Toward a Minimalist Anglican Covenant

Toward a Minimalist Anglican Covenant

An expansion of the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral

1. Of Christian Belief
   
   1. The Holy Scriptures of the Hebrew and Christian Covenants (also known in the Church as the Old and New Testaments) set forth the revealed Word of God.†¹
      
   2. The Nicene Creed is the sufficient statement of the Christian faith.†
      
   3. There are two essential Sacraments: Baptism and the Supper of the Lord, ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him.†
      
   4. The summary of the Law, which may be discerned in the Torah2, as emphasized by Jesus3, is the foundation of all essential ethical teachings in the Hebrew Covenant, in the Christian Covenant, and of the Church.
      
2. Of the Whole Church
   
   1. Within the Church there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all.
      
   2. The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and with each other in Christ.
      
   3. Spiritual leadership of the Church resides in the Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called into the unity of God's Church.†
      
3. Of the Anglican Communion
   
   1. The principal liturgies of the Church in the Anglican tradition are those found in the Book of Common Prayer.
      
   2. Within the bounds herein previously set forth the Anglican Communion understands that God's way is often beyond human comprehension, that doctrinal understanding is therefore elusive, and while disagreements within its traditions about inherently imperfect formulations of doctrine are common, divisiveness rooted in such matters is not appropriate.
      
   3. Institutional leadership of the Anglican Communion and of each of its provinces is a shared responsibility of the clergy and the laity.
      
   4. Each bishop in the Anglican Communion serves in one province of the Anglican Communion, conforms to the polity of that province, and does not function as an ordained minister outside of the diocese or province of service without specific invitation from the bishop with local jurisdiction.
      

 

Footnotes

1. * Daggered items are adaptations of the principles in the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral
   
2. * Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18
   
3. * Matthew 22:37-40, Mark 12:29-34, Luke 10:25-37