What We Believe
The Episcopal Church has its roots in the Church of England, becoming a self-governing church body with the end of the American Revolution. Like other churches in the Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church stands squarely in the Reformed tradition, yet considers itself just as directly descended from the Early Church as the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches. Episcopalians celebrate the Holy Eucharist in ways similar to the Roman Catholic tradition, yet do not recognize a single authority, such as the Pope of Rome.
Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Common Prayer, the collection of worship services that all worshipers in an Anglican church follow. It’s called “common prayer” because we all pray it together worldwide. The first Book of Common Prayer was compiled in English by Thomas Cranmer in the 16th Century, and since then has undergone many revisions for different times and places. But its original purpose has remained the same: to provide in one place the core of the instructions and rites for Anglican Christians to worship together.
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While our bishop is our chief pastor, priests, deacons and lay people participate in the most important decisions about our life together. This is true from the congregational level, where the parish vestry (or council) holds significant authority, through diocesan conventions—which meet yearly, to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, consisting of a House of Deputies and a House of Bishops—which meets every three years, and is the highest temporal authority in the church.
Episcopalians believe that every Christian must build an understanding and relationship with God’s Word in the Bible, and to do that, God has given us intelligence and our own experience, which we refer to as “Reason.” Based on the text of the Bible itself, and what Christians have taught us about it through the ages, we then together sort out our own understanding of it as it relates to our own lives. |
Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi - Praying Shapes Believing
Our beliefs and worship flow from the Holy Scriptures. We use the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, along with the Book of Common Prayer. Every Sunday we read and preach from a 3-year cycle called The Lectionary—it provides a lesson from the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Psalms, and the Gospel every week.
While the Bible is our sacred text, we acknowledge that it is an ancient human document, full of all the contradictions and inconsistencies of humanity. We seek in Scripture spiritual inspiration, historical grounding for our faith, the teachings of Jesus and of the Hebrew prophets before him, and guidance for our own life of prayer and service.
We do not believe the Spirit stopped speaking when the last page of the Bible was recorded. We believe that God granted us the gift of reason to see the influence of the Holy Spirit through our own experiences, the experiences of our community and the experiences of Christians down through time. We also believe the natural sciences play a role in making clear the divine design.
Perhaps the best short, comprehensive summary of the Episcopal faith is contained in the Baptismal Covenant in which Episcopalians profess their belief in the Holy Trinity and their willingness to follow the church’s teachings and repent of their sins. We also pledge to “seek and serve Christ in all persons,” and to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”
Our list of “non-negotiable” points are very few and largely shared with almost every other Christian tradition. Those relatively few points are:
While we are committed Christians, we are deeply respectful toward other faiths and committed to inter-faith dialogue and witness. While we feel called to follow Jesus, we don’t presume that all people are called to the same path.
While the Bible is our sacred text, we acknowledge that it is an ancient human document, full of all the contradictions and inconsistencies of humanity. We seek in Scripture spiritual inspiration, historical grounding for our faith, the teachings of Jesus and of the Hebrew prophets before him, and guidance for our own life of prayer and service.
We do not believe the Spirit stopped speaking when the last page of the Bible was recorded. We believe that God granted us the gift of reason to see the influence of the Holy Spirit through our own experiences, the experiences of our community and the experiences of Christians down through time. We also believe the natural sciences play a role in making clear the divine design.
Perhaps the best short, comprehensive summary of the Episcopal faith is contained in the Baptismal Covenant in which Episcopalians profess their belief in the Holy Trinity and their willingness to follow the church’s teachings and repent of their sins. We also pledge to “seek and serve Christ in all persons,” and to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”
Our list of “non-negotiable” points are very few and largely shared with almost every other Christian tradition. Those relatively few points are:
- There is one God, who is a Trinity of Persons. 1 Corinthians 8:6
- The First Person of the Trinity, traditionally called “Father,” created all things at the beginning of time. John 10:30-36
- Jesus Christ, the very human rabbi from 2000 years ago, was and is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, and our Savior. Matthew 3:16-17
- The Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity guides us into all truth. John 14:16-17
- The Holy Scriptures (the Bible) are the revealed word of God, written by human beings under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit, who is the Third Person of the Trinity. The Bible contains all things necessary for salvation. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
While we are committed Christians, we are deeply respectful toward other faiths and committed to inter-faith dialogue and witness. While we feel called to follow Jesus, we don’t presume that all people are called to the same path.