Who We Are

About the Episcopal Church

The Episcopal Church is a multinational denomination, with about 1.5 million members in more than 20 countries and territories. We are united in worship through the liturgies and prayers of the Book of Common Prayer and a three-year cycle of Scripture readings.  
 
The Episcopal Church is the only U.S.-based member of the global Anglican Communion, which is the world’s third-largest group of Christians. We are descended from the Church of England and seek to bring the rich traditions of Anglican theology and practice into conversation with new knowledge.

What We Believe

As disciples of the risen Christ, we believe that nothing separates us from God’s love. In response, we strive to love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

We believe in the God whom Christians name the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the three in one. We believe that God was fully present in human form in Jesus of Nazareth; that Jesus was raised from the dead after being crucified; and that Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection inaugurated a new way of relating to God. We believe that our lives as disciples of the risen Christ are guided by the power of God through the Holy Spirit, and that God’s ultimate loving design for the cosmos will be fulfilled. We believe our core work as Christians is to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We believe that human beings are made in God’s image and are beloved of God. We place a high value on maintaining human dignity and seeking justice for the oppressed.

Rather than requiring members to agree to a confession of faith, we are a creedal church, meaning our faith is outlined in creeds which contain our most central beliefs. Many of our worship services include a communal confession using an ancient statement of faith like the Nicene Creed or the Apostles’ Creed. Within a creedal church, there is more room for divergence among the particulars of people’s beliefs because, although we are rooted in common core beliefs, we are free to engage with the realities of the world and living lives of faith in different ways. We try to be a church where people of all walks of life belong together in community and unity, but not uniformity.

What Kind of Christians Are We?

Although we may come from a variety of backgrounds and hold a range of theological and social views, we strive to love and respect each other, worship together, and remember that all of us are called by Jesus Christ as beloved children of God. We may see things differently from time to time, but we are united in our love for God and our neighbors and in our pledge to worship God in unity.

We maintain strong beliefs, and we hold up Holy Scripture, the wisdom of the saints through the ages, and the catechism as respected sources for spiritual guidance. But we do not think these beliefs or sources of spiritual guidance answer every question or settle every debate. We assume our members have serious questions, doubts, and uncertainties, and we seek to be a place where we can grapple with them together, in community, in ways that lead to deeper and more mature faith.

How We Worship

Worship is at the heart of our Christian practice and the center of our spirituality. It animates our love for God and neighbor which carries over into the other areas of our lives, and grounds us in a vibrant community of faith. Our worship follows the rhythms and seasons of the ancient church calendar, guided by liturgies in the Book of Common Prayer. Our Sunday morning service includes scripture readings, prayers, a sermon, sung hymns typically led by organ and choir, and celebration of Holy Eucharist. Our worship is filled with scripture from beginning to end; about 70% of the Book of Common Prayer comes directly from the Bible. Click here for more information on what to expect during a service, and click here for more information about our worship services.

Leadership and Governance

The Episcopal Church denomination is governed democratically and functions at three main levels of organization.

At the local (parish) level, lay members elect a governing board called a vestry, which helps manage church property and finances and chooses the parish rector (priest) in cooperation with the bishop. Congregants also elect lay delegates to represent them at the regional level.

At the regional (diocesan) level, each diocese is led by a bishop, but governance is shared through a diocesan convention made up of elected clergy and lay representatives from every local congregation. For more information about our diocese, click here.

At the national level, the Episcopal Church is governed by a General Convention, which is a legislative system composed of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies which vote to approve laws, budgets, and policies. For more information about how the Episcopal Church functions at the national level, click here.