What's an Episcopalian?
The Episcopal Church is a Christian Church.
We find our guidance for living as Jesus' followers from Scripture, Reason, and Tradition - what is sometimes called the via media, or middle way. Scripture means that we read the Bible and take it seriously. We also know that it contains many different genres, including Gospels (the Good News of Jesus), letters, history, poetry, law, vision literature, wisdom sayings, creation stories, metaphor, and prophetic writings. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through all of these writings. Reason includes our intellect, as well as our emotions and experience as human beings. There is no part of humanity that cannot be included in our faith life. We also value intellectual inquiry and insights - including science, history, and care of the environment. Tradition is about keeping faith with the broader community of faith. It does not mean "the way we've always done things"! It says that we value what generations of Christians and Episcopalians who have gone before us have understood about God, the Bible, and faith. We also value what our fellow believers throughout the world understand and experience in the Christian household of faith. Scripture, Reason and Tradition are held together in the prayerful interplay of faith and worship. The Episcopal Church is historically related to the Church of England, which was formed in the sixteenth-century Reformation, drawing on both the long experience of Christian faith and practice in the British Isles back to Roman times, and the new insights and energy of the movement that followed the Protestant Reformers. We became an independent church after the American Revolution, but maintained our ties with the Church of England and are part of the world-wide Anglican Communion - a big family of churches who all have their roots in that Church. The Episcopal Church values the ministry and gifts of all baptized people: lay people, deacons, priests, and bishops - men and women. Individual congregations are guided by the partnership of the Vestry (church board) and the Rector (the lead priest of the parish). Each person is called by their baptism to work, pray, and give of their talents, gifts, and time for God's work in the world. That work is to reconcile all people to one another and to God in Christ - healing, feeding, blessing, making justice, teaching, praying, building community, caring for the environment. The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. Michael B. Curry, says that we Episcopalians are the Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement! |
Our Mission, Vision
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All Saints' Episcopal Church - 15 Basking Ridge Road, Millington, NJ 07946 - Phone (908) 647–0067 - [email protected]
