Good Shepherd Anglican Church is bible based and grounded in the historic Apostolic New Testament church. Our worship has been passed down to us from the Apostles and guided by the Holy Spirit throughout the church age. Our Sunday Mass is joyful, serious, and intentionally designed to focus our minds toward the glory of the One True God. Our ministers process reverently behind the cross, as Saint Paul taught, “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” [1 Cor 2:2 KJV].
The Psalms and prayers we recite and sing in daily prayer and worship at our church building, are arranged in as much the same manner as the Apostles taught their own disciples 2000 years ago.
Book of Common Prayer
In our worship we use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (BCP) which is descended from the 1549 and the 1662 Books of Common Prayer. We use the BCP as a means of preserving unity in worship, it guides us in daily and weekly readings from both testaments of Holy Scripture, and grounds our prayers in the very prayers and verses of God’s Word.
Sermon
Hearing God’s Word preached on Sunday is a vital element of our Sunday Mass. We carry on the tradition passed down from the Apostles and written about in the Book of Acts, where we learn that the early Christians gathered together on the Lord’s Day (Sunday).
Vestments
In our worship, our ministers and altar servers wear vestments (ecclesiastical garments) as a manner of being rooted in the ancient traditions of our church forefathers. While some of the colors and ecclesiastical dress is related to the church calendar and time of the year, another good reason we incorporate vestments in our worship is that our congregants will not focus on the clothing of our worship leaders, but rather would focus on God and Him alone. Modern designer clothing, labels, etc. can be a distraction, and we want our entire focus to be upon our Savior, Lord and God.
Morning & Evening Prayer
The early church was taught by the Apostles to come together daily for morning and evening prayer and psalms. This is a tradition that Christian churches throughout the last 2000 years has preserved faithfully, and so our ministers joyfully lead us in daily prayer at our church building, both morning and evening.
Daily Prayer & Worship
While vocational life and other commitments prevent all of us from gathering together every day, Good Shepherd Church and our clergy seek to offer daily prayer services as well as Holy Communion services every day of the week, as a way of carrying on what the Apostles taught in the book of Acts; “meeting together daily, breaking bread together”.
Incense
Our ministers use incense in our worship, not merely because of the beautiful aroma, but because it is grounded in the historic worship of God throughout the history of the Church.
The Sign of the Cross
During our worship, our ministers and congregants will often make the sign of the cross. This is not out of superstition, but as a sign of both reverence and remembrance: to remind us that it is only through the cross we are saved and sanctified. During the gospel reading, some members do a triple sign of the cross, first upon the forehead, then the lips, and then the heart; this is in reference to verses such as Psalm 119 in which the Psalmist speaks about engaging the mind, the lips, and the heart, in the worship of God.
Holy Communion
The Sacrament of Holy Communion is central to our Sunday Mass. All baptized and professing Christians are welcome to this sacrament at Good Shepherd.
Prior to communion, we confess our sins together in a congregational prayer of confession to properly prepare ourselves to receive the body and blood of our savior.
Candles
All of the candles lit each Sunday are intentional and have important meanings and purpose.
For example, during Christmas, “A circle of greenery, marked by four candles that represent the four Sundays of the season of Advent. An additional candle is lit as each new Sunday is celebrated in Advent…the candles may be blue, purple, or lavender, depending on the local custom. Some Advent wreaths include a white candle in the center known as the “Christ Candle” which is lit on Christmas Eve.”
(Excerpt from Don S. Armentrout, author of “An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church,”)
Episcopate
Our church is governed by a Bishop. During the time period of the New Testament book of Acts, the Apostles appointed bishops in each city throughout Christendom: the gospel writer Mark for instance was made Bishop of Alexandria, and two disciples of the Apostle John, (Polycarp & Ignatius), were both consecrated Bishops of different cities.
Christian churches throughout the past two thousand years have preserved the apostolic succession of Bishops, and the local churches have been entrusted to the oversight of Bishops who have been consecrated by the Bishops who came before them: in this practice our church traces an unbroken lineage of Apostolic succession going back to the time of the Apostles.
Call Us!
If you would like to pray with us, or join us in worship, have questions about how the early church worshipped or are simply in need of pastoral care, don’t hesitate to call us and reach out!
(843) 874-0122
A short primer of the English Orthodox Church
“We are descendants of the old Church of England. The word Anglican comes from the Latin phrase… ecclesia anglicana. This is a Medieval Latin phrase dating back to at least 1246. It simply means ‘the English Church’.
We are a liturgical church. This means that our services are pre-planned according to the seasons of the church year. Although we normally celebrate the Mass of Holy Communion every Sunday at Good Shepherd, we occasionally include other services such as Morning and Evening Prayer and Compline. All of our services are prescribed in the either the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, the 1662 English Book of Common Prayer, the 1929 Scottish Book of Common Prayer and the 1962 Canadian Book of Common Prayer. Our weekly sermons are based on the lectionary scriptures and can be found on this website.
We are a “Bible believing church.” We believe that God inspired holy men to write the scriptures. As such, the Old and New Testaments are divinely inspired, and contain all things necessary to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
We also believe that Christian marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman. And while we do not condone or encourage divorce, we understand that relationships are not always perfect and sometimes marriages fall apart for a wide variety of reasons. And so, we do not withhold the sacrament of Holy Communion from those who are divorced. We believe that the Sacrament of Communion has healing properties and might be of assistance in curing wounded souls.
Finally, from a personal standpoint, our church is a collection of people who not only like worshipping together but enjoy hospitality together as well. We join for a period of hospitality after church services every Sunday and experience other social activities as a group throughout year.
If you are looking for a church where you can seriously worship God without a lot of distractions with a group of like-minded and loving Christians, I invite you to join us on Sunday at 11:00 AM. If I can answer any questions about our church or our worship practices, beliefs, traditions etc”
– The Most Revd T. Creighton Jones
Good Shepherd Orthodox Anglican Church 