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LATIN-AMERICAN ANGLICAN CHURCH
This religious organization was
born in the small city of Mosquera, Department of Cundinamarca, Colombia (South America) on December 17, 1985. The historic
event generated it the Colombian missionary Leonardo Marin-Saavedra al to organize the Anglican Missionaries Priests of San
Lorenzo.
Marin-Saavedra, was to receive Christian preparation during head of three years, directly from English missionaries
who arrived at Bogota city in 1978. They arrived from England. They were representing of the English Orthodox Church of Anglican
Rite.
Mrs. Barbara de Calderon (Director Consejo Britanico de Bogota), She introduced to the traditionalist English
missinaries to Leonardo Marin-Saavedra. Marin Saavedra was working for the Consejo Britanico from Bogota in 1978, as professor
of Spanish and young children of foreigners who arrived at Colombia by subjects of businesses. |
Welcome to the Traditional Latin-American
Anglican Church
We would like to introduce ourselves. This little introduction comes to you from a part of God's family.
We want to share with you what we have and we hope that you will feel free to join us in our adventure in faith.
Our
Adventure Story . . .
God has a habit of stirring things up! When God became Man He disturbed the religious leaders
of the day. It isn't surprising that one of the signs of the continued presence of Jesus in the Church is that people are
led to do disturbing things still.
When people go on an adventure for God, they are often challenged by church leaders
who ask the question, "By what authority do you act in this way?" It seems presumptuous to suggest that the authority comes
from God. Jesus told His disciples to go into the world as witnesses filled with His Spirit. We are trying to be obedient
to that calling. We would like you to join us.
What Does The Adventure Involve?
The short answer to that question
is that it involves a great deal of sacrifice. When we meet together around God's altar, we say to God, "And here we offer
and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee."
All
over this country small groups of people are establishing Christian congregations in the Anglican/Episcopal tradition. A few
families get together. They may begin in a home, or rent a hall. They have to give a whole lot of energy, talent and money
to serve in a new congregation as together they reach out to people like you. As the new congregation grows, it buys land
and finally builds a church. In the family of each church, ordinary people, young and old, meet the living Lord, learn His
will, and become His servants.
Why Make Such A Sacrifice?
Christianity is a missionary faith. It spread through
Europe and from Europe to the New World, Africa, and the East. Men and women risked all to accomplish this missionary task.
As the Church on earth is made up of mere mortals, it gets things wrong from time to time. God rescues His Church through
changed lives. Four hundred years ago, at what we call the Reformation, some English clergymen risked their lives to call
the Church back to its faith and mission. They did not create a "new church." They reformed the part of the Church in which
they served. That Church is called the Church of England.
Most of the first settlers in America belonged to that Church.
After the Revolution they called themselves Episcopalians. During the last thirty years many Episcopalians have felt called
to reform their part of the Church. Reformation renews; it doesn't start something new!
How Do You Know You Are Right?
We believe we are doing God's will by testing our beliefs by the witness of the Church. What does that mean? God works
through people. People note their experiences. The greatest book of experiences is called the Bible. God inspired its writers
to record that which God revealed not only to them but to His people, and particularly through the life, death, resurrection,
and ascension of His Son. We are a biblical church.
Our Lord called Apostles, who appointed successors. These successors
- bishops, priest, deacons, and laity - have left to the Church accounts of their experiences.
In the Creeds, sermons,
spanish books about God, reflections on the Bible, accounts of holy lives, we learn how God's call is heard and lived from
generation to generation.
This we call the Tradition. Tradition does not mean the dead voice of the past, but the living
voice of God speaking to His people. We are a traditional Church.
When the Church forgets its purpose by neglecting
the Scriptures, forgetting the Tradition and substituting new ideas and purposes, God uses His chosen few to bring His people
back to Him.
What About Ordinary People?
All Christians are ordinary people. God makes the difference. There
are four orders of called people in the Church. They are bishops, who are new Apostles; priests, who share the Apostolic calling;
and deacons, who inspire us to be servants of the Lord. Lay people form the fourth order.
Lay people share fully in
our adventure in faith. They are called to participate fully in worship. Our liturgy, the Book Of Common Prayer, ensures that
worship is conducted by all the people and not just by a minister.
Lay people are called to share fully in service.
In the local congregation, the people of God own their property and minister to each other through their elected representatives.
This is also true in the whole Church. Lay people spread the Gospel, help the needy and set examples of God's love.
What
Does All this Amount To?
In technical language, the Traditional Latin-American Anglican Church is a continuing Independent
Anglican Church. "By 'continuing' we mean remaining constant to the faith delivered to us by our forebears in the Anglican
Church, the Great Western Church, and all the way back to the Early Church established by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself through
His Apostles."
Its beliefs are based on the teachings of the Bible as explained in the Creeds and the Tradition of
the Church. Its bishops hold valid consecrations and are in Apostolic Succession to the original apostles who were chosen
by Christ Himself. The liturgy in use is the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.
Our family is not an exclusive club. It is
open to all who wish to know, worship, and serve our Lord. The witness of the Independent Traditional Anglican Church is twofold.
It exists to preach and bear witness to the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ, as set forth in the teachings of the Bible
and the Tradition of the Church.
The Bible and the Tradition of the Church are relevant to the ever changing demands
of modern life today. The Traditional Anglican Church also calls Anglicans back to the high levels truth and of service it
was once known to posses. Our Church is a family of Christians devoted to our Lord Jesus Christ and you are invited to be
a part of our family.
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