Low church

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Low church" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (July 2017)

Part of a series on
Anglicanism
Theology Christian theology Anglican doctrine Thirty-nine Articles Books of Homilies Caroline Divines Chicago–Lambeth Quadrilateral Episcopal polity Sacraments Mary
Ministry and worship Ministry Music Eucharist King James Version (Book of Common Prayer) Liturgical year Churchmanship (High, Low, Central, Broad) Monasticism Saints Jesus Prayer
Christianity Jesus Christ Paul Christian Church First seven ecumenical councils
Background and history Celtic Christianity Augustine of Canterbury Bede Medieval cathedral architecture Apostolic succession Henry VIII English Reformation Thomas Cranmer Dissolution of the monasteries Church of England Edward VI Elizabeth I Matthew Parker Richard Hooker James I Charles I William Laud Nonjuring schism Latitudinarian Anglo-Catholicism (Liberal) Oxford Movement
Anglican Communion Anglican Communion history Archbishop of Canterbury Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings Lambeth Conference Bishops Anglican Consultative Council Ecumenism Ordination of women Windsor Report
Continuing Anglicanism Anglican realignment Bartonville Agreement Congress of St. Louis North American Anglican Conference
Christianity portal
v t e

In Anglican Christianity, low church refers to those who give little emphasis to ritual. The term is most often used in a liturgical sense, denoting a Protestant emphasis, whereas "high church" denotes an emphasis on ritual, often Anglo-Catholic.

The term was initially pejorative. During the series of doctrinal and ecclesiastic challenges to the established church in the 17th century, commentators and others—who favoured the theology, worship, and hierarchical structure of Anglicanism (such as the episcopate) as the true form of Christianity—began referring to that outlook (and the related practices) as "high church", and by the early 18th century those theologians and politicians who sought more reform in the English church and a greater liberalisation of church structure, were in contrast called "low church".

To an outsider, the difference between high-church and low-church may not be immediately obvious. There is a strong tradition of spiritual flexibility in Anglicanism, and many churches do not wish to exclude those who prefer one or the other. Most churches do not identify as one or the other, and may try to accommodate many forms of worship. Churches that are more lax in ritual generally do not advertise as such, and the vast majority of Anglican churches, including most “low-church” congregations, follow some kind of fixed liturgy. Low-church congregations, however, typically have plainer-looking churches, prefer modern language, and include more roles for laypersons during service. One definite indicator of a low-church parish are infrequent services for performing sacraments such as the Eucharist. Many low-church parishes are strongly influenced by evangelicalism and individual religious experience, resulting in a tradition called Evangelical Anglicanism.