Location: 3015 Old Opelika Rd (@ Airview Church of God) Opelika, AL 36801

We Are Searching for a New Rector

After eight and a half years of faithful service to the parish of The Good Shepherd, Fr. Ben Jefferies and his family were called to move closer to be with extended family who are walking through a season of difficulty. While we are sad to have said goodbye, we are thankful for his leadership and how he has built up the parish in the Spirit of God.

As part of the search process, the parish has produced the following Parish Profile and Rector Profile documents to help prospective clergy candidates get to know our community of faith and love.

What does "Anglican" mean?

"ANGLICAN" MEANS THAT WE TRACE OUR christian HERITAGE BACK TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Missionaries brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ to England in the time of the Apostles. Alongside the rest of the undivided Church (because there were no "denominations" for the first thousand years of her history [click here for a lecture course on early church history taught by Fr. Ben]), the Anglican Church grew up, practicing the ancient pathways of daily prayer and the regular celebration of Holy Communion with a liturgy that was given shape by the Apostles themselves (Acts 2:42, 1 Cor 11). For century upon century, the Church took root across the Land, each generation handing down the Deposit of the Faith to the next.

Succumbing to some of the corruptions of the 14th century, the Anglican Church was purified when the winds of Reformation blew (1517 - 1559). Unlike the church on the continent of Europe however, the Church in England wished to retain from Holy Tradition whatever was agreeable to Sacred Scripture. So whereas, for instance, in Switzerland they wanted to be done with things like Liturgy and Bishops all together, the Anglican Church kept those things which could be shown to be believed:

IN ALL PLACES, AT ALL TIMES, BY ALL CHRISTIANS.

In this way, the Church of England was a more "moderate" Reformation: Being both catholic AND reformed. Traditional, and renewed.

When the American colonies grew, they brought that Anglican faith with them, and after the Revolutionary War, re-organized themselves politically on American soil; disassociating with England, and establishing what became called "The Episcopal Church". For two centuries, The Episcopal Church faithfully continued this historic way of being a Christian.

Beginning in the 1960s though, little by little The Episcopal Church began to depart from traditional Christian teaching and this led to the breaking away of many faithful congregations, who then in 2008 re-organized as "The Anglican Church in North America" (ACNA), in order to create a home that would continue to foster the Anglican legacy of traditional worship AND radical adherence to the teaching of Sacred Scripture, no matter how unpopular.

Today the ACNA has about 110,000 members within >1000 churches in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.  We are a province of the Global Anglican Communion, which consists of 85 million Anglicans (the largest protestant body in the world!), most of whom live in the Global South.

And this is who we are, here in the Auburn-Opelika area: A branch of that one, holy, catholic and apostolic church, seeking to know God, to love him, and to obey him.

BELIEFS

We believe the Bible

"We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading." (Art. 2 of the Jerusalem Declaration)

We believe the Creeds of the Ancient Church

As epitomized in the Nicene Creed:

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, visible and invisible.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,
was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

.

We adhere to the Jerusalem Declaration

A statement of the Christian Faith as the Anglican Church has received it, put forward by GAFCON I (2008) and around which all faithful Anglicans are uniting. It is the standard for Membership at The Good Shepherd Anglican Church:

In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit:

We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, have met in the land of Jesus’ birth. We express our loyalty as disciples to the King of kings, the Lord Jesus. We joyfully embrace his command to proclaim the reality of his kingdom which he first announced in this land. The gospel of the kingdom is the good news of salvation, liberation and transformation for all. In light of the above, we agree to chart a way forward together that promotes and protects the biblical gospel and mission to the world, solemnly declaring the following tenets of orthodoxy which underpin our Anglican identity.

1. We rejoice in the  gospel of God through which we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because God first loved us, we love him and as believers bring forth fruits of love, ongoing repentance, lively hope and thanksgiving to God in all things.

2. We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.

3. We uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

4. We uphold the Thirty-nine Articles as containing the true doctrine of the Church agreeing with God’s Word and as authoritative for Anglicans today.

5. We gladly proclaim and submit to the unique and universal Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humanity’s only Saviour from sin, judgement and hell, who lived the life we could not live and died the death that we deserve. By his atoning death and glorious resurrection, he secured the redemption of all who come to him in repentance and faith.

6. We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.

7. We recognise that God has called and gifted bishops, priests and deacons in historic succession to equip all the people of God for their ministry in the world. We uphold the classic Anglican Ordinal as an authoritative standard of clerical orders.

8. We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.

9. We gladly accept the Great Commission of the risen Lord to make disciples of all nations, to seek those who do not know Christ and to baptise, teach and bring new believers to maturity.

10. We are mindful of our responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation, to uphold and advocate justice in society, and to seek relief and empowerment of the poor and needy.

11. We are committed to the unity of all those who know and love Christ and to building authentic ecumenical relationships. We recognise the orders and jurisdiction of those Anglicans who uphold orthodox faith and practice, and we encourage them to join us in this declaration.

12. We celebrate the God-given diversity among us which enriches our global fellowship, and we acknowledge freedom in secondary matters. We pledge to work together to seek the mind of Christ on issues that divide us.

13. We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.

14. We rejoice at the prospect of Jesus’ coming again in glory, and while we await this final event of history, we praise him for the way he builds up his church through his Spirit by miraculously changing lives.

Liturgy?

If you have never worshiped with the Liturgy of the Holy Communion, it might at first seem very foreign. But this way of worshiping God is ancient --it has its roots in the Church in the times of the Apostles, who gathered to pray the prayers (Acts 2:42), which meant the inherited jewish liturgies. This liturgy still provides the structure of the first part of our service, where we hear the Word of God read to us, and a sermon explaining its meaning.

To this was added, by our Lord's command, the celebration of Holy Communion, which developed as a formal liturgy very early on in the Church. Here is St. Justin Martyr, describing the Christian Worship Service he was a part of, written in the year A.D. 153:

"Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to ge’noito [so be it]. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced."

...The same pattern we continue to this day...

EDUCATION

FIRST FRIDAY FORUM

First Friday Forums are on the First Friday of each month (surprise!) at 5.30pm at the Church. Each Forum will begin with appetizers and drinks for a social half-hour, and then at 6pm, a one-hour lecture will be presented. Each forum will feature a different speaker who will present winsomely on a topic in which they are passionately and deeply engaged.

WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY

Sunday Nights, for 8-week courses, happening a couple times a year, a study of a Book of the Bible is led by Suellen Good.

CHILDREN’S CHURCH

COMING SOON!

LEADERSHIP

Clergy

RECTOR (A PRIEST WHO IS THE SENIOR PASTOR)

We are currently in the search process for a new rector. Until this position is filled, Fr. Andrew Rowell at Christchurch Anglican Montgomery is acting as priest-in-charge.

DCN. LINCOLN ANDERSON
DEACON

After graduating from Auburn University, Lincoln has worked for many years in IT Security. After serving the Church faithfully for many years in various volunteer lay capacities, while working in IT by day, Lincoln began discerning a call to ordained ministry in 2015. He married his wife, Claire in 2016, and in 2020 they had their first child, James. He studied theology at St. Paul’s House of Formation, and was ordained Deacon by Bishop Neil Lebhar on May 1st, 2021.

THE RT. REV. ALEX FARMER
BISHOP OF THE GULF ATLANTIC DIOCESE

A bishop is a regional over-pastor. He was consecrated as a bishop by other bishops, who themselves can trace their ordinations back all the way to the Apostles. This is known as ‘Apostolic Succession’, and a full list of all the “links in the chain” of ordinations can be seen here. The Bishop resides in Tallahassee, FL (where our Cathedral is) and visits us once each year. He is a pastor to the priest and deacon, and connects us to our wider Anglican family.

See Bishop Alex’s bio here on the diocesan website

STAFF

JERRIE NACRELLI, Parish Administrator (PT)

ART FOURIER, Clerk

STEPHEN ADAMS, Musician

EMILY ELLIOTT, Safeguarding Officer

Vestry

ART FOURIER, SENIOR WARDEN

SUELLEN GOOD, JUNIOR WARDEN

FELICIA JONES, SECRETARY

SCOTT LUECK, TREASURER

LAYNEE MARTIN

 CALENDAR

reSOURCES

ANGLICAN PRIMERS

WHAT ANGLICANS TEACH ABOUT

ANGLICAN GREAT BOOKS

Here is an excellent collection of re-printed Anglican Great Books (new titles added weekly) from Nashotah House Press

ANGLICAN FAMILY/HOME RESOURCES

Here is a link to an excellent collection of the Lives of the Saints that can be used for education and devotion

Here is a great blog that explores ways of incorporating aspects of the liturgy and the church year at home

Here are page scans of a great book that teaches the church-year, hard copies can be purchased here

ANGLICAN PODCASTS

Here is the best Anglican podcast covering a huge array of topics

Here is another good Anglican podcast

ANGLICAN LITURGICAL RESOURCES

Here is an excellent Calendar containing the Lectionary readings

Here is a good old book explaining the meaning of the various liturgical elements

ANGLICAN GLOSSARY

Here is a Glossary that can help you get acquainted with all the strange Anglican vocabulary :)

ANGLICAN NEWS

Here is a site that posts news that relates to the Anglican Communion

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