This is where I am posting articles and other things that I find helpful or useful and sometimes simply interesting. This is also where I will post commentary from time to time. Please contact me at bishopalan@staidanlindisfarne.org with comments or questions.

warmly, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus, His servant and yours,

Bishop Alan.

The beliefs that form the unique culture of the Missionary Diocese of Saint Aidan Lindisfarne.

1. Our focus is on making disciples.
We understand the Great Commission of Matthew 28 as a call to make primarily Disciples not merely Converts. There is a difference. Conversion is only the beginning of the making of a disciple. It is not the end. The Western church is, paying the price it’s significant lack of disciples. We are praying for a few more radically transformed disciples whom we might equip to reproduce themselves. It is only disciples who can make disciples.

2. We are a Missionary multiplication movement of Authentic Christian communities of Disciples.
Disciples make disciples naturally. Gathering is natural for disciples. It is doubtful that a human can be a disciple alone. Disciples need other disciples. When two or three disciples are gathered together engaged in the work of becoming disciples we know that to be church.

3. We affirm the Priesthood of all believers.
The work of the ministry is to be accomplished by each and every disciple. All of the work is not the responsibility of each disciple but each has a responsibility to the portion of the work for which the Holy Spirit has gifted them. As each disciple does his or her part the whole of the work is accomplished. The employing of a full-time servant leader does not absolve the disciple from responsibility to the work of the ministry.

4. We participate with the Holy Spirit in Spiritual formation.
The Spirit led process through which the convert becomes a disciple is Spiritual formation. It is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the disciple to form them into the very image of Jesus. It is not the responsibility of the Holy Spirit to make us happy. It is our responsibility as disciples to submit to the process by which we are formed and changed.
(1 John 1:9, Eph 4:13-15, Phil 1:21, Gal 2:20, Phil 3:7-11,

5. We affirm a Biblical Eldership.
We affirm the ministry of Spiritual Elders among us as a gift and as the leadership model that Jesus intended and has provided for His Church. The Spiritual Elder is the foundation of all forms of leadership. All leaders must first be affirmed by the Body of Christ as an elder. Biblical Elders are made by the Holy Spirit and are the result of the process of Spiritual Formation over time. Elders are not voted in, appointed, educated or ordained into being. As they are recognized and affirmed by the Body of Christ they are then ordained (set apart) to the task of leadership. It is the assembly of the Spiritual Elders that provide the foundational leadership of the local Churches in the Diocese of Saint Aidan Lindisfarne. We affirm the leadership concept of ‘a first among equals’.

6. We affirm a Leadership that is gift based.
Leaders must be established in their respective servant roles based on the spiritual gifts given them by our Lord as He has willed. No one person has been gifted with every Spiritual Gift. The task assigned to them must be supported by the appropriate spiritual gift. Every leader is dependant on the whole of the body in order to accomplish the work of the Mission of God.

7. We practice and encourage Servant Leadership.
We understand the journey of the servant disciple toward leadership as a journey in downward mobility. We affirm the teaching of Jesus that those who are called to lead shall be the last of all.
(John 12:23-26, 13:1-17, Matt 20:25-28, I Cor 4:13, 16,

8. We affirm the five-fold ministry.
Jesus gave these gifts to the Church as the means of equipping the Priesthood of all believers for the work of the ministry to which they have each been called. We recognize our contemporary need of each of the ministry gifts of the Apostle, Prophet, Pastor and Teacher and Evangelist as critical to the wholeness of the disciples and to our ability to accomplish the Mission of God with which we have been entrusted as disciples. We affirm all of these gifts to us and we welcome their ministry among us.
(Eph 4:11-12)

9. We affirm the biblical models for authentic Christian community.
We acknowledge that the church in the West has generally lost the definition of authentic Christian community. It is our hope to reclaim it.
(Acts
10. We affirm and practice Biblical and Historic Christianity.
In contrast to a denomination, a communion expresses the organic unity Jesus Christ originally established in His Body, the Church. Rather than emerging from divisions created by historic differences over doctrine and practice, a communion represents return to unity based on the recovery of the essential oneness of the ancient, medieval, and contemporary church.
Standing within the Celtic and Anglican traditions, the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches was created by a convergence of the great historical expressions of faith and practice: the Evangelical, Charismatic, liturgical, and sacramental traditions. The fundamental principles defining inclusion in the Communion are detailed in the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1886.

The four basic statements are:
1. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as "containing all the things necessary for salvation" and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith.
2. The Apostle's Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol; and the Nicene Creed, as the sufficient statement of faith.
3. The two Sacraments ordained by the Christ Himself - Baptism and the Supper of the Lord - ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution, and the elements ordained by Him.
4. The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God in the Unity of His Church.

The “Doctrinal Essentials” further describe the foundational beliefs of the Missionary Diocese of Saint Aidan Lindisfarne. They can be found on the Diocesan website, www.staidanlindisfarne.org