The Anglican Communion

As a community within the Anglican Diocese of Auckland, Whangarei Anglican is part of the global Anglican Communion. This communion comprises some 70 million faithful Christians across nearly every nation of the world. The Anglican Communion is bound by both its shared faith, expressed in the historic creeds and in scripture, and also by a shared history and connection with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of England. To learn more, please see below. Otherwise please follow these links to the Diocese of Auckland, the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, and the Anglican Communion.

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We are Universal
Anglicans are Christians.  We are members of the universal church, valuing what is distinctive about the worldwide Anglican Communion while also embracing other expressions and denominations as brothers and sisters in our walk of faith.  With the aid of the Holy Spirit we seek to overcome divisions between churches and christians so that we all may be one, both visibly and spiritually.

We Embrace Diversity
Today, Anglicans embrace a variety of languages and cultures from many different parts of the world, giving distinctive features to our worship, church life and theology.  The Church in New Zealand, known as the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, tries to reflect the diversity of our country through its three strands, or ‘tikanga’, giving each culture freedom to express their faith in ways relevant to them.

We bind together the past and present
As Anglicans we bring together traditions from centuries of Christianity. From the ritual of medieval catholicism and the contemplation of ancient Celtic Christianity to the informality and experience of contemporary services our worship covers the full spectrum of Christian Expression

The name ‘Anglican’ indicates our roots in the Church of England and, prior to the 16th century, the Roman Catholic Church, ‘Anglican’ being from the latin ‘ecclesia anglicana’ meaning the English Church. This link is still an important part of what it is to be Anglican, with each of our dioceses being in ‘communion’ with the archbishop of Canterbury.