A Gospel Centred,

Word Focused

Community

on Mission Together.

“This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:11-12

Proclaim Anglican Church exists so that the south eastern growth corridor of Melbourne might know the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. The word ‘gospel’ means ‘good news’, and the good news is all about Jesus. Jesus saves us from sin, redeems our lives, and reconciles us to God through his incarnation, his death on a cross, his rising to new life, and his ascension as King of the World. We desire to proclaim this gospel of salvation and live it out in our daily lives.

How do we know about the gospel of Jesus? Through the WORD.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the servant of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17

The Bible is a collection of 66 books written over centuries. It all comes together in the central character of the bible, Jesus Christ. The bible is therefore no ordinary book, it is the Word of God, and the way that God speaks to us. Therefore, the bible has authority, and it teaches us true and wonderful things about the one true God.

We live in a world full of crowded voices telling us to live self seeking lives and to find fulfilment in worldly accomplishments. Proclaim Anglican Church desires for the Word to set the agenda in our lives and find a life fulfilled in Christ alone. As we read the bible, understand it and submit to it, our lives are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. We begin to learn, understand and submit to God, and proclaim the gospel to all around us.

We aim to be gospel centred and word focused through COMMUNITY.

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers….And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
Acts 2:42, 47

Christians are not meant to walk alone. When God calls us and saves us, he calls us to be brought into His family, known as the Church. Time and time again in the New Testament, the pattern shows that no one is saved without being added to the church, and no one is added to the church without being saved. It is God’s intention for the church community to have every tribe, tongue and nation gathered together, to be taught from His Word together, to be a community together, to live life together, to eat together, to pray together, to challenge one another, to spur one another on, and to support one another.

This gospel centred and word focused community must focus on the MISSION that God has given to his church.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”
Matthew 28:19

There are a lot of good things that churches devote themselves to, but the most important is this: to go and make disciples. Broken relationships and domestic violence are heartbreakingly prominent in our city. But the biggest broken relationship that stands out above all others is every individual’s relationship with God.

This is where we believe God is most at work. He is drawing people to himself. He does this through people trusting in Jesus and the atoning work of the cross. Every Christian is called to share the message of reconciliation to the world, and this message stands far above the banner of broken relationships. It is a job only the church can do. It is a job the church is called to, and that we at Proclaim Anglican Church must do.

On 17 November 2024 Proclaim Anglican Church held our second annual meeting, and passed a motion regarding the Gafcon Jerusalem Declaration. 

“That Proclaim Anglican Church formally affirms the Jerusalem Declaration, affirming our commitment to the historic creeds, the 39 Articles of Faith, and the biblical foundation of marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman.”

This is the Jerusalem Declaration that is affirmed.

“In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit:

​

We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, have met in the land of Jesus’ birth. We express our loyalty as disciples to the King of kings, the Lord Jesus. We joyfully embrace his command to proclaim the reality of his kingdom which he first announced in this land. The gospel of the kingdom is the good news of salvation, liberation and transformation for all. In light of the above, we agree to chart a way forward together that promotes and protects the biblical gospel and mission to the world, solemnly declaring the following tenets of orthodoxy which underpin our Anglican identity.

 

1. We rejoice in the gospel of God through which we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because God first loved us, we love him and as believers bring forth fruits of love, ongoing repentance, lively hope and thanksgiving to God in all things.
    
2. We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.
    
3. We uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
    
4. We uphold the Thirty-nine Articles as containing the true doctrine of the Church agreeing with God’s Word and as authoritative for Anglicans today.
    
5. We gladly proclaim and submit to the unique and universal Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humanity’s only Saviour from sin, judgement and hell, who lived the life we could not live and died the death that we deserve. By his atoning death and glorious resurrection, he secured the redemption of all who come to him in repentance and faith.
    
6. We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.
    
7. We recognise that God has called and gifted bishops, priests and deacons in historic succession to equip all the people of God for their ministry in the world. We uphold the classic Anglican Ordinal as an authoritative standard of clerical orders.  
    
8. We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.
    
9. We gladly accept the Great Commission of the risen Lord to make disciples of all nations, to seek those who do not know Christ and to baptise, teach and bring new believers to maturity.
    
10. We are mindful of our responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation, to uphold and advocate justice in society, and to seek relief and empowerment of the poor and needy.
     
11. We are committed to the unity of all those who know and love Christ and to building authentic ecumenical relationships. We recognise the orders and jurisdiction of those Anglicans who uphold orthodox faith and practice, and we encourage them to join us in this declaration.
     
12. We celebrate the God-given diversity among us which enriches our global fellowship, and we acknowledge freedom in secondary matters. We pledge to work together to seek the mind of Christ on issues that divide us.
     
13. We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.
     
14. We rejoice at the prospect of Jesus’ coming again in glory, and while we await this final event of history, we praise him for the way he builds up his church through his Spirit by miraculously changing lives.”