Spirituality
The North End Portsmouth Team Ministry is a member of the Portsmouth Diocese of the Church of England. We are an 'episcopal' church (led by a Bishop), and are also known as 'Anglican'. As Anglicans, we are members of the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic church". (A note for the uninitiated: "catholic and apostolic" means "universal and as passed on from the apostles of Jesus".)
However, all Anglican churches have different styles (and some different understandings about God and God's will for the church). We are a broad family, of diverse opinions: something which we are proud to be.
Our style can be broadly described as 'open catholic' - by which we mean that:
- most (but not all) of our services are traditional in style (with a set liturgy and music)
- we embrace the ministry of female priests who, like our male priests, are usually called by their christian names
- we occasionally use 'high catholic' traditions (like incense and bells), but only usually at important festivals (and not always, then!)
- we also use contemporary music and worship styles, sometimes with video or data-projection
- we are striving to become a community of Christians who worship in a range of different styles - embracing the best that the many different churches across the world have to offer. Within our pattern of worship can therefore be found examples of traditional, meditative, 'emerging church', 'fresh expressions', charismatic, celtic, and many other styles of worship. Our term for this is that we are striving to be a 'multi-plex church'.
Our beliefs are broadly consistent with the historic formularies of the Church of England, and...
- we treat the Bible with enormous respect, believing it to contain all that is necessary to find spiritual healing and one-ness with the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. (We prefer to talk about 'healing' rather 'salvation' which has become a 'loaded' word. 'Salvation' comes from the latin word 'salve', meaning 'healing').
- we also believe in respectfully listening to, and learning from, other people who have experienced and been touched by God.
Our spirituality is therefore open and exploratory.
We yearn to see Godly principles of justice and joy established in our own lives, as well as the world around us - and we delight in working with others (of all faiths and none) who share our fundamental commitment to love, reconcilliation and peace.