About Us
Who We Are
We are a fellowship in the Anglican tradition seeking to praise God in spirit and truth, love one another, and make disciples through liturgical, biblical worship, and faithful, gospel proclamation.
Our Family
The Anglican tradition represents an ancient expression of the Christian Faith among English-speaking Christians. There are over 80 million Anglicans in the world, making the Anglican Communion the third largest body of Christians in the world. The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) unites more than 130,000 Anglicans over 1,000 congregations across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. We are a church plant in the Diocese of the South.
Our Doctrine
We are both “catholic” and “reformed.” We have a passion for the faith that has been handed down to us by the early Church through the ancient creeds and Church councils. But we also recognize the importance and legitimacy of the Protestant Reformation in the life of the church. The heart of our faith is expressed in our communion liturgy: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!
Our Worship
Our worship is liturgical, which means that it follows a set pattern. The liturgy unites our voices with millions of Christians around the world and saints who have gone before us. Our tradition is rooted in Holy Scripture. The book that keeps Anglicans faithful to biblical praise and guides the structure and format of worship is The Book of Common Prayer. The Prayer Book is one of the greatest works of the English language and contains ancient prayers, hymns, and worship services. Most English-speaking churches have borrowed from the prayer book to guide their worship services, weddings, and funerals.
Our Rector
The Rev. Scott Rutherford is the vicar and planting pastor of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Cullman Chapel. Fr. Scott grew up in Logan, Alabama. He obtained a Bachelor of Bible and Theology from Southeastern Bible College (2008) and a Master of Divinity from Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School (2012). Fr. Scott grew up in the Baptist church and preached his first sermon at the age of sixteen. His love of Scripture, Church history, and biblical worship led him into the Anglican tradition. Fr. Scott is married to his wife Jessica and they have three children: Elijah, Levi, and Sophia.
Our Name
St. James Anglican Church Cullman is named after Saint James,
usually described in the Gospels as “the brother of John” but also known as James “the Greater” in order to distinguish him from two other New Testament figures of the same name. He was a Galilean fisherman, and with his brother John he left his home and his trade in obedience to the call of Jesus. With Peter and John he belonged to an especially privileged group of disciples whom Jesus chose to be witnesses of the Transfiguration, the raising of Jairus’s daughter, and the agony in the garden of Geth-se’ma-ne. James shared his brother’s hot-headed disposition, and Jesus nicknamed the two of them “Bo-an-er’ges,” or “sons of thunder.” They once expressed a willingness to share the cup of Christ’s sufferings, and in the case of James this was realized very soon after the resurrection. According to the Book of Acts, King Herod launched a persecution of the Church and had James beheaded, thus making him the first of the twelve apostles to suffer death for the sake of Christ. An old legend claims that the body of James was miraculously transported across the Mediterranean in its stone coffin and came to rest at Compo-ste’la in Spain. During the Middle Ages his shrine there became one of the great centres of pilgrimage, and the Spaniards specially invoked his aid to support them in their long struggle against their Moorish overlords. To this day he remains one of the best loved saints of the Spanish people.