What is Anglicanism?
“Anglicanism is a worldwide body of Christians responding to God’s revelation through Jesus Christ. Anglicanism brings together the authority of the Bible, the historic faith, and the beauty of structured prayer. It is rooted in tradition, yet contemporary in practice. It is united in substance, yet diverse in expression. We are a global family living out our faith in local communities.”
—The Anglican Church in North America
What do Anglicans believe?
We emphasize first those essential beliefs that have united Christians in all places at all times. Anglicans hold the Bible to be our primary source of authority, and we also stand with the historic church in accepting the summary of this Biblical faith as expressed in the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. For a more recent summary of our historic Christian faith, see the Jerusalem Declaration.
Click here to read about the Anglican perspective on Eucharist and Infant Baptism.
Not many of our parishioners are “cradle Anglicans,” and we welcome questions about what forms our worship and our lives. We use the book To Be a Christian to instruct us in the Anglican way.
Our “Abide” class is the perfect time to air these questions and learn more about Anglicanism. All of the 2025 Abide class dates are listed below. Email parishadmin@churchofthelamb.org.
September 6, 2025
October 19, 2025
Worship. Work. Rest.
What does Anglicanism look line in the context of Church of the Lamb at Rockingham Abbey?
Worship, work, and rest.
Worship looks like joining with a body of believers each Lord’s day during the weekend, and practicing The Daily Office’s morning and evening prayer each day.
For most of us, we tend to either over-prioritize work or rest according to our nature and habits. By holding both as integral to the Christian Life, we encourage our church family to offer our bodies and our very lives as a living sacrifices to the Lord, while also affirming that God’s invitation to rest is essential to faithful living. At Lamb, we look to monastic traditions to inform how we do this.
We encourage all parishioners, young and old, to volunteer their time to the work of Church of the Lamb and Rockingham Abbey as we seek to the kingdom of heaven to earth through our lived-out theology of work and rest.
Anglicanism is a liturgical style of worship, which , among other things, means that we invite both our worship and lives to be formed by the Church Calendar. The Church Calendar affirms the truth that we don’t only worship with our hearts and minds but also our bodies.
Throughout the calendar year, we observe and celebrate according to the Church Calendar. Different seasons invoke different actions and visual signals: colors change, we feast, we fast, and we are formed by the ebbs and flows of the christian year.
The Liturgical Calendar
Our Current Season: Advent
Liturgical color: Violet
Advent is the first liturgical season of the Christian year, a four-week period of penitential waiting, reflection, and preparation for Jesus’s coming, beginning the Sunday closest to November 30th and ending on Christmas Eve
Ordinary Time Highlights:
The word Advent is derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming.”
Though the calendar year starts in January, the Christian liturgical year begins with Advent.
As we practice this season of waiting, we join with Christ who was born into the Jewish faith, those who had long waited for their promised Messiah. We often sing songs like, “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus” in reference to this. We wait to sing traditional “Christmassy” songs until we enter into the Christmas season. Though we’re eager for Christmas, we can’t skip the season of waiting!
Each Sunday of Advent, we light a violet candle. On the third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, we light a pink or rose colored candle as it is a day of rejoicing that falls in the middle of the Advent season. The name "Gaudete" is Latin for "rejoice" and is reflected in the readings and liturgical colors, which shift to rose (or pink) to symbolize joy.
Church of the Lamb is affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America and the Diocese of Christ our Hope.