The Episcopal Church strives to live by the message of Christ, in which there are
no outcasts and all are welcome. Walking a middle way between Roman Catholicism
and Protestant traditions, we are a sacramental and worship-oriented church that
promotes thoughtful debate about what God is calling us to do and be, as followers
of Christ.
Christian faith as received and expressed in the Episcopal Church is best understood
as the faith of the catholic (meaning universal) Church that continues to be informed
by the working of the Holy Spirit as we use Scripture, Tradition and Reason to inform
our Christian life today. Episcopalains look to the Creeds of the Early Church as
sufficient statements of faith. The Episcopal Church uses two creeds: the Apostles'
Creed and the Nicene Creed. Episcopalians seek to follow Jesus as presented in the
Gospels. We are a people of mission who strive to make present the reign of God
in the here and now through justice, compassion and reconciliation for all the world.
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Episcopalians represent a branch of the continuous tradition of the Church
established by Jesus' original Apostles. 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.
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Episcopal means “bishop” in Greek, and the
Episcopal Church is governed in part by its bishops. The Episcopal Church is governened
by a Constitution and a set of Canons (laws) that are determined in diocesan and
national church conventions that inlcude bishops, clergy, and laity. Within the
parish, members of the parish are elected to serve on the Vestry (governing board)
to work with the clergy in making decisions about parish finances, property, and
mission.
“Episcopal” means “bishop” in Greek, and the Episcopal Church is governed
in part by its bishops. The basic unit of ministry in the Episcopal Church
is the “diocese,” or a region of a reasonable number of Episcopalians.
Each diocese is presided over by a “diocesan bishop” who may have help
from a variety of other kinds of bishops, depending on the circumstances.
The Diocesan Bishop chooses and ordains priests and deacons to serve the
“parishes,” or congregations, of the diocese, which carryout the ministry
of the diocese in their local communities. The priest leads the parish in
worship, making decisions related to the sacramental life of the parish,
and in general, supports the ministry of the worshiping Christians there.
The Episcopal Church is governed by a Constitution and a set of laws (known
as “canons”) which it establishes for itself by Convention (annual gathering
of the bishop(s), clergy, and elected lay delegates from the parishes), but
the diocesan bishop is the ecclesiastical (or “church”) authority in his or
her particular diocese. The bishops of the Episcopal Church have no jurisdiction
outside of their dioceses, so they meet together twice per year to pray and
make decisions about the life of the Church. Every nine years, the Church
elects a “Presiding Bishop” who represents the Episcopal Church in the
Anglican Communion and “presides” over meetings of the bishops, known as
the “House of Bishops.”
Every three years, deputations of priests, deacons and laity from all the
dioceses, along with the House of Bishops, gather to worship and pass
legislation for the Church. This General Convention is where broad
decisions are made about mission priorities, Episcopal Church policy, and
worship.
The Vestry is the elected, lay governing board of an Episcopal parish. A
Vestry acts in accordance with the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal
Church, USA; the Constitution and Canons of the Diocese; the By-Laws of the
Parish; and the laws of the State as they may pertain to certain legal
matters concerned with the the incorporation of the Parish.
All persons who have received the Sacrament of Holy Baptism with water in
the "Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit", whether in this
Church or another Christian Church, and whose Baptisms have been duly recorded are
members of the Episcopal Church. To establish membership in St Paul's parish, one
must have their Baptism recorded in our Parish Register of Baptized Members.
Learn how to join here.
The Episcopal Church is a member
of the worldwide Anglican Communion, churches around the world that trace their
roots to the Church of England and have given rise to a distinct form of Christianity,
known as Anglicanism.
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The white field represents purity of religion. The red cross represents the sacrifice of Jesus and
the blood of martyrs -- the red cross on the white field is the cross of St. George,
the patron saint of England, indicating our relationship as a child of the Church
of England. The blue in the upper left-hand corner is Madonna blue, for the Virgin
Mary, and represents the human nature of our the Lord Jesus Christ. The nine white
crosslets on the blue field represent the original dioceses of the Episcopal Church
in America in 1789. The crosslets are arranged in the form of a St. Andrew's Cross
to commemorate the fact that Samuel Seabury, the first American bishop, was consecrated
in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1784.
The emblem of the Anglican Communion. It is a stylized compass in which the center holds the Cross
of St. George, surrounded by the Greek inscription "The truth shall make you free."
The Anglican Compass Rose symbolizes the spread of the Anglican Communion around
the world. A bishop's mitre (hat) atop the northern arros of the compass emphasizes
the centrallity of the episcopate (bishops) and apostolic order (from Jesus' original
apostles) in the Anglican Communion.
* Excerpted from Don S. Armentrout and Robert
Sloak Slocum (editors),