January 20, 2026
by John Fonville
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Category:
Worship and Liturgy
| Tags: gospel, music, worship, singing, preaching, evangelicalism, Trinity, Prayer, Liturgy, Holy Communion, Book of Common Prayer, Word and Sacrament, church, Christian worship, theology, church practice, congregational worship, worship language, worship theology
This article challenges the common Evangelical habit of equating worship with music and calls the church to recover a fuller, biblical vision of worship centered on Christ’s saving action through Word and sacrament. While affirming music, emotion, and heartfelt singing as God-given gifts, it argues that worship is more than sound and atmosphere—it is the Triune God ser...
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November 4, 2025
by John Fonville
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Category:
Anglican Theology & Practice
| Tags: Anglican, Anglicanism, Reformation, Thirty-Nine Articles, Eucharist, Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, sacraments, Eucharistic Adoration, transubstantiation, Book of Common Prayer, Cranmer, Gerald Bray, Anglican Theology, Word and Sacrament, Reformation Anglicanism, The Center for Reformation Anglicanism
This article examines whether the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion forbid Eucharistic adoration. Drawing on Articles 25 and 28 and Gerald Bray’s The Faith We Confess, it explains why Anglicans reject reservation, elevation, and adoration of the consecrated elements, and instead embrace Word and Sacrament as Christ’s appointed means of grace....
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November 4, 2025
by John Fonville
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Category:
Anglican Worship and Liturgy
| Tags: gospel, worship, assurance, evangelical, Prayer, Liturgy, Holy Communion, Discipleship, tradition, Reformation, Book of Common Prayer, Word and Sacrament, historic worship, church, scripture, Anglican, Cranmer, theology, repetition, formation, Reformation Anglicanism, The Center for Reformation Anglicanism
Many dismiss the Book of Common Prayer’s liturgy as “mere repetition,” but repetition is what forms us in Christ. Rooted in the Reformation, Anglican worship shapes our hearts, grounds us in Scripture, and offers deeper gospel fluency than the shallow novelties of modern Evangelical worship....
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November 4, 2025
by John Fonville
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Category:
Reformation Theology
| Tags: faith, worship, assurance, sacraments, Eucharist, Holy Communion, Reformation, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, Mass, scripture, transubstantiation, Anglican, Reformation Day, English Reformation, Oxford Martyrs, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, Lord’s Supper, Cranmer, Church History, theology, Anglican History, Reformation history, Marian martyrs, Black Rubric, Martyrdom, Reformation Anglicanism, The Center for Reformation Anglicanism
On Reformation Day we remember Bishop Nicholas Ridley, martyred in 1555, whose Brief Declaration of the Lord’s Supper defended the gospel against transubstantiation. Ridley taught that in Holy Communion believers truly receive Christ by the Spirit through faith — not by the bread changing into flesh — so that faith, not fear, is the way of communion....
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November 4, 2025
by John Fonville
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Category:
Reformation Theology
| Tags: gospel, Eucharist, Holy Communion, faith alone, grace alone, Thomas Cranmer, Book of Common Prayer, comfortable words, Anglican, Reformation Day, Reformation Anglicanism, English Reformation, Oxford Martyrs, Ashley Null, Reformation theology, Lord’s Supper, Church History, Martyrdom, All Saints Day, Archbishop of Canterbury, Real Presence, Spiritual Presence, Edward VI, Stephen Gardiner, Communion of Saints, Paramout Church, Theology of the Sacrament, Cranmer Doctrine, Anglican Worship, Sacrament of Faith, Cranmer’s Defence, Cranmer's Martyrdom, The Center for Reformation Anglicanism
On this Reformation Day—the Eve of All Saints’ Day—we remember Thomas Cranmer, the English Reformer and Archbishop of Canterbury who gave the Church the Book of Common Prayer and a gospel-centered vision of the Lord’s Supper. Cranmer taught that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist—not in the bread and wine themselves, but spiritually to the faith of believer...
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September 18, 2025
by John Fonville
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Category:
Ecclesiology
| Tags: church, mission, marks, preaching, baptism, Lord’s Supper, means of grace, gospel, Reformation, Anglican, michael horton, Word and Sacrament, Discipleship, theology, evangelism, worship, sacraments, grace, Gratitude, Christ, ACNA, covenant theology, Visible Church, Holy Communion, Holy Eucharist, Means of Gratitude, Means of Obedience
This article explains how the mission of the Church is defined by its marks — preaching, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. These means of grace are God’s strategy for delivering Christ to His people and sending the Church into the world....
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March 31, 2023
by John Fonville
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Category:
1662 BCP
| Tags: sacraments, Sacrifice, Holy Communion, altar, table, Mass, sacerdotalism, 1662 BCP, Reformation Anglicanism, Anglican Foundations
Instead of using the word "altar," the 1662 BCP uses the word, "Table." The word, "sacrifice" is used carefully....
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July 28, 2022
by John Fonville
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Category:
Lord's Supper
| Tags: martin luther, sacraments, means of grace, Lord's Supper, Eucharist, Holy Communion, Visible Gospel, worthy reception, German Mass, Sacrament of the Altar
Martin Luther on the worthy reception of the Lord's Supper....
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October 25, 2021
by John Fonville
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Category:
Liturgy
| Tags: Holy Communion, confession of sin, confession of sins, general confession, Reformation Anglicanism, 1552 Book of Common Prayer, 1662 Book of Common Prayer, Morning & Evening Prayer, divine service, auricular confession, priestly absolution, Liturgy
From 1552 onward, the striking thing about the daily services [in the Book of Common Prayer) was the prominent place given to the general confession of sins in corporate worship....
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October 30, 2019
by John Fonville
| Tags: judgment, baptism, means of grace, Lord's Supper, Eucharist, Holy Communion, J.V. Fesko, sacraments, means of judgment, faith, Unbelief
The Double-Edged Nature of God's Revelation- The sacraments are means of grace. However, because they are linked to the covenant and more broadly to divine revelation, they are not always means of grace but sometimes means of judgment apart from a Spirit-wrought faith....
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