Low church

In

Anglo-Catholic

.

The term was initially pejorative. During the series of doctrinal and ecclesiastic challenges to the

episcopate) as the true form of Christianity—began referring to that outlook (and the related practices) as "high church

", and by the early 18th century those theologians and politicians who sought more reform in the English church and a greater liberalisation of church structure, were in contrast called "low church".

Historical use

The term low church was used in the early part of the 18th century as the equivalent of the term Latitudinarian in that it was used to refer to values that provided much latitude in matters of discipline and faith. The term was in contradistinction to the term high church, or high churchmen, which applied to those who valued the exclusive authority of the Established Church, the episcopacy and the sacramental system.^[1]

Low churchmen wished to tolerate

Dissenters

, the term eventually fell into disuse.

Both terms were revived in the 19th century when the

Tractarian movement brought the term "high churchman" into vogue. The terms were again used in a modified sense, now used to refer to those who exalted the idea of the Church as a catholic entity as the body of Christ, and the sacramental system as the divinely given means of grace. A low churchman now became the equivalent of an evangelical Anglican, the designation of the movement associated with the name of Charles Simeon, which held the necessity of personal conversion to be of primary importance.^[1]

At the same time, Latitudinarian changed to

ritualist being applied to them in a somewhat contemptuous sense. However, the terms high churchman and ritualist have often been wrongly treated as interchangeable. The high churchman of the Catholic type is further differentiated from the earlier use of what is sometimes described as the "high and dry type" of the period before the Oxford Movement.^[1]

Modern use

In contemporary usage, "low churches" place more emphasis on the

Protestant nature of Anglicanism than broad or high churches and are usually Evangelical in their belief and conservative (although not necessarily traditional) in practice. They may tend to favour liturgy such as the Common Worship over Book of Common Prayer, services of Morning and Evening Prayer over the Eucharist, and many use the minimum of formal liturgy permitted by church law. The Diocese of Sydney

has largely abandoned the Prayer Book and uses free-form evangelical services.

Some contemporary low churches also incorporate elements of charismatic Christianity.

More traditional low church Anglicans, under the influence of

Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England as an official doctrinal statement of the Anglican tradition.^{[citation needed}

]

Ecumenical relationships

United churches with Protestants in Asia

Several provinces of the

Pentecostal

churches joined also the union.

In 1970 the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon, the United Church of North India, the Baptist Churches of Northern India, the

Lutherans of Churches in Pakistan merged into the Church of Pakistan

. The Church of Bangladesh is the result of a merge of Anglican and Presbyterian churches.

Britain and Ireland

In the 1960s the

ecumenical overtures to the Church of England, aimed at church unity. These formally failed when they were rejected by the Church of England's General Synod in 1972. In 1981, a covenant project was proposed between the Church of England, the Methodist Church in Great Britain, the United Reformed Church and the Moravian Church.^[2]

In 1982 the United Reformed Church voted in favour of the covenant, which would have meant remodelling its elders and moderators as bishops and incorporating its ministry into the apostolic succession. The Church of England rejected the covenant. Conversations and co-operation continued leading in 2003 to the signing of a covenant between the Church of England and the Methodist Church of Great Britain.[3] From the 1970s onward, the Methodist Church was involved in several "Local Ecumenical Projects" (LEPs) with neighbouring denominations usually with the Church of England, the Baptists or with the United Reformed Church, which involved sharing churches, schools and in some cases ministers.

In the Church of England,

See of Rome

more difficult.

In the 1990s and early 2000s the Scottish Episcopal Church (Anglican), the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian), the Methodist Church of Great Britain and the United Reformed Church were all parts of the "Scottish Churches Initiative for Union" (SCIFU) for seeking greater unity. The attempt stalled following the withdrawal of the Church of Scotland in 2003.

In 2002 the Church of Ireland, which is generally on the low church end of the spectrum of world Anglicanism, signed a covenant for greater cooperation and potential ultimate unity with the Methodist Church in Ireland.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Low Churchman". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 72.
^ "Church of England/Methodist Church Covenant".
^ "Church of England/Methodist Church Covenant".
^ "Church of Ireland/Methodist Church Covenant".

External links

Catholic Encyclopedia: Low Church
High Church vs. Low Church: Documentary Narrative of an Ecclesiastical Joke compiled by Richard Mammana and Cynthia McFarland for Anglicans Online
Igreja Anglicana Reformada do Brasil Archived 2010-05-02 at the Wayback Machine

[EB1911-1] One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Low Churchman". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 72.

[2] "Church of England/Methodist Church Covenant".

[3] "Church of England/Methodist Church Covenant".

[4] "Church of Ireland/Methodist Church Covenant".

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