St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church
Being Episcopalian FAQ
How did the Episcopal Church get started?
How do Episcopalians decide what to believe?
How do Episcopalians decide what to do?
Why do Episcopalians have Bishops?
Why do Episcopalians pray with a Prayer Book?
Do Episcopalians believe that spirituality is important?
How does the Episcopal Church "fit" with other American churches?
How does the Episcopal Church "fit" with other churches around the world?
How did the Episcopal Church get started?
In the 16th century, Catholicism in Europe broke into several national churches when leaders "protested" the Pope's authority over them - hence the term Protestant. Although cynics directly attribute England's secession from Rome to Henry VIII's divorce, the spit was really inevitable, given the sweeping Reformation of religion taking northern Europe by storm. When English colonists brought their church to the New World, it became officially established in Virginia and tolerated in many other colonies. Following the American Revolution, church ties to the English crown were cut, and congregations formed the independent Protestant Episcopal Church, later renamed The Episcopal Church. Questions
Episcopalians place great faith in religious decisions which are made gradually by balancing all points of view. In matters of faith, Episcopalians achieve this gradual balance by relying on a "three-legged stool" of scripture, tradition, and reason. No single leg is self-sufficient, and, if any of the others were to be removed, the entire structure would topple. The Bible, or scripture, is the record of God's personal revelation to humanity. Episcopalians take the Bible very seriously, although not always literally, and 80% of their liturgy is scripture arranged for worship. Tradition represents God's ongoing revelation to humanity, which is continually refreshed through the Church's living body of thought. The stream of tradition, carrying staples, such as the creeds and the catechism, gathers force as successive generations of believers bequeath and build upon their hard-won insights. Reason is the God-given power of the human mind to discern truth in scripture, tradition, and daily experience. The interplay of all three - scripture, tradition and reason - gradually shows Episcopalians what to believe about God. Questions
Episcopalians have great faith in ordering the life of their Church, as will as their own personal lives, by gradually balancing all points of view. On the personal level, great scope in this process is given to individual conscience. Episcopalians are encouraged to prayerfully allow inner Christian beliefs to shape their outer actions, but there are few hard and fast rules as to how this must be done. On the level of the Church as a whole, Conventions of lay and ordained members gather regularly within their dioceses and across the nation to hear different points of view, debate their merit, and determine "the mind of the Church" by vote. The national Constitution of the Episcopal Church embodies a political philosophy very similar to that of the U.S. Constitution. Questions
Since the days of the apostles, Christian congregations have networked in prayer, preaching, deliberation, and charity. Ancient records document an early rise of "overseers" (in the original Greek the word is epi-skopos) who personally drew congregations into relationship with one another, and assured that the teaching and worship of each remained faifthful to the rest. These overseers, or bishops, soon came to symbolize the truth that each congregation was part of a larger whole, and unable to reach its full potential without the challenge and support afforded by its neighbors. From this Greek term epi-skopos comes the name Episcopal, denoting the church that continues this time-honored tradition of oversight and collegiality. Questions
Episcopalians are what they do. From the beginning The Book of Common Prayer has formed the living heart of their identity, and it has been translated and transformed into characteristic versions in dozens of different culture, including our own. While other Christian traditions may be defined by their denominational confession of faith, the Episcopal Church is defined by its reverently ordered way of worship. During the Reformation, the English Prayer Book appeared first, and only decades later was any doctrine formed. even then, personal conscience was given wide scope so long as worship traditions were upheld. Today's Book of Common Prayer deeply reflects the reverent cadences and phrasings of the 16th century original, giving voice and form in America to some of the most finely crafted worship available. Episcopalians are fond of saying, "Come worship with us, and if you feel you've come home you must be one of us. Questions
Spirituality is given wide and deep scope in the Episcopal tradition, since doctrine (just what to believe) and discipline (just what to do) are largely entrusted to personal conscience, informed by the public thought and action of the whole Church. This decentralization of decision makes "care of the soul" central to Episcopal experience, and many of the great spiritual gems in Western literature have come from pens writing in the Anglican family of churches, of which the Episcopal Church is an American branch. Spirituality Questions
Over the centuries immigrants from many lands have brought their versions of Christianity to America. In the colonial days Germans brought Lutheranism, the English brought Anglicanism, and Scots brought Presbyterianism, and the free-thinkers among the Presbyterians went on to invent Congregationalism. Since then completely new denominations have also evolved on American soil, such as the highly intellectual Unitarians and the highly sectarian Mormons. Today more than 520 hundred Christian denominations fill the American "marketplace" of religion. Episcopalians take their place as the direct descendents of the original Anglicans, but with the difference that now they invite all Christians, baptized in any denomination, to share fully in their worship. Episcopalians also have a special, mutually-ratified relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which allows the two churches to freely interchange clergy, including permanent assignments in one another's congregations. Questions
The Episcopal Church is part of a world-wide family of national churches called the Anglican Communion; this international network takes its name from the churches' common origin in the Church of England, which separated from Rome during the Reformation. Twenty-nine autonomous Anglican Churches eventually spread across 160 countries in every continent. Al of these churches share in worshipping through their own version of The Book of Common Prayer, and in ongoing relationship with one another linked through the Archbishop of Canterbury in England. The heads of the various national churches consult together regularly at a Primates Meeting, and every ten years the bishops of each church convene in Canterbury for the Lambeth Conference. In between these meetings, a world-wide Anglican Consultative Council of lay and ordained representatives meets to discuss pressing issues as they arise. All three international gatherings provide Anglican Churches with world-wide discussion and mutual support; however these meetings do not make rules for member Churches, which legislate independently for themselves.
Theologically, Anglican Churches self-consciously follow a "middle way." They see themselves as different from Protestant denominations which made a radical break from the past during the Reformation, and from the Roman Catholic Church, which resisted pressures upon it to change. Anglicans value a continuity with Christianity's historic heritage, but they also value freedom to gradually shed individual observances if they cease to serve well, and to develop new ones. Anglican core beliefs come from the creeds, which are formal confessions of faith used by Christians since the earliest centuries, and from the Bible, which has been interpreted through generations of tradition, scholarship, and inquiring reason. Members join the Church through baptism, and they practice their faith by sharing Holy Communion. Al who have been baptized in any tradition are welcome to share in Communion (also known as the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper), and any baptized person wishing to establish or renew an intentional relationship with an Anglican Church is encouraged to seek Confirmation from one of its bishops. Questions