The Episcopal Church has its roots in the Church of England, becoming a self-governing church body with the end of the American Revolution. Like other churches in the Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church stands squarely in the Reformed tradition, yet considers itself just as directly descended from the Early Church as the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches. Episcopalians celebrate the Holy Eucharist in ways similar to the Roman Catholic tradition, yet do not recognize a single authority, such as the Pope of Rome. 

Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Common Prayer, the collection of worship services that all worshipers in an Anglican church follow. It’s called “common prayer” because we all pray it together, around the world. The first Book of Common Prayer was compiled in English by Thomas Cranmer in the 16th Century, and since then has undergone many revisions for different times and places. But its original purpose has remained the same: to provide in one place the core of the instructions and rites for Anglican Christians to worship together. 

Episcopalians believe that every Christian must build an understanding and relationship with God’s Word in the Bible, and to do that, God has given us intelligence and our own experience, which we refer to as “Reason.” Based on the text of the Bible itself, and what Christians have taught us about it through the ages, we then together sort out our own understanding of it as it relates to our own lives.