Is Canadian Anglicanism a good fit?

stavros388

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Greetings,

Former Orthodox and lapsed Catholic here. Frankly, I've had it with dogmas and doctrines being held as more important than one's own spiritual growth in God. I am an ally of LGBTQ and have absolutely had it with the weird Catholic and overall Christian fixation on peoples' sexuality and gender identity. I am not a biblical literalist. I am fairly creative in my theological beliefs, but I want to participate in a progressive but serious church community. By serious, I mean I feel called to work on becoming more charitable, selfless, self controlled, loving, forgiving, and developing a serious Christian practice without being in fear of excommunication for rejecting certain dogmas or beliefs. I also want to participate in the Eucharist. Does the Canadian Anglican Church sound like a good fit? I have never been to a service, but I know that my nearby parish is a joint ministry with the United Church of Canada and has ties with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada. This seems promising as both are progressive. Thoughts or advice?

Thank you!
 

Arcangl86

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It sounds like you might fit in well in a more High Church Anglican parish. If your local parish is a joint ministry with the UCC, there is a fair chance it might be more church then you are used to, but still recognizable. I will say that Anglicanism tends to be a place that's very tolerant of multiple theological viewpoints.
 
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Albion

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I agree with Archangl86 about this. Maybe the Anglican Church of Canada will be a good fit. If I thought it most likely would not, I would certainly say so.

But it looks like you would do yourself a favor by looking into the possibility, visiting several churches to observe first hand, and reading the literature that they put out. That should give you enough of a heads up to either pursue it...or else persuade you to look elsewhere.
 
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“Paisios”

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Greetings,

Former Orthodox and lapsed Catholic here. Frankly, I've had it with dogmas and doctrines being held as more important than one's own spiritual growth in God. I am an ally of LGBTQ and have absolutely had it with the weird Catholic and overall Christian fixation on peoples' sexuality and gender identity. I am not a biblical literalist. I am fairly creative in my theological beliefs, but I want to participate in a progressive but serious church community. By serious, I mean I feel called to work on becoming more charitable, selfless, self controlled, loving, forgiving, and developing a serious Christian practice without being in fear of excommunication for rejecting certain dogmas or beliefs. I also want to participate in the Eucharist. Does the Canadian Anglican Church sound like a good fit? I have never been to a service, but I know that my nearby parish is a joint ministry with the United Church of Canada and has ties with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada. This seems promising as both are progressive. Thoughts or advice?

Thank you!
Your views seem to be in line with the Anglican Church of Canada services I have been to when I was a member of that church. Most (all) now use the Book of Alternative Services rather than the Book of Common Prayer, so are a bit “lower” church than some, but the Anglican Church of Canada is more progressive than the other Anglican groups (such as the Anglican Network in Canada, which I believe is now part of the ACNA - I am a bit out of touch and dated, so forgive me if I am wrong) that left some time ago.
 
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Anthony2019

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I don't know much about the Anglican church in Canada, but I can imagine its theology and practice will not be too dissimilar to the Church of England, of which I am a member.

In my experience, I have found the CofE to be very diverse, not only in its forms of worship ranging from liturgical to charismatic, but also in the range of viewpoints held by its members over theology and social issues.

For instance, I have a fondness for the liturgy, but also embrace fresh expressions of worship. I am not a biblical literalist, but I can learn a lot from Christians in my church who happen to hold this view. I believe in the real presence in the Eucharist, whereas some others do not. Whatever our backgrounds, whatever our doctrinal distinctives, we welcome and affirm one another in the body of Christ.

I'm not saying the Anglican church has always 'got things right', but it is certainly a place I feel very much at home.
 
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HardHead

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Frankly, I've had it with dogmas and doctrines being held as more important than one's own spiritual growth in God. I am an ally of LGBTQ and have absolutely had it with the weird Catholic and overall Christian fixation on peoples' sexuality and gender identity. I am not a biblical literalist.

I would say yes, its a good fit.

I attended Sunday services in a church in the GTA regularly for a full Anglican cycle (Easter to Easter). The main, head priest was heterosexual, married, and had grandchildren. The assistant priest was young, openly gay and also married (but not via a church wedding I think).

They put up a rainbow banner during Pride Month celebrations in the GTA. They did not preach anything opposing LGBTQ in Romans or other books, etc. The main message here was that the opposition to homosexual behaviors was social in context at the time of the writing of the bible books, etc and not necessarily a dogma to be followed today in our society. (I am only stating this as a matter of recounting the sermons, not as a means to open a discussion on this topic one way or the other.)

The particular church where I attended was not really high church but it was not low either. They had three services on Sundays: (1) spoken only, (2) full choir, and (3) lower church evangelical in style. All were presided over by the same priests. When they were not available, they had various substitute priests/deacons some of whom were female. I attended all of these styles of service at some point. I preferred the spoken only service.

Other Anglican churches may focus only on aspects such as the conservative catholic forms of worship and may downplay certain social maters regarding LGBTQ pending on the congregations needs, I suppose. My point with this that you should attend a church, talk to the priest and see what they say about your needs. I am pretty sure that they can point you in the direction of an Anglican service that can accommodate you one way or another.

Note that to them communion was symbolic and was not a matter of transubstantiation so to speak, at least from what I could glean from talking to the priests. Their communion is open so you can join in immediately.

At each service there were two bible readings, clearly referenced and available for people to look up and consider themselves at home. I am not sure if this means anything, but regarding the bible itself, they standardized on the NRSV (with Apocrypha but the Apocrypha was not read in the services themselves) and used it in services and for personal reading and meditation suggestions. I very much prefer this version and was reading it myself prior to attending that church.
 
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