What is the Episcopal Church?

The Episcopal Church is a branch of Christ’s one, holy, catholic and apostolic church which is both catholic and reformed. The historical roots of the Episcopal Church of North America are traced to the Anglican Church, which traces its origin through a line of succession to the Apostles. Augustine visited early England in the sixth century and was credited with bringing the church to Great Britain but Celtic Christianity may extend even further back in time.

The church is catholic in its worship and practice and professes the same faith as that of the Apostles.

The central act of worship in the Episcopal Church is the Eucharist. Episcopalians confess Christ was sacrificed for all and we accept our responsibility as Christians to minister to the troubles of human society. At the same time, the Church is reformed in its ability to meet each person as an individual and to minister to them individually; in short, the Episcopal Church has the ability and the willingness to meet people “where they are” without pre-judgment.

We welcome all to join us in our celebration of the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ and we extend this invitation to all interested visitors. Come and worship with us on a Sunday or at one of our other services. Parents are encouraged to bring their children with them so that the entire family can come to know the Risen Lord through the Eucharistic breaking of the Bread and in the prayers.

Founding of the Episcopal Church

The time period for the founding of the Episcopal Church is the same as for the founding of the United States, the 1770s and the 1780s. The Revolutionary War forced at least a partial cut in ties of the Church of England in Colonial America with that in England. The process of thereafter creating a unified Episcopal Church in the new country involved surprisingly great differences in values, differences that at times must have seemed unbridgeable. It might be tempting to think that the formation of the church government ran parallel to the formation of the civil government, but it did not. The issues were completely different. In church organization some people wanted top-down management as in Great Britain, while others wanted bottom-up management as in the theory behind the new United States. Some wanted high-church ritual, while others wanted low-church ritual. Some wanted maximum flexibility in the liturgy, while others wanted minimum flexibility. 

These articles were written in 2007 by Tony Knapp for the 2007-08 All Souls' newsletter, edited by Wendy Turgeon, to describe the process of reconciling these values. The author has placed the text of each article in the public domain, and the articles are available here as PDF files. 

Although the text is in the public domain, the pictures did not come from the author, and some of the pictures are restricted in use. For each picture, there is an entry is in the list of picture credits at the end of the corresponding article, and the restrictions may be determined by following up on the information given there. 

The series of articles has six parts and an epilogue. The articles are available as PDF files as follows:

All articles combined, together with a title page:  PDF (12.7 MB).
 

Individual parts:

Title page:  PDF (24 KB).

Part I, 1770-1780:  PDF (3.2 MB).

Part II, 1782-1784:  PDF (2.2 MB).

Part III, 1783-1785:  PDF (1.3 MB).

Part IV, 1785-1786:  PDF (1.1 MB).

Part V, 1786-1789:  PDF (1.3 MB).

Part VI, 1789:  PDF (3.5 MB).

Epilogue:  PDF (68 KB).