What We Believe

As Episcopalians we believe in the ancient statements of faith called the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. These creeds are used in worship and are a summary of what we believe about God and the Church.

We believe that the Bible reveals that there is one true God in Trinity of Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that the Son of God lived among us as a human being in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was both fully human and fully divine. He came to us out of the eternal love of God, and through his perfect sinless life, death, and resurrection he has destroyed the powers of sin and death and has redeemed all of creation.

God offers the free gift of grace and salvation to the world through Jesus Christ and it is through faith in him we receive forgiveness, resurrection, and eternal, abundant life.

Episcopalians believe that God inspired the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. We believe the Bible contains all things necessary to salvation — it reveals to us the great truths God wants us to know, and there are no secrets outside of the Bible that we need to learn for salvation. We believe that Scripture always requires interpretation, and that God has given us the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Church, and human reason, as we work to interpret, understand, and apply the stories of the Bible to our lives in the 21st century.

The overriding message of the Bible is the Good News of God’s love for us, of the life, death, and resurrection of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit’s promise of eternal and abundant life in Christ.

We believe that the Church is the Body of Christ in the world and that its primary mission is to proclaim the Good News of God in Jesus Christ to a hurting and broken world.

We are united to all believers in Christ living and dead through the Communion of Saints and we are supported by the love and prayers of those who have gone before us throughout our earthly pilgrimage.

Because God has loved us, we are also called to love one another. In Christ, we live transformed lives, and the love he gives us allows us to work toward the transformation of this world. We believe that God’s will is that this world should become a place of healing, wholeness, and peace.

Here are some other important aspects of what we believe and who we are:

• The Episcopal Church is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion and traces its heritage to the beginnings of Christianity.
• Our worship has a structure to it, and that structure has ancient roots that have been developed and adapted over time to meet the needs of the Church in the world. Our liturgy is celebrated in many languages around the world but is always in the language of the people.
• We believe that baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children and makes us members of Christ’s Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God. Baptism is the most inclusive of all the sacraments and is open to all people who wish to follow Christ.
• We believe that Holy Communion is the sacrament commanded by Christ for the continual remembrance of his life, death, and resurrection, until his coming again. Through this sacrament we feed on Christ’s body and blood and receive the forgiveness of our sins, the strengthening of our union with Christ and one another, and the foretaste of the heavenly banquet which is our nourishment in eternal life.
• Holy Communion may be received by all baptized Christians, not only members of the Episcopal Church.
• We affirm that marriage was designed to be lifelong and monogamous, and that marriage is open to all couples, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.  Episcopalians also recognize that there is grace after divorce and do not deny the sacraments to those who have been divorced and remarried.
• ​Both men and women, including those who are married, are eligible for ordination as deacons, priests, and bishops.
• Lay people (those who are not ordained) exercise a vital role in the governance and ministry of our church.
• We affirm that issues such as birth control are matters of personal informed conscience.
• We celebrate our unity in Christ while honoring our differences, always seeking to put the work of love before uniformity of opinion.

​All are welcome to find a spiritual home in the Episcopal Church.