What is the Episcopal Church?
The Episcopal Church owes its foundation to Jesus Christ. It is organically related to the Church of England. Christian missionaries arrived in England in the second century and planted a church there. That early church affiliated with Rome begining in the sixth century, when Augustine became the first archbishop of Canterbury. When the English church severed its relationship with Rome in the 16th century, Protest and Orthodox ideas were also incorporated in the English church. The Church of England's faith is that of the earliest undivided Christian church, but practices and customs also incorporate ideas from more recent Christian movements.
Our tradition is a blending of evangelical and catholic (Eastern and Western) Christianity in which Christians of all traditions may find a home and where each tradition enriches and fulfills the others. The Episcopal Church is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion "a fellowship within the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church, of those duly constituted regional churches in communion with the see of Canterbury" in England. We "uphold and propagate the catholic and apostolic faith and order as set forth in the The Book of Common Prayer...bound together not by a central authority, but by mutual loyalty sustained by the common counsel of the bishops in conference." Those words are from a resolution by the Lambeth Conference of 1930, a gathering of Anglican and Episcopal bishops from throughout the world.
Anglicans — also known in the United States and some other places as Episcopalians — are Christians who practice their faith in the context of the 38 autonomous member churches, or provinces, of the Anglican Communion, which spans 164 countries worldwide with 77 million members. One of these provinces is the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, with 2.4 million members in 112 dioceses, or geographic regions. Anglicans and Episcopalians are persons of many ethnic and cultural heritages. Anglicans are known for welcoming diversity of opinion and inquiry.
Bishop Dean Wolfe
Clergy within the Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion are men and women who are ordained as bishops (after being elected in local dioceses), priests and deacons. Clergy often have spouses while others are single.
Many church members, or laity, hold various leadership positions that range from election to local parish vestries (or boards of directors) or as deputies to General Convention, the Episcopal Church's bicameral legislative structure.
Anglicans and Episcopalians practice a faith that is liturgically and theologically a bridge between Catholicism and Protestant traditions. Anglicans and Episcopalians value a balance of scripture, reason and tradition as set forth by 16th-century English theologian Richard Hooker.
A conference of three clergy and 24 lay delegates met at Chestertown, Kent County, Maryland, on November 9, 1780, and resolved that "the Church formerly known in the Province as the Church of England should now be called the Protestant Episcopal Church." On August 13, 1783, the Maryland clergy met at Annapolis and adopted the name "Protestant Episcopal Church." At the second session of the 1789 General Convention, September 29-October 16, 1789, a Constitution of nine articles was adopted. The new church was called the "Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America" (PECUSA). The word "Protestant" noted that this was a church in the reformation tradition, and the word "Episcopal" noted a characteristic of catholicity, the historic episcopate.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori
The church has grown from 13 dioceses to more than 100 dioceses. It is divided into nine geographical provinces. It is governed by a bicameral General Convention, which meets every three years, and by an Executive Council during interim years. The General Convention consists of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies. The House of Bishops is composed of every bishop with jurisdiction, every bishop coadjutor, every suffragan bishop, every retired bishop, every bishop elected to an office created by General Convention, and every bishop who has resigned because of missionary strategy. All members of the House of Bishops have seat and voice in the House of Bishops. The House of Deputies is composed of up to four lay and four clerical deputies from each of the dioceses. The two top leaders of the church are the Presiding Bishop, who is also called Primate and Chief Pastor, and the president of the House of Deputies.
What is the faith of the church?
The faith taught by Anglicans is none other than the Christian faith, no more and no less. Nothing taught by Anglicans is peculiar to Anglicanism. All teachings are those of the anicient and undivided church.
Christian doctrine, a taught by Anglicans, must conform to three criteria: scripture, tradition, and reason. No doctrine can be taught which is not at the same time scriptural, traditional, and reasonable. Episcopalians must therefore know the Bible and the traditions and history of the church. Especially important to Episcopalians is the Holy Bible. No Episcopal priest may teach unbiblical doctrine, and no Episcopalian is required to believe anything except what is contained in the Bible.
The Christian faith is summarized in the two ancient and ecumenical creeds, the Nicene and the Apostles', which are the traditional standards of faith, second only to scripture, in the church.
