The Scriptures tell of many promises that God made. God promised that one would come who would save his people from their sins (Isa. 53:4-12). This coming deliverer would crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15) and even destroy death itself (Hos. 13:14); in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3). The Christian faith rests on the conviction that all of these promises have come true in the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. This is the gospel, a word that means "good news."

That Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of all the promises of God has been the faith of the church from its inception. It is this gospel that Paul the Apostle preached (1 Cor. 15:1-11), calling it "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Rom. 1:16). In other words, the gospel is not only about God's work in the world—the good news that the Savior has come—but it is also a promise of salvation offered to all (Rom. 10:8-13).

This gospel is declared in all the liturgies used at Christ Church Anglican, it is proclaimed in the reading of Scripture and preaching, and it is exhibited in the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. As Simeon said when he saw the infant Jesus (Luke 2:29-32), in words that we sing or say invariably at Evening Prayer:

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, * according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen * thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared * before the face of all people,
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, * and to be the glory of thy people Israel.