to God's will exist however over here in the UK it's getting harder and harder to find places which are passionate and popular without some kind of selling out to modern culture.

I believe in a church which upholds the sanctity of marriage, the word of God and marriage between a man and a woman. I wish to find a church which believes in patriarchy, isn't concerned with the homosexual agenda and isn't Left-Wing in ethos. Does such a place exist? If so, which churches do you feel would be a good fit?

God Bless.

Click to expand...

What major city in the UK are you near?