Jesus sent his first disciples into the world to proclaim the Good News and be ministers of reconciliation. In our baptisms we become members of the Body of Christ, the Church, and inheritors of Christ’s mission given to his disciples. Therefore, the mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ; and we do this as we pray and worship, proclaim the Gospel, and promote justice, peace, and love (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 855). The Church has its beginnings in the life, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ; who is the Head of the Church. As far as a date for the start of the Church after Jesus' resurection; we traditionally look to Pentecost. On Pentecost Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on the apostles and sent them to continue his ministry in the world.

Episcopalians represent a branch of the continuous tradition of the Early Church established by Jesus' original Apostles. Our bishops are successors to the Apostles and have oversight of the Church in a system of Church governance that includes priests, deacons, and lay people.

The Episcopal Church is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the churches around the world that share a common faith and tradition with the Church of England, and maintain a “communion” with it. Other members of the Communion include the Anglican Church of Canada and the Anglican Church of Nigeria. In fact, most Anglicans now live in Africa. The member churches of the Anglican Communion are joined together by choice in love, and have no direct authority over one another. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Church of England, is acknowledged as the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, but while respected, the Archbishop does not have direct authority over any Anglican Church outside of England. While there are other churches that call themselves “Anglican,” only one Church in a province can be considered “in full communion” with the Church of England, and the Episcopal Church is the United States member of the Anglican Communion. There are 77 million Anglicans in 38 provinces throughout the world.

It is a widely held misconception (even among some Episcopalians) that the Church of England began in the 16th century and was founded by King Henry VIII because he wanted a divorce. The Church of England’s tradition goes much further back and its history is more complex.

While it is unknown at what date Christianity first arrived in Great Britain, the presence of British bishops at the Council of Arles in 314 is evidence of the existence of an organized Church. With the Anglo-Saxon invasions, the Church was forced into the western parts of Britain. The Church expanded back into Anglo-Saxon regions in the 5th and 6th centuries. The expansion came largely from Celtic Church missionaries and the mission from Rome of Augustine to Canterbury. While Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 597, there certainly was not a consensus that he had any more authority than any of the other bishops in Britain at the time. The desire amongst the various English kingdoms for a united national kingdom meant that the Church in Britain would first need to centralize its structure in order to support a national kingdom (the affairs of Church and state had become rather intertwined at this point in history). This eventually occurred at the Synod of Whitby in 664. At Whitby, the various dioceses of the British Church agreed to have a centralized structure with the Archbishop of Canterbury as the head of the Church of England. A longstanding disagreement over Church customs was also decided in favor of the Roman customs. This decision granted the Pope ultimate oversight of the Church in England and would open the way for increased papal control in England.

During the Medieval period, the power and influence of the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) had grown throughout the Western church (the Great Schism of 1054 had already split the Church into an Eastern church and Western church). There was increasing criticism of papal control in England due to the political influence of the Pope in English affairs, the exaction of funds to support the papal office, greater use of Roman church law, abuses and corruption by clergy, and doctrines enacted by Rome. By the time of King Henry VIII, criticism of papal authority combined with a growth in national unity lent considerable support for a break – not from the Catholic faith and tradition, but from papal control.

Henry VIII’s decision to repudiate papal authority was largely a political one to secure the strength of England as a nation. At the same time he fell in love with Anne Boleyn and there were many who desired she become the Queen of England. This story, too, is full of the complexities of history. Years earlier, Henry’s father and the King of Spain secured an alliance with the marriage of Henry’s older brother to Catherine of Aragon. When Henry’s brother died, the Pope granted a dispensation to allow Henry to marry Catherine of Aragon. Henry’s reading of the Bible (especially Leviticus 20:21) caused him to believe that his marriage to Catherine was cursed by God and he believed grounds for an annulment. Pope’s often granted annulments to rulers, but Charles V of Spain (Catherine’s nephew) had recently sacked Rome and, hence, pressured the Pope not to grant Henry an annulment. After four years, the national mood in England and Henry’s desires to secure his Kingdom and marry Anne were all factors in the decision of declaring a break from papal control of the Church of England.

Yet, even after the break from Rome, little changed in the worship and life of the Church as Henry kept most of the customs enacted by Rome. Church reforms began under Edward VI and in 1549 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer published the first Book of Common Prayer. This restored the Church of England’s worship to the language of the people and for the first time provided the monastic office of daily prayer for everyone. After the reign of Mary I (and her brief return to papal control), the Elizabethan Settlement of Queen Elizabeth I resulted in a via media (Middle Way) between those in England who supported Rome and those influenced by the Protestant Reformation and demanded more reforms in England. The via media represented a reformed Church of England that, far from departing from Catholic tradition, was returning to the doctrine and practice of the ancient Catholic Church – the Church of the apostolic fathers, before Rome gained power and enacted doctrines such as clergy celibacy and selling of indulgences, as well as turning to the Bible as the primary source of defining beliefs and practices. Reading of the Bible was encouraged and there was increased attention to preaching the Word of God.

The Church of England emerged from the 16th century having maintained the three orders of ordained ministry: bishops, priests, and deacons; the centrality of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist; the creeds as central to the teaching of Christian belief; while joining other reformers in placing the authority of Scripture as primary and encouraging the widespread reading, study, and discussion of the Bible as guided by the Holy Spirit. The reforms also led to the unique contribution of the Book of Common Prayer as a summary of faith and guide to worship. The via media has been a defining aspect of Anglican identity ever since.

The Episcopal Church in the United States traces its roots to the English settlers who arrived in the seventeenth century and founded Church of England congregations in the colonies. Following the War of Independence, the Episcopal Church in the United States began organizing its own governing structure. William White, rector of Christ Church in Philadelphia, was instrumental in the establishment of the Episcopal Church in the United States. Samuel Seabury, a priest from Connecticut, became the first bishop for the Church in the United States when he was consecrated by bishops in Scotland in 1784.

In 1785, the Episcopal Church would hold its first General Convention in Philadelphia. In 1786 the Consecration of Bishops Abroad Act made possible the consecration in England of bishops for dioceses in other parts of the world. In 1787, William White and Samuel Provost were consecrated in England to become the first bishops of Pennsylvania and New York, respectively (Bishop White he would also serve as the first Presiding Bishop for the national church). With apostolic succession secured, the Episcopal Church in the United States formed itself into an autonomous body in full communion with the See (Archbishop) of Canterbury at General Convention in 1789 (again meeting in Philadelphia). This marked the beginning of the Anglican Communion (churches in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury) outside of Great Britain.

The General Convention of 1789 adopted the Church’s constitution, canons (church laws), and a revised Book of Common Prayer (the first Prayer Book for the American Church). In 1821, the Church established the Domestic & Foreign Missionary Society (D&FMS) to emphasize the spread of the apostolic mission. In 1835, our role as “a people sent” was further emphasized when General Convention made the organizational structures of the D&FMS and the Episcopal Church one and the same (highlighting that all Episcopalians are active participants in Christ’s mission)! Today, there are over 2.3 million Episcopalians worshiping in over 7,200 Episcopal parishes in 110 dioceses.