The Episcopal Church Welcomes You!

When you join St. Nicholas Episcopal Church, you are associating yourself with a larger body called the Episcopal Church of the USA, which itself is associated with an even larger body called the Worldwide Anglican Communion. Both the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion are broad and diverse in their membership and practices, but they do have some very important beliefs and traditions in common.

• Episcopalians (what makes us who we are).
• The Creeds (summaries of our basic beliefs).
• Common Prayer (the way we worship).
• The Sacraments (Holy Baptism and Communion).
• Scripture, Tradition, and Reason (how we live out our faith).

What is the Episcopal/Anglican Church About?

• What to expect when visiting an Episcopal Church
• An Outline of the Faith (Commonly Known as the Cathechism)
• What is the Anglican Communion?
• What makes us Anglican?
• How is the Episcopal Church Governed?
• Episcopal Language: A Brief Overview
• Episcopal Language: A Complete Glossary
  

What is the Episcopal Diocese of Washington?

• Facts and Figures
• About our Bishop: The Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane

Finally, below are two fact sheets: one on the Episcopal Church USA and one on the Worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Episcopal Church USA: A Fact Sheet

• ECUSA is one of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion.
• Approximately 2.3 million members in North, Central and South America.
• Organized into 9 provinces comprised of 113 dioceses.
• Diocese: The basic unit of the Episcopal Church, overseen by a Bishop (episcopus); it is this fundamentally diocesan structure that distinguishes the Episcopal Church, and thus give it its name (note: Episcopalian is a noun -- member of the Episcopal Church; Episcopal is an adjective -- the Episcopal Church).
• Parish: The local administrative unit of the diocese; not autonomous, but rather fundamentally part of a larger whole -- both the diocese (and Diocesan Bishop) and the national church (as well as the Anglican Communion).
• The Bishop is the chief sacramental officer and pastor of a diocese.
• The main bishop of a diocese is responsible for church order (what is taught and what rites are celebrated) and thus is called the Ordinary or Diocesan Bishop. A diocese may also have a Bishop Suffragan (assistant bishop) or Bishop Coadjutor (elected to replace the Diocesan upon retirement).
• Presiding Bishop: The Chief Pastor and Primate of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America; elected by General Convention to a nine year term of office. The current Presiding Bishop is the Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori.
• General Convention: the legislative, or governing, body of the Episcopal Church; has met every 3 years since 1789. The 74th General Convention was August 2003 in Minneapolis. Most resolutions passed by General Convention are advisory, not binding; binding changes to the Canons of the Church (rules and procedures) can be changed by the vote of a single General Convention; binding changes to the Constitution of the Church (organization and governance) require the vote of two consecutive General Conventions.
• Deputies: Those attending General Convention after being chosen by vote in their diocese. Deputies are elected to represent their dioceses, but are entrusted to vote their consciences. They do not serve as a mere voters for the most dominant perspectives in their dioceses, but are ideally people entrusted with the support and prayers of their dioceses to act and vote as the Spirit guides them at General Convention.

compiled by Canon Wayne Whitson Floyd, Director (waynef@diosova.org), Anglican Center for Theology and Spirituality, Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia

The Anglican Communion: A Fact Sheet

• "A worldwide family of churches"; term "Anglican Communion" coined in 1885.
• Organized into 38 geographical provinces (some national, some regional) encompassing 161 countries with a total of 70,000,000+ members.
• Each of the 38 provinces is autonomous (independent, self-governing), with oversight by a chief bishop or Primate, whose role is distinguished by the fact that they have responsibilities beyond their diocese.
• The result of 17th century spread of the British Empire through colonization in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Southern Africa, and North America and then by church's 19th and 20th century missionary expansion in Asia, Africa and Latin America, in what was to become the British Commonwealth.
• A majority of Anglicans today are from the Global South, rather than from Europe and North America.
• Provinces are composed of dioceses (smaller geographical units), each of which is overseen by a bishop (Latin episcopus); it is the diocese that is the distinctive, basic ecclesiastical unit of the Anglican tradition, rather than the parish, or local church, as is the case in many parts of Protestant Christianity.
• The spiritual head of the Anglican Communion is the Archbishop of Canterbury, where the church in England was established in 597 C.E. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the Church of England, and his leadership is not legally binding except in this, the Archbishop's home Province.
• Churches who are officially recognized, or "in communion with," the Archbishop of Canterbury (who among the Anglican Primates is called primus inter pares, "the first among equals") are by definition part of the Anglican Communion; The Anglican Communion has no controlling executive figure (such as the Pope), no central administrative/executive body, and no controlling legislative body.
• Lambeth Conference: Meeting of all the Bishops of the Anglican Communion once every ten years (began in 1867 because of conflicts over the interpretation and authority of Scripture with regard to Genesis!). It is called and presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Archbishop's official residence, Lambeth Palace. Resolutions passed by the Lambeth Conferences are advisory -- they have primarily moral, rather than legally binding, authority.

compiled by Canon Wayne Whitson Floyd, Director (waynef@diosova.org), Anglican Center for Theology and Spirituality, Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia