Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical

connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures.[1]
According to some writers, Anglicanism forms one of the principal traditions of
Christianity, together with Protestantism, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy[2].

The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at
least 1246 meaning the English Church. Adherents of Anglicanism are called Anglicans.
The great majority of Anglicans are members of churches which are part of the
international Anglican Communion.[3] There are, however, a number of churches outside
of the Anglican Communion which also consider themselves to be in the Anglican
tradition, most notably those referred to as Continuing Anglican churches[citation needed].

The faith of Anglicans is founded in the scriptures, the traditions of the apostolic church,
the apostolic succession – "historic episcopate" and the early Church Fathers.[1]
Anglicanism forms one of the branches of Western Christianity; having definitively
declared its independence from the Roman pontiff at the time of the Elizabethan
Religious Settlement, in what has been otherwise termed the British monachism[4],[5]. The
earliest Anglican formularies corresponded closely to those of contemporary Reformed
Protestantism; but by the end of the 16th century, the retention in Anglicanism of many
traditional liturgical forms and of the episcopate was already seen as unacceptable by
those promoting the most developed Protestant principles. In the first half of the 17th
century the Church of England and associated episcopal churches in Ireland and in
England's American colonies were presented by some Anglican divines as comprising a
distinct Christian tradition, with theologies, structures and forms of worship representing
a middle ground, or via media, between Reformed Protestantism and Roman
Catholicism; a perspective that came to be highly influential in later theories of Anglican
identity. Following the American Revolution, Anglican congregations in the United
States and Canada were each reconstituted into an independent church with their own
bishops and self-governing structures; which, through the expansion of the British
Empire and the activity of Christian missions, was adopted as the model for many newly
formed churches, especially in Africa, Australasia and the regions of the Pacific. In the
19th century the term Anglicanism was coined to describe the common religious tradition
of these churches; as also that of the Scottish Episcopal Church, which, though
originating earlier within the Church of Scotland, had come to be recognised as sharing
this common identity.

The degree of distinction between Reformed and western Catholic tendencies within the
Anglican tradition is routinely a matter of debate both within specific Anglican churches
and throughout the Anglican Communion. Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Common
Prayer, the collection of services that worshippers in most Anglican churches used for
centuries. While it has since undergone many revisions and Anglican churches in
different countries have developed other service books, the Prayer Book is still
acknowledged as one of the ties that bind the Anglican Communion together. There is no
single Anglican Church with universal juridical authority, since each national or regional
church has full autonomy. As the name suggests, the Anglican Communion is an
association of those churches in full communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.[6]
With over eighty[3] million members the Anglican Communion is the third largest
Christian communion in the world, after the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern
Orthodox Church.

The Four Marks of the Church are a group of four adjectives—one, holy, catholic and
apostolic—characteristics that describe the marks or distinctives of the Christian church.
They describe a belief within Christendom that the Body of Christ—the church—is
characterized by four particular “marks”. These marks were made part of the Creed of
Constantinople in 381: “‘[We believe] in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.’”

Protestant reformer John Calvin taught that the marks of the authentic church were where
the Word was rightly preached, the sacraments rightly celebrated and discipline observed.
[1]

While no creed or affirmation of faith can express the totality of Christian belief, the
Four Marks represent a summary of some of the more important affirmations of the
Christian faith. These words were used by Counter-Reformation theologians in their
effort to distinguish the Roman Catholic Church as "the one, true Church of Christ" from
those that had emerged from the Protestant Reformation, considered by Catholics to be
"false" claimants.[

The Anglican Communion is an international association of national Anglican churches.

There is no single "Anglican Church" with universal juridical authority as each national
or regional church has full autonomy. As the name suggests, the Anglican Communion is
an association of these churches in full communion with the Church of England (which
may be regarded as the mother church of the worldwide communion) and specifically
with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury.[1] The status of full communion
means, ideally, that there is mutual agreement on essential doctrines, and that full
participation in the sacramental life of each national church is available to all
communicant Anglicans.

With approximately 77 million members, the Anglican Communion is the third largest
Christian communion in the world, after the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern
Orthodox Churches.[2][3] Some of these churches are known as Anglican, explicitly
recognizing the historical link to England (Ecclesia Anglicana means "Church of
England"); others, such as the American and Scottish Episcopal churches, or the Church
of Ireland, prefer a separate name. Each church has its own doctrine and liturgy, based in
most cases on that of the Church of England; and each church has its own legislative
process and overall episcopal polity, under the leadership of a local primate.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, religious head of the Church of England, has no formal
authority outside that jurisdiction, but is recognised as symbolic head of the worldwide
communion. Among the other primates he is primus inter pares, which translates "first
among equals".
The Anglican Communion considers itself to be part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and
Apostolic Church and to be both Catholic and Reformed. For some adherents it
represents a non-papal Catholicism, for others a form of Protestantism though without a
dominant guiding figure such as Luther, Knox, Calvin, Zwingli or Wesley.[4] For others,
their self-identity represents some combination of the two. The communion encompasses
a wide spectrum of belief and practice including evangelical, liberal, and catholic.

The Book of Common Prayer is the common title of a number of prayer books of the
Church of England and of other Anglican churches, used throughout the Anglican
Communion. The first book, published in 1549 (Church of England 1957), in the reign of
Edward VI, was a product of the English Reformation following the break with Rome.
Prayer books, unlike books of prayers, contain the words of structured (or liturgical)
services of worship. The work of 1549 was the first prayer book to contain the forms of
service for daily and Sunday worship in English and to do so within a single volume; it
included morning prayer, evening prayer, the Litany, and Holy Communion. The book
included the other occasional services in full: the orders for baptism, confirmation,
marriage, 'prayers to be said with the sick' and a funeral service. It set out in full the
Epistle and Gospel readings for the Sunday Communion Service. Set Old Testament and
New Testament readings for daily prayer were specified in tabular format as were the set
Psalms; and canticles, mostly biblical, that were provided to be sung between the
readings (Careless 2003, p. 26).

The 1549 book was rapidly succeeded by a reformed revision in 1552 under the same
editorial hand, that of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. It never came into
use because, on the death of Edward VI, his half-sister Mary I restored Roman Catholic
worship. On her death, a compromise version, combining elements of the 1549 and the
1552 editions, was published in 1559. Following the tumultuous events leading to and
including the English Civil War, another major revision was published in 1662 (Church
of England 1662). That edition has remained the official prayer book of the Church of
England, although in the 21st century, an alternative book called Common Worship has
largely displaced the Book of Common Prayer at the main Sunday worship service of
most English parish churches.

The Book of Common Prayer appears in many variants in churches inside and outside of
the Anglican Communion in over 50 different countries and in over 150 different
languages (Careless 2003, p. 23). Again in many parts of the world, more contemporary
books have replaced it in regular weekly worship.

Traditional Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian prayer books have borrowed from the
Book of Common Prayer, and the marriage and burial rites have found their way into
those of other denominations and into the English language. Like the Authorized King
James Bible and the works of Shakespeare, many words and phrases from the Book of
Common Prayer have entered popular culture.

Apostolic succession is the doctrine in some of the more ancient Christian communions
that the succession of bishops, in uninterrupted lines, is historically traceable back to the
original Twelve Apostles.[1] Apostolic succession is not the same as the Petrine
supremacy (see papacy). As a general rule, Protestantism rejects the doctrine of apostolic
succession. Protestants (other than Anglican) consider the authority given to the apostles
as having been unique, and therefore proper to them alone without being inherited by
later prelates. Thus, they reject any doctrine of a succession of the original apostles'
authority. The Protestant view of ecclesiastical authority differs accordingly.

A Christian mission has been widely defined, since the Lausanne Congress of 1974, as
that which is designed "to form a viable indigenous church-planting and world changing
movement." This definition is motivated by a theologically imperative theme of the Bible
to make God known, as outlined in the Great Commission. The definition is claimed to
summarize the acts of Jesus' ministry, which is taken as a model motivation for all
ministries.

The Christian missionary movement seeks to implement churches after the pattern of the
first century Apostles. The process of forming disciples is necessarily social. "Church"
should be understood in the widest sense, as an body of believers of Christ rather than
simply a building. Many churches start by meeting in houses. Once they gain enough
funds, or find a building they expand.

Church planting by cross-cultural missionaries leads to the establishment of self-

governing, self-supporting and self-propagating assemblies of believers. This is the
famous "three-self" formula formuladte by Henry Venn of the London Church
Missionary Society in the 19th century. Cross-cultural missionaries are persons who
accept church-planting duties to evangelize people outside their culture, as Christ
commanded in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Stepping outside of their
comfort zone they are able to relate with and understand people who have different
beliefs.

In addition to theological doctrine, many missionaries promote economic development,

literacy, education, health care and orphanages, believing these causes give glory to God
with their service. Christian doctrines (such as the "Doctrine of Love" professed by many
missions) may permit the provision of aid without requiring religious conversion.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of
England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan
bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, the see that churches must be in communion with in
order to be a part of the Anglican Communion.

The current archbishop is the Most Reverend Rowan Williams. He is the 104th in a line
that goes back more than 1400 years to St Augustine of Canterbury, who founded the
oldest see in England in the year 597.

From the time of St Augustine until the 16th century, the Archbishops of Canterbury
were in full communion with the See of Rome and thus received the pallium. During the
English Reformation the church broke away from the authority of the Pope and the
Episcopal polity is a form of church governance which is hierarchical in structure with
the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop (Greek: episcopos).
This episcopal structure is found most often in the various churches of Roman Catholic,
Eastern Orthodox and other Eastern Church, and Anglican lineage. Some churches
founded independently of these lineages also employ this form of church governance.

The cathedra of bishops, such as the chair of the Pope in the Basilica of St. John Lateran,
represent their magisterium (teaching authority)

It is usually considered that the bishops of an episcopal polity derive their authority from
an unbroken, personal Apostolic Succession from the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Bishops
with such authority are known as the historical episcopate. Churches with this type of
government usually believe that the Church requires episcopal government as described
in the New Testament[1].

For much of the written history of Christianity, episcopal government was the only
known form of church organization. This changed at the Reformation. Many Protestant
churches are now organized by either congregational or presbyterian church polities, both
descended from the writings of John Calvin, a Protestant reformer working and writing
independently following the break with the Roman Catholic Church precipitated by The
Ninety-Five Theses of Martin Luther. However, the majority of Christians are still
members of the historic churches of episcopal governance.

There are subtle differences in governmental principles among episcopal churches at the
present time. To some extent the separation of episcopal churches can be traced to these
differences in ecclesiology, that is, their theological understanding of church and church
governance. The church of Rome (Roman Catholic Church), and the churches of
Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and the later self-governing churches
(the Eastern Orthodox Churches in modern terms), have an episcopal government, as do
the Oriental Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East, Anglican, some Lutheran and many
Methodist churches.

Roman Catholic Church, at first temporarily and later more permanently. Since then they
have been outside of the succession of the Roman Catholic Church's hierarchy and have
led the independent national church.
In the Middle Ages there was considerable variation in the nomination of the Archbishop
of Canterbury and other bishops. At various times the choice was made by the canons of
Canterbury Cathedral, the King of England, or the Pope. Since the English Reformation,
the Church of England has been more explicitly a state church and the choice is legally
that of the British crown; today it is made in the name of the Sovereign by the Prime
Minister, from a shortlist of two selected by an ad hoc committee called the Crown
Nominations Commission.

In Christianity, the term mother church or Mother Church may have one of the
following meanings:

1. The first mission church in an area, or a pioneer cathedral

2. A basilica or cathedral
3. The main chapel of a province of a religious order
4. A plantation church — that is, the "mother" of several "daughter churches",
5. A church of historical importance to a Christian community, including the
following:
1. Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, the "mother church" of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church;
2. The Mother Church: The First Church of Christ, Scientist (Boston,
Massachusetts), the Church of Christ Scientist of which all others are
branches;
3. Greater Refuge Temple Church, the Mother Church of the Church of Our
Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith; and
4. The Roman Catholic Church, as the Mother Church of Western
Christianity;
6. The Universal Church or Church Universal, which is the Bride of Christ.