FAQ about the Episcopal Church and specifically about our Church in Laurel Springs.

What is the Episcopal Church about?

The Episcopal Church

The word "Episcopal" is from the Greek word in the New Testament, episcapas, bishop. The Episcopal Church is a church governed by bishops. The bishop serves as the spiritual leader of a number of congregations in a geographic area called a diocese. Our current bishop is The Right Reverend George E. Councell.

The Episcopal Church in the United States began in 1785 when Anglican Church representatives of the former colonies met in Christ Church, Philadelphia. These representatives continued many of the worship forms and theology of the mother Church, the Church of England, but with a distinctively American style. Our governing structure is a representative democracy, patterned after the United States Constitution. All bishops, rectors, parish wardens and vestries, and other officers are all elected. Today, we are a church of 2.4 million members and one of thirty-eight autonomous provinces of the eightymillion-
member Anglican Communion.

The Anglican Middle Way

The Anglican via media, or middle way, is a unique blend of the Roman Catholic Church embodied in the Church of England until the 16th century and the Protestant Reformation of Continental Europe. Like the Roman Catholic Church we have: bishops, priests and deacons, our Church has the two Gospel Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, and five Sacramental Rites: Confirmation, Marriage, Ordination, Penance, and the Anointing of the Sick. We are an apostolic church: we believe our bishops are successors to Jesus' first twelve disciples. We also say we are a catholic church, not Roman Catholic, but a universal church in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

As a Protestant church, we view The Bible as the Word of God containing all things necessary to salvation. Our clergy may marry, and since 1976 we have allowed women to be ordained as bishops, priests, and deacons. Our worship includes an important place for preaching and singing. Our theology comes in part from the 16th century Protestant Reformation whose guiding principle is "salvation by grace, through faith," irrespective of "works." We accept in faith that Jesus Christ is God's once-and-for-all means of our salvation.