ACHS in Prescott Valley serves the Prescott Quad-cities. We hope to create a thriving communion for those seeking God through Sacrament, Tradition and Grace.
Forward in Mission, Always Forward
Vision is always about what we can see, even if only in our imagination, but Mission is defined by Jesus:
The Great Commandment
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)
The Great Commission
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
What is Anglican?
The Anglican Way
The term Anglicanism is one that is not well understood by those outside of the Anglican Church. It is best to look at some related definitions in order to fully understand the term Anglicanism.
The word Anglican originates from the Medieval Latin phrase, ecclesia anglicana, which means the English Church. The English Church became the Church of England in 1534. An Anglican is an individual who adheres to and follows the core beliefs and traditions of the Church of England.
The term Anglicanism was first used in the 19th century. It is the combination of the words Anglican and ism. The term Anglican is used to define the core beliefs and traditions of the Church of England and ism meaning a distinctive belief and doctrine.
It is not a special form of Christianity. It is a preservation of the authentic Christianity as given to the Apostles by our Lord Jesus Christ and passed down from generation to generation (Jude1:3). Anglicans understand the Word of God as set forth in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible to contain all things necessary for salvation and to be the rule and ultimate standard for Christian living. In other words, the Bible is the anchor of our faith and everything Anglican is tied to it.
The Anglican Church
The Anglican Church is a liturgical church. The word liturgy comes from the Greek leitourgia, which means “participation of the people in the work of God.” Our liturgy is one in which the whole congregation participates. Not only does the liturgy provide order and sequence for the service, but it also reminds us of the great traditions of the Early Church that we have maintained for hundreds of years.
The centerpiece of the Anglican worship service is the Eucharist or Holy Communion. Anglicans focus their worship on communion because the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was instituted, indeed commanded, by Christ Himself for the continual remembrance of His life, death, and resurrection, and of the promise that He will come again. It is a very powerful and uplifting sacrament that renews us to serve the Lord with all our heart, mind, and spirit. It is Anglicanism at its best.
Church and Diocese
Anglican Church of North America
The Anglican Church in North America unites 132,000 Anglicans in 1,004 congregations across the United States, Canada, and Mexico into a single Church. On April 16, 2009 it was recognized as a province of the global Anglican Communion, by the Primates of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach is the Archbishop of the Church.
What we Stand ForMembers of the Anglican Church in North America are in the mainstream, both globally and historically, of Christianity – the biblically-faithful way of following Jesus and being part of the “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.” As Anglicans, this orthodoxy is defined by and centered on our church’s classic formularies – the Book of Common Prayer, including the Ordinal, and the Thirty-nine Articles – which all point back to the authority of the Holy Bible and articulate foundational principles of the Anglican tradition throughout the world. We wholeheartedly embrace the The Jerusalem Declaration, the founding declaration of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans ("Anglican Church in North America").
Diocese of Western Anglicans
"The Diocese of Western Anglicans is an Anglican Church in North America founding diocese. It has currently 35 congregations in the American states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming. The state with most congregations is California with 20, followed by Arizona with 8. His headquarters are located in Long Beach, California. Their first bishop was the Right Rev. William "Bill" Thompson, who resigned in 2014. He was succeeded as Vicar General by the Right Rev. Frank Lyons in June 2014.
The process that led to the birth of the diocese was started when 14 orthodox parishes from Southern California and Arizona, who had left the Episcopal Church and were under the supervision of the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America and the Church of Uganda, held a meeting of 60 delegates in June 2007. They adopted the Theological Statement of the Common Cause Partnership and elected an Executive Committee. In October 2007, at the reunion of the House of the Delegates it was decided to launch the Association of Western Anglicans Congregations and the Diocese of Western Anglicans as a diocese-in-formation. They joined the Common Cause Partnership in 2008 and formed the new diocese who was recognized as a member of the Anglican Church in North America in their Provincial Assembly held in Dallas, Texas, in April 2009. The diocese had then 21 parishes and an average Sunday attendance of 2,000. Rev. William Thompson was elected the diocesan bishop at the College of Bishops of the first Provincial Assembly of the ACNA in 19-20 June 2009. On October 10, 2014, the Anglican Church of North America elected Keith Andrews as the second bishop of the diocese. He was consecrated on January 25, 2015, at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, in Newport Beach, California." ("Diocese of Western Anglicans").