Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Posted on 12/16/2011 6:50:56 AM PST by marshmallow
CHICAGO -- For decades young people have flocked to seeker-friendly churches that feature culturally relevant services and a casual environment.
Now, a new denomination that emphasizes tradition and centuries-old sacraments and practices is drawing them in.
The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) officially began in 2009 with hundreds of congregations that severed ties with the Episcopal Church.
In Albany Park on Chicago's north side, a group of college students and recent graduates have started one of the ACNA's newest church plants.
They worship on Sunday afternoons, renting a church building that's close to several university campuses.
New Denomination, Old Worship
While the congregants are casually dressed, the service has a more formal, liturgical feel and the students that CBN News spoke with say that's exactly what they like.
"I love the emphasis on Scripture. I love that we read four long passages every Sunday so you really ingest a lot of scripture each Sunday," said Andie Roeder, who studies at Moody Bible Institute.
"And I love the way it's interactive so there's a call and a response and you get to pray back and forth," he said.
Deacon Mike Niebauer, who oversees both the Albany Park congregation and one at Northwestern University in Evanston, said the liturgy builds community and helps students who often long to be connected.
"I think it's easy for so many people, especially young people, to feel like they're not anchored anywhere, not rooted in anything, particularly people who are very mobile" he said.
"So the idea that the church traces its roots back and its worship back 2,000 years to this very day is I think something that's very attractive," he said.
Anglican Fever
Archbishop Robert Duncan dubbed the movement "Anglican fever" in an address to the Lausanne Congress last year.
CBN News spoke with............
(Excerpt) Read more at cbn.com ...
My own church, St.Clements of Boston run by OVM is very orthodox and is packed every Sunday with the vast majority of congregants being under 30.
Standing room only quite often and its wonderful to see!
"I like the fact that it's something that Christians around the world are saying, and that they've been saying it for a long time," said Wheaton College student Josh Melby who attends a church just off campus.
"I grew up in a Baptist church my whole life," fellow student Michelle Nelson added. "So coming to an Anglican church where there's liturgy and sacraments every week, I appreciate the tradition."
Interesting given that the average of an ECUSA congregation is over 65 years old. They are drawing any youth at all and are gradully dying out. In 10 years they will be gone.
Naaahh! Leopards don't change their spots and wolves don't change their fur.
I attend a Presbyterian Church in America congregation (the conservative branch, not the gay one) that just took over the entire building of one of these churches (we previously were renting part of it). It is a dying church with only 5-10 members, all over 70.
It’s sad. Our church is very young with packed families....largely for the same reason as here. Traditional, liturgical, solidly Biblical.
In addition, there is another rapidly growing and flourishing Anglican church locally as well. Is is also very rapidly growing.
Young people, at least a good number more than seeker-sensitive churches think, actually do like tradition and liturgy. They are longing for something that is deeper than the crap most megachurches push. You know, something with actual theology, something with true devotion to Scripture.
I love liturgy. I love contemporary worship songs as well for personal listening, but I could not attend a church that lacks liturgy.
My worship needs to be grounded in Scripture and the songs of saints of old, not Vineyard Music.
What people don’t understand is that liturgy brings purpose and understanding to worship to where you can truly focus on God instead of wondering about what’s going on next.
The litany or responsive readings etc. involve you confessing what you believe out loud as a community of believers and reciting Scriptures together.
This isn’t boring....it’s amazing every week to come together with such a strongly liturgical worship.
Well, it might be a little more than 10 years. But that isn't the point.
The point is that homo friendly churches really have no reason to continue.
They've already declared that what's fashionable at the moment is more important than generations of Gospel which they have tossed into the trash bin.
They will suffer a similar fate but have plenty of company from fellow travelers.
What is OVM?
I didn’t see any reference to music in the article. It would be nice if young people could be made familiar with hymns by great Anglican composers and hymn writers such as Joseph Barnby, William Monk, John Dykes, Christina Rosetti, and Gustav Holst.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Can Liberal Churches simply be an excuse for theft?
Oblates of the Virgin Mary
“So the idea that the church traces its roots back and its worship back 2,000 years to this very day is I think something that’s very attractive,” he said.”
It does, which is why I’m Catholic
Amen.
Me too. (as Catholic is defined in the Athanasian Creed)
There is direct evidence (written and archaeological) for the Church being in England...for as long as it has been in Rome, that is into the 1st Century.
The Church in England though, only formally submitted to the Bishop of Rome in the 7th Century...meaning, that in the British Isles, Anglican Christianity is OLDER than Roman Catholicism.
This became manifest in the Celtic Church—whose most famous missionary was St. Patrick, of the 400s.
Anglicanism is the original Church of the British Isles.
The idea that Anglicanism only dates back to a certain King Henry’s anullment is rubbish. His politically motivated break with Rome only returned the Church of England to it’s original state...hundreds of years before Rome’s domination.
“There is direct evidence (written and archaeological) for the Church being in England...for as long as it has been in Rome, that is into the 1st Century.”
Absolutely, the Catholic church. There was Rome in Britain, which is where the faith came from. The Emperor in Rome, Constantine, came from that part of the Empire, as did his father, Constantius. That was his initial power base.
There is evidence of the Church in Brittannia, but that church didn’t get reconstituted until St. Augustine returned to England in the early 6th century. I don’t believe any of the churches or sanctuaries have been preserved from that time.
“The Church in England though, only formally submitted to the Bishop of Rome in the 7th Century”
They never left. They were Catholic before, and Catholic after. They were only separated, not by creed, but by distance and the lack of communications with the fall of the Roman Empire.
“meaning, that in the British Isles, Anglican Christianity is OLDER than Roman Catholicism.”
Pure nonsense. There was no difference between the Church in Rome, and the Church in England at the time. Their only conflict was over the date of the Easter celebrations. That was all.
There was nothing ‘Anglican’ about the church. Heck, the Church predates the appearance of the Saxons in England.
The church that came from St. Augustine, and the Venerable Bede, Iona, etc, was the Catholic church which eventually converted the Saxons as they did the Norse. Look at the arms of the Confessor, who was very much so Catholic.
“Anglicanism is the original Church of the British Isles.”
Uh, I’ve got bad news for you. No, that’s not true at all. Sorry. :)
“The idea that Anglicanism only dates back to a certain King Henry’s anullment is rubbish.”
It’s 100 percent true. King Henry considered himself to be a devout Catholic, which is why he was marrying Catherine of Aragon, a devout Catholic, which is why he was seeking an annulment from the POPE.
But no. The pope said no, so he decided to create his own church where he would be the HEAD of the church. Compare this to the discussion of Edward III, or of the confessor, etc.
The Anglican church as we know it was the spawn of King Henry and his desire for a divorce. Nothing more, nothing less.
“His politically motivated break with Rome only returned the Church of England to it’s original state...hundreds of years before Rome’s domination.”
Uh, I hate to break it to you, but the Romans were in Briton before the Saxons and the ‘Anglicans’. The Romans brought the Church to England. At least three times.
placemarker
for later
As someone whose PECUS (Episcopal) has left behind in its ever moving target progressive lurch, I am happy to hear of this good news. May God Bless its growth.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.