Anglican

The Anglican Church is the English branch of the New Testament Church established by Jesus Christ.  The word "Anglican" comes from Latin and means "English", which refers to our Anglo-Saxon and Celtic spiritual heritage.

The Anglican Church is the branch of the Christian Church throughout the world in communion with the Church of England.  Tradition records that the Gospel took root in Britain in A.D. 37 with the arrival from the Holy Land of St. Joseph of Arimathea (the disciple who buried Christ in his own tomb).

The first written records show a fully grown British Church that had bishops of London, York and Lincoln attending the council of Aries in A.D. 314 and assented to the council of Nicaea in A.D. 325.

1928 Book of Common Prayer
One of the most controversial areas of the church started in 1906 with the abortive attempt to revise the Prayer Book of 1662.  After 21 years at the July 1927 synod the new prayer book was adopted by 517 votes in favor and 133 voted against.  The majority vote was composed of 34 bishops, 253 clergy and 230 laity.  Next step was to get approval by parliament.  The house of lords passed the book 241 to 88 votes.  Then came the surprise rejection by the house of commons with 238 votes against and 205 votes in favor.

After additional revisions the book was again brought before parliament in June of 1928 and was again defeated.  The bishops decided at the January 1929 synod to adopt the 1928 Book of Common Prayer without parliamentary approval.  The formal statement of approval was issued by the bishops in September of 1929.