Our Story

Good Shepherd Anglican Church held its first service on March 12, 2017, at The Triad Theater on West 72nd Street. Some new churches are transplants—a group is sent out from an existing church to be planted elsewhere. With other new churches it’s as if they’re planted from seed, and that’s how it was with Good Shepherd. Toward the end of 2016, a small number of people came together with a shared vision for a new Anglican church on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

From the start, our church has prioritized expository preaching, because the unfolding of God’s word gives light (Psalm 119:130). Another feature of the church—given our location on the Upper West Side, with its large Jewish population—is our desire to provide a spiritual home for Messianic Jews (Jewish believers in Jesus) and a welcoming place for Jewish seekers to find out more about Messiah Jesus.

All Anglican churches are connected in some way to the Church of England, a national church established in the 16th century. Most Anglican churches around the world still have formal organizational ties to the Church of England; many others do not, but remain faithful to Anglican teaching. We belong to the second group. For us, the appeal of Anglicanism is threefold. We're thankful for the Bible-based doctrine of the Thirty-nine Articles; the rich Anglican liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer; and the example set by great Anglicans down the centuries, such as Thomas Cranmer, Lady Huntingdon, John Newton, William Wilberforce, Charles Simeon, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, C. S. Lewis, and J. I. Packer.

Visitors to our church will find that our services are similar to those of gospel-centered Anglican churches in England, Australia, South Africa, and Singapore. Our worship style is "low church" as opposed to "high church," which means, among other things, that our pastor does not wear robes, and we do not celebrate the Lord's Supper every Sunday. Low church Anglicanism emphasizes the reading and teaching of the Bible, which was how Jesus himself made the hearts of his disciples burn within them (Luke 24:32). We warmly welcome Christians of every type, along with visitors of any faith or none. 

Our pastor, Bernard Howard, was ordained in 2016 by Bishop Martin Morrison of the Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of Southern Africa (REACH-SA), formerly known as the Church of England in South Africa (CESA). The history of this Anglican jurisdiction can be read here: http://reachsa.org.za/about-us/our-history/. Bishop Martin provides episcopal oversight for our church. CESA was invited to take part in the Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem in 2008. At that conference, CESA affirmed and accepted the Jerusalem Declaration, which serves as the doctrinal statement of Good Shepherd Anglican Church.