When defining the Church many Anglicans refer to Article XIX of the Thirty-nine Articles.
“The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ’s ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.
As the Church of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, have erred; so also the Church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of Ceremonies, but also in matters of Faith.”
This definition does not adequately summarize the Prayer Book, in my estimation. First, nowhere within the Prayer Book do we see a statement even implied that the visible Church consists of only “faithful men.” There are many in the Church that are not faithful! This particular article contradicts itself by first stating that the Church consists of the faithful and then only a few sentences later explaining that the Church errs. Erring is not faithful! Even if the original intent was to combat the doctrine of papal infalibility, it still says what it says and cannot be expected to stand as a profession of our theology.
Assuming the “intention argument” the document is not properly written to stand as a profession. The original intention of the words “faithful” and “err” hardly matter. What matters is what it means according to what it says in plain English, that the Church consists of the faithful. This supposes that the Church is invisible and merely an ideal - theology straight from the Puritains. But the fact that it says the Church also errs confuses the matter and implies a completely different theology. It’s obvious that they slid this in thier to refute Rome’s doctrines - just your typical overzealous Puritanism.
The Prayer Book, as a whole describes the Church by using the Creeds. This means that the Church is made up of an ecclesiastical body of bishops, priests and deacons - since this is what “Apostolic” means - as well as what the church administers, which is the Sacraments and the very revelation of God through the Holy Scriptures.
The above definition does not mean that God in Spirit does not govern the Church and that it has no “faithfulness” or heavenly aspect to it. The Collect on Good Friday states that the “Spirit” governs and sanctifies the Church. But how could this be if the clergy governs?
As Christ states in the Gospel of Matthew, the Prayer Book, in its Office of Institution of Ministers, states that the “keys of the Church” are given to the ordained minister. This means that the Holy Spirit is working through him to “loose and bind” the sins of the people. He is Christ’s ambassador! The Office of Institution also describes the Church as being founded by the Holy Apostles, the Prophets and Jesus Christ himself as being the “chief -cornerstone.”
The Church is a tangible entity and not a mere concept. When one is baptized one enters into it. In the Office of Instruction (p. 290 BCP) the question arises: “What is the Church? The Church is the Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head, and all baptized people are the members.” The new believer was once born into a carnal life of worldliness but is now, through baptism being born into the spiritual life. But all of these baptized people will not be faithful, even though they are a part of the Church; even though they are Christians.