The Episcopal Church welcomes all who worship Jesus Christ.
The mission of the church, as stated in the Book of Common Prayer’s catechism (p. 855), is “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.”
The 2012 General Convention established the Anglican Communion Five Marks of Mission as a mission priority framework for the 2013-2015 triennium:
- To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
- To teach, baptize and nurture new believers
- To respond to human need by loving service
- To seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation
- To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth
(Source: The Episcopal Church)
Resilience Amid Controversy
It may be that The Episcopal Church is an institution where controversy reveals strength. There has never been a rigid party line requiring people to think and behave in a certain way. Rather than depending on orders from a central authority, over the years there has been a steady process of decentralization that has strengthened the individual identity of each congregation and allowed each congregation to discover its own unique mission. This spirit of tolerance and inclusiveness helped to save The Episcopal Church from a bitter split that seriously divided other churches before and after the Civil War.
The all-inclusive catholic heritage of Anglicanism encourages a spirit of mutual respect among all peoples. In the United States (and particularly in New York), the Episcopal Church is a multicultural communion where baptism is the only agreed criterion for equal participation in the life of the Church. “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You,” as the sign says, is an invitation extended without regard to language or race, gender or sexual orientation, abilities or disabilities, age or education, social class or political opinion.
(Source: The Episcopal Diocese of New York)