Anglican Chaplaincy
in Malta & Gozo

Message from the Chaplains

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Anglicanism is hard to pigeonhole: it's catholic without being Roman Catholic; it grew out of the Reformation without being Protestant. So, at the World Council of Churches, representatives of the 70 million Anglicans take their place alongside the Orthodox Churches and the Protestant Churches as a third of the member "blocks" (the Roman Church having chosen Observer status).

The Anglican tradition within which we stand has certain clear characteristics:
  • It is a Biblical Church. We believe the Bible "contains all things necessary to salvation" and as such is the rule and ultimate standard of faith. (In practice this means that even if much of our response to the circumstances of life and the world cannot derive from a scriptural blueprint, nothing contrary to the Bible's teaching may be regarded as Christian or required of Christians).
  • It is a sacramental Church. We enter the Church in Baptism and we celebrate the Eucharist, as Jesus commanded. (At the font we share in Jesus' death and resurrection by passing sacramentally with him through the deep waters of death and sharing the new life of Easter. At the altar we believe him to be really present in the elements of bread and wine.) His "body and blood" are elements of his life: a constantly renewed gift of the life we started in Baptism.
  • It is a traditional Church. As we reckon our Bishops to be successors of the Apostles, our Priests to be their local presence, our Deacons to be their co-workers and successors of the first Deacons in Jerusalem, so we understand ourselves to be an authentic branch of the Universal (the catholic) Church. This understanding extends to doctrine, in which we accept the teachings of the ancient Councils and understand the traditional formulae of the Church (especially the Apostles' and the Nicene Creeds) to be normative expressions of faith.
  • It is a thinking Church. Tradition guides us - and sometimes recalls us - to the truth, but is itself an organism which can develop as each succeeding generation strives to interpret the faith afresh in an ever-changing world.
This means
  • ....that you'll find the Bible read and preached about, and a Bible Study group which meets regularly.
  • ....that our worship is deliberately and definitely based on the Eucharist.
  • ....that we derive our identity from our links with the universal Church through our Bishop and our diocese.
  • ....that we are an open Church, accepting that, though we hold a common faith, there may be differences in the way we understand its details and express it.
As you have the chance, come and see for yourself!
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CHAPLAINS MESSAGE page ~ http://www.anglicanmalta.org
© Anglican Chaplaincy in Malta & Gozo
June  / 2008
designed + edited by Andy Scott