What Kind of Christians Are We?
Photo: David Rider
Welcome. If you have landed here, you might be Episco-curious—wondering who we are, what we believe, and what we have to offer spiritual seekers. We are glad you are here, and we hope this answers some of your questions. For further questions, get in touch.
What kind of church is The Episcopal Church?
The Episcopal Church is a Protestant denomination and shares many qualities in common with other Protestant churches. But because our roots reach though the Church of England back to the origins of Christianity in the West, our tradition also features some characteristics of ancient and medieval Christianity, particularly in our art, architecture, and style of worship.
As a church, we take seriously both the 2,000-year history of Christianity and the realities of the 21st century. We help our members live out the ancient beliefs and values of the faith in ways that are meaningful today.
Am I welcome?
Absolutely! While we aren’t perfect, we strive to be a church where every kind of person and family can find a spiritual home. You belong here. No exceptions.
Does The Episcopal Church tell people what to believe?
No, we do not. We maintain strong beliefs, and we hold up Holy Scripture, the wisdom of the saints through the ages, and our own catechism as respected sources for spiritual guidance. But we do not think the beliefs of the church or its sources of spiritual guidance answer every question or settle every debate. We assume our members have serious questions, doubts, and uncertainties, and we seek to be a place where we can grapple with them together, in community, in ways that lead to deeper and more mature faith.
If we don’t hold all beliefs in common, what holds us together?
Episcopalians come from a huge variety of backgrounds and hold a wide range of theological and social views, so we do not always agree with each other. But we strive to love and respect each other, worship together, and remember that all of us are called by Jesus Christ as beloved children of God. We may see things differently from time to time, but we are united in our love for God and our neighbors and in our pledge to worship God in unity.
Why is being an Episcopalian a joyful way of being Christian?
Episcopalians don’t think that our way of being Christian is the right or best way, but we do believe we have a distinct way of being Christian—and that it is a joyful one. The combination of the elements described on this page, along with who we are as a denomination, what we believe as Episcopalians, and how we worship connect us to the deep history of the faith while taking the world around us seriously. Worship is at the heart of our Christian practice and the center of our spirituality. It animates our love for God and neighbor, sparks our sense of beauty, and provides an experience of joy that carries over into the other areas of our lives. Both worship and parish life ground us in a vibrant community of faith that is itself a source of great joy.
We invite you to come and spend time with us so you can experience it for yourself!
What parts of The Episcopal Church’s story are still being reckoned with?
Like many institutions, there are parts of our shared history that require ongoing truth-telling, reckoning, and healing. There is no honest expression of The Episcopal Church’s story that does not acknowledge our role in proliferating chattel slavery. Many of our dioceses and church institutions have engaged in the deep work of truth-telling, reconciliation, and, in many cases, reparations.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Episcopal Church dioceses and parishes also partnered with the U.S. federal government in running boarding schools that sought to assimilate Indigenous children by removing them from their families, languages, and cultures. This practice caused tremendous intergenerational harm and trauma, and in 2022, our General Convention established an Indigenous-led commission to study our church’s role in this history. This work is ongoing.
How is The Episcopal Church organized?
We got our name, The Episcopal Church, just after the American Revolution. Since we could not remain part of the Church of England, we came to be called The Episcopal Church. That’s because ours was (at that time) the Protestant church that was distinguished from the others by retaining an organizational structure from the early church. In that structure, the church is made up of geographic areas called dioceses, each having a bishop (which comes from the Greek word episcopos) as its chief pastor and administrative head. Some other Protestants also have bishops, but only The Episcopal Church has dioceses.
Unlike the bishops of many other churches, bishops in The Episcopal Church are elected by the members of the diocese they serve. Bishops have responsibility for the spiritual care and executive administration of the diocese. A diocesan convention is composed of representatives from its parishes and meets regularly to debate and vote on diocesan policy.
This approach is mirrored at the churchwide level. The Episcopal Church has a presiding bishop who is elected by the other bishops to a nine-year term. The presiding bishop serves as chief pastor and CEO. The General Convention of The Episcopal Church has a House of Bishops, led by the presiding bishop; and a House of Deputies, led by the president of the House of Deputies and consisting of lay and ordained representatives from every diocese. General Convention typically takes place every three years to debate and vote on legislation related to our governance and policy.
At the congregational level, a parish typically calls and hires its clergy. The governing body of the parish is an elected board called a vestry. The clergy and the vestry work together in carrying out the mission, programs, maintenance, and administration of the parish.
How do power and authority work in The Episcopal Church?
While there is a hierarchy of authority in The Episcopal Church, we are a church that seeks to avoid top-down cultural behavior. The representative bodies of the church at all levels have a strong element of democracy. We believe that because both lay and ordained people may be inspired by the Holy Spirit, we are healthiest when the wisdom and insights of all our members are heard and considered in community.
Our leaders strive to work together for the good of the church and the world we serve.
What are your safeguarding and accountability measures?
Because with power and authority come responsibility, we are committed to holding leaders to standards of healthy and responsible uses of power and authority–and for doing all we can to ensure the physical, mental, and spiritual safety of those we serve.
Clergy standing for election as bishops of The Episcopal Church are subject to a robust process of review outlined in our Constitution and Canons. Our Title IV canons describe the process for reporting and addressing allegations of misconduct, and the church devotes significant resources to making sure it runs as smoothly and fairly as possible.
In addition, we urge all who are responsible for the care of minors and teens, older adults, and other vulnerable people to complete our Safe Church trainings, and most dioceses and churches require this step. The objective of this training is to establish a foundation for providing ministry and service that honors the sanctity and dignity of every person.
Who may be a leader in The Episcopal Church?
The short answer is: you!
We believe that every person holds the potential for leadership in our church. Our lay leaders, clergy, and bishops are people from every race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity and expression, sexuality, background, and all types of abilities.
The ministers of the church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons. While ministries offered by the lay person, deacon, priest, and bishop might differ in form, we believe in the importance and significance of all leadership.
In our Book of Common Prayer, lay people are understood to be essential leaders of our church. They serve on vestries, as representatives to our conventions, on local and churchwide commissions and task forces, and as participants in our outreach and other ministries. They teach in our Sunday schools, lead our Bible studies, sing in our choirs, raise our funds, and most of all, carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world.
Is The Episcopal Church a multinational church?
Yes! We have dioceses in many countries and territories, and we are also one of 42 member churches in the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Anglican Communion is not a global church, but rather a family of self-governing churches in the Anglican tradition, all of which trace their origins to the archbishop of Canterbury. We also have deep ecumenical relationships with other Christian denominations throughout the world.
