Our Identity

We are a community coming home to Jesus and his Church.

In Jesus Christ, we believe God has entered into our world and is drawing all his children home by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ Church exists to be a place where people from different walks of life and stages of faith can encounter the living God and experience a spiritual homecoming in his Church. We are a community on this ever-deepening journey together.

Our Calling

To build a spiritual house of communion, formation, and mission.

The journey doesn’t end when we arrive home. We are invited to join Jesus in building up his house for the glory of God and the sake of the world. As the Apostle Peter wrote, “As you come to Jesus... you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:4-5). In Madison, we feel that God has called our congregation to build a spiritual house of communion, formation, and mission that will last for generations to come.
"The Last Supper" by Jacopo Tintoretto

A House of Communion

In God’s house, his children experience the belonging and intimacy for which they were created. We believe the church is not simply a community, but that “the house of God is the very gate of heaven” (Genesis 28:17)—the place where all people are invited to take their seat at God’s table and feast with Him at the intersection of heaven and earth. In our day and age, when so many suffer from loneliness, spiritual disenchantment, and social disintegration we long to build a house where people in Madison can taste real communion with God and others. At Christ Church, this is found in our liturgical life of sacramental, Spirit-filled worship, prayer and fellowship together.
"Christ and His Mother Studying the Scriptures" 
by Henry Ossawa Tanner

A House of Formation

In God’s house, his children are nurtured and formed in the truth of the Gospel. Whereas in today’s culture we are constantly being shaped by dehumanizing algorithms and ever-evolving agendas, we long to build a house where men, women, and children can be “transformed by the renewal of their minds” (Romans 12:2). We believe this happens when we drink deeply from the wells of God’s unchanging word, and have our imaginations and affections shaped by the Kingdom of God. Christ Church is therefore committed to contending for historic, biblical Christianity, and to entrusting that faith to the next generation through robust discipleship, catechesis, and spiritual formation.
"Orange pickers in California fields" by Maxine Albro

A House of Mission

In God’s house, his children are sent out into the world to do good works. God did not wait for us to come home, but left his home in glory to find the lost and feed the hungry. So it is that he calls his people to do the same in the power of the Holy Spirit. The house of God is a house on mission. At Christ Church, our desire is to be a community that overflows in good works of justice and mercy in our city and throughout the world. We also strive to be a household that raises up servant leaders to impact our neighborhoods and catalyze church planting throughout Wisconsin, for the “harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Matthew 9:37).

Our Anglican Tradition

Anglicanism is a Reformed Catholic tradition.

We are a catholic tradition because we uphold the “faith once delivered to all the saints” (Jude 3) and remain in continuity with the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church” (Nicene Creed). Anglicanism traces its roots all the way back to the apostolic age, and these deep roots in the ancient and universal Church anchor our faith. At the same time, we are reformed catholics, because we receive the catholic faith as it was shaped by the biblical principles of the Reformation and enlivened by the evangelical revivals of the last three centuries.

So what does Reformed Catholicism actually look like in belief and practice? Here are 5 distinctives of the Anglican Way:

Biblical

Anglican Christians are first and foremost biblical Christians. We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God, containing all things necessary for salvation, and defer to the Scriptures as the final authority and unchangeable standard for Christian faith and life. At Christ Church, the Bible is central to everything we do.

Liturgical

A hallmark of Anglicanism is the richness of its liturgical and sacramental life. The Book of Common Prayer, often referred to as “the Bible arranged for worship,” shapes our common life with its beauty and stability and trains our hearts for worship. At Christ Church, we encounter Christ in word and sacrament, and are bonded to Him by daily, weekly, and yearly liturgical rhythms.

Apostolic

The Anglican Way is an Apostolic Way. Our apostolicity is above all an issue of doctrine, in that we, like the first church in Acts, remain “devoted to the apostles' teaching” (Acts 2:42). The historic orders of bishops, priests, and deacons serve as a tangible expression of that apostolic continuity in our midst. At Christ Church, we do not seek to reinvent or conform Christianity to the present age, but rather to guard and pass on the deposit of faith just as it has been entrusted to us.

Evangelical

For many, the word “evangelical” has become a label for a contemporary Christian subculture or a political disposition. But that is not what we mean by the term. In Christian history—and for Anglicans in particular—the evangelical movement is a rich tradition going all the way back to the early 1700’s, which is characterized by an emphasis on the saving work of Christ, the life of the Spirit, and a heart for mission. At Christ Church, we are proud of our evangelical Anglican heritage and continue to preach the Gospel and pray for revival.

Global

The Anglican Communion is the largest Protestant body in the world with over 85 million members in over 165 countries. To be Anglican is to be a part of a diverse international fellowship, and we cherish the encouragement and perspective this connection brings us. Christ Church is part of the Global Anglican Future Conference, the Anglican Church in North America, and the Upper Midwest Diocese.

Our Beliefs

The biblical faith Anglicans profess is first and foremost declared in the three Creeds of the early, undivided Church: the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian. These are theological affirmations that all Christian traditions share in common. 
The Creeds
Expanding upon this foundation, classical Anglican doctrine is outlined in the 39 Articles of Religion (1571) and the Book of Common Prayer (1662), both of which remain authoritative for Anglicans today. 
39 Articles of Religion
Finally, we uphold the Jerusalem Declaration (2008), a statement of faith speaking into contemporary issues that unites biblically faithful, mission focused Anglicans around the world.
Jerusalem Declaration
Our catechism, To Be A Christian, is a resource that brings these theological riches together in a simple format for discipleship and enrichment.
Our Catechism