About
About Resurrection Parish
Whether we hear ourselves speak the words or not, eventually everyone feels the weight of these two questions: Who am I? Why am I here?
No matter how we answer those questions, nearly everyone comes to the conclusion that “There is more to life than I am experiencing. I want to make the quest to find it.”
At Resurrection we provide a Christian framework to help you discover and live the “more” of life and the good you were created for.
We are an Anglican Christian community in suburban Tampa Bay dedicated to prayer, service to others, unity in Christ, and spiritual formation. Foundational to our common life is faith in Jesus Christ who rescues us from self-deception, sin, and evil, so that we can live in the power of God’s spirit. As a result we live lives of hope, direction, and purpose.
Perhaps our name describes best who and what we are: Resurrection. Though death seems to be the final boundary, Jesus defied the known order of the universe when he was raised from the dead out of a borrowed grave in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. Impossible as it may seem, we have been freed from the finality of death. Because he lives, we shall live also.
So despite anything that life may throw at us, even death itself, we are "Resurrection people": alive to all that God has in store for us, both in this life and the next.
We are committed to prayer, service to others, Christian unity, and spiritual formation.
Our Story
Resurrection began in 2018 with the formation of the Anglican Union, a branch of the historic Church designed to unite Christians around the world, reaching from Africa and India to Europe and the Caribbean, and from South to North America. The Anglican Union is governed by a council of Patron Bishops, clergy, and parishioners.
In this time when so many areas of life are changing, we are dedicated to proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ through prayer, service, unity and spiritual formation. We are an open Christian society that holds to the orthodox biblical faith, believes in the teachings of Jesus, and worships according to the Anglican tradition.
Meet Our Team
Our parish is led by an amazing group of people who serve alongside us in the church’s mission. Our weekly services and year-round ministries would not be possible without these servant leaders.
Our Mission
The theme that binds us together is this: We are a people who seek to follow Jesus, love others, and live in mission.
But why? Because God loves us so much that he gave his son Jesus so that all who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Our faith is not a hobby. It's the center of our lives that inspires everything we are and hope to be, by the grace of God.
What We Value
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RELATIONSHIPOne of the highest values at Resurrection is to love each other the way Christ loves us. Not just when it’s easy, not just when we agree. In humility we try to regard each other as better than ourselves so that we all might receive the dignity, consideration, and respect we long for. Why? Because this is how God has loved us and joined himself to us (see Philippians 2:3-8).
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COMING TOGETHERWe've all witnessed the instinctive reaction of people pulling away from one another. It’s a way to be safe, but no way to live a full life. All of us were created for more. So we make a special effort to regularly be with and for each other to build up each other and cultivate a caring, compassionate community where everyone matters.
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A COMMUNITY OF HEALING AND RESPECTResurrection welcomes people who are battered by life, who hunger and thirst for God. We strive to become more like Christ as we live, love, worship, and serve according to God's design. In this way, we can become the mature, faith-filled people he created us to be. Resurrection isn’t a utopia or a sanctuary for saints. It is a hospital for the wounded and broken who are mending to become more than any of us ever dreamed possible. .
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BECOMING PART OF GOD’S MISSIONYou don’t have to worry about measuring up. Everyone here has failed at least once, and often disastrously. You don't have to do anything, except be open to what God is already doing in your life, and how He may develop you further in a spiritual home where you will see, hear, and learn from other sisters and brothers who’ve been on the same journey you are. The details may differ from one person to the next. But eventually, we all discover that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God. That's what many find at Resurrection.
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WORSHIPWe are dedicated to the worship of God that reflects His character more than ours. What is worship? It is announcing our belief, joy, and praise about God’s worth, His love for us, and for all the world. In worship we express reverence and awe for our creator, redeemer, and sustainer. Anglican worship relies on the oldest and most consistent practices of public prayer, proclaiming the Word of God, and celebrating the Lord’s Supper in order to invite worshippers into the spiritual realm. At Resurrection we use the Books of Common Prayer and Common Worship, which contain a treasury of the finest liturgies in the English language. Along with sacred scripture and choral music, these help us come before God in humility, wonder, and joy. We not only speak to God and each other, we wait to listen for His still small voice. Sunday worship is a central identifying characteristic of Resurrection Oratory Parish. When you step into the sanctuary you are entering a place designated for the meeting of God with His people. It is sacred ground, hallowed for the sole purpose of worship. If you have been baptized and believe that Jesus is the Son of God, Savior of the world, and Lord of life, and that He is present in the elements of consecrated bread and wine at the altar, you are welcome to participate in the Holy Communion, the Eucharist-–literally “the thanksgiving”-–so that you may “feed on Him in your heart by faith with thanksgiving.”
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SERVICEIn addition to weekly worship, many of our members are engaged in organized, tangible acts that reflect God's love and mercy: food distribution to individuals and organizations; material assistance to refugees in Tampa Bay; providing food, clothing, and furniture for clients of a local crisis pregnancy program; establishing and supporting communities of faith in the United States, Portugal, Africa, and India; providing individual support for people in grief and other traumatic life experiences, and ministry to first responders, veterans, and their families whose service has caused catastrophic injury and loss of life.
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COLLABORATION FOR A GREATER GOODOur ministry is not limited to or focused principally on ourselves. Yes, we meet the spiritual needs of our members. But we know we are not here for ourselves. So we work with Christians from a wide variety of traditions so that together all can accomplish a greater good for others throughout the world.
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BASE CAMP FOR MISSIONResurrection is a place where people do not simply come to have their own needs attended to, but a spiritual community that outfits its members to make a difference for good. Like explorers who visit the foothills of the Himalayas, we know that Resurrection isn’t our destination. It’s our base camp from which we launch heroic treks to accomplish great things for God that we cannot do alone.
What We Believe
Prayer is the foundational practice of our lives. It is the principal way our spirit communes with God. It opens our heart to hear God's guidance, and experience his never-failing presence.
The Bible is the Word of God, containing all that is necessary for salvation and the standards for living.
All people are born in need of God’s love and forgiveness, and that by accepting Jesus as the substitute in place of our being lost to God, he has become our Savior, our brother, and our Lord.
The sacrament of Baptism is the outward sign of initiation into the body of Christ by which the church demonstrates God’s spiritual cleansing and renewal through water and God’s Word.
The sacrament of Holy Communion, also called the Eucharist, is offered at every mass as the feast of great thanksgiving in which we remember Jesus’s sacrifice for the sin of the world, and by which we are spiritually fed. By eating the bread and drinking the wine, consecrated during the mass, we are participating in the gift of his broken body and poured-out blood freely given by him to us on the cross. The Eucharist is offered to assure us of God’s forgiveness, presence with us, and promise of eternal life.
Jesus is our model of compassion. The gift of salvation we have received from Him compels us to serve others in His name both locally and globally.
The Church is the community of Christians gathered to worship God, grow in Christian faith, love and care for each other, and bring others to know God’s love. The church is the Body of Christ on Earth, commissioned by the Lord to do good works in His name so that others will see and glorify God, accepting his invitation to become united with him both in this life and in the life to come.
