What is An Anglican?

Anglicanism is the world’s third-largest Christian denomination, with churches all around the globe. Its roots stretch back to the earliest days of Christianity in the British Isles, and its modern form comes to us through the English Reformation of the 16th century. English reformers like Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, and John Jewel followed in the footsteps of the Continental reformers like John Calvin and Martin Luther. Their goal was to build a church that was faithful to Biblical doctrine and historic forms of Christian worship, made accessible to the common people through its use of English, rather than Latin, for its Bible and its liturgy.

At St. Aidan’s, we are heirs to this Anglican way of worshiping Jesus. Our walk with Jesus Christ is intimately shaped by the way we worship, and so we believe that the ways we pray, sing, and preach matter. Our worship services use a set liturgy to guide us. The liturgy helps us to worship God and to keep our focus on Jesus rather than ourselves.

St. Aidan’s is a parish of the Anglican Diocese of Canada, which is a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America. We are also members of GAFCon, a fellowship of Anglican churches and dioceses around the globe who are committed to the same mission of the English reformers: upholding Biblical Christianity and proclaiming the Gospel message that Jesus Christ came into the world to seek and save us.

Our parish is named in honour of St. Aidan of Lindisfarne, an Irish missionary monk who lived in the earlier part of the 7th century.